CIMES Machine Tool Trade Show

For the last four days we have been attending the CIMES machine tool trade show. Here are the intro paragraphs from the show and venue Web sites:

CIMES is the largest machine Tool & Tools Exhibition in China & 3rd largest in the world, bringing together buyers from all corners the world with a key focus on 10 major industry group in China, to source new products and services over five trading days.

New China International Exhibition Center (NCIEC) is located at Tianzhu Airport Industrial and Commercial Zone in Shunyi District, Beijing. It consists of 8 exhibitions halls, boasting a gross indoor exhibition area of 100,000 square meters. With Convenient transport facilities, NCIEC neighbors the Capital International Airport in the east and Wenyu River Ecological corridor in the west. There is a first-class highway network around it. NCIEC is also convenient to reach by bus, subway, taxi and airport shuttle bus. A 24-hours parking lot is available opposite the NCIEC.

There are eight large halls in two rows of four with a central corridor connecting them all. It's big, but to put it into perspective, here are the sizes of a couple other well-known convention centers.

• Las Vegas 3.2 million square feet (297,000 square meters)
  



• Los Angeles 741,000 square feet (69,000 square meters)
  



• Beijing 1 million square feet (93,000 square meters)
  

Here's the show Web site in case you want to look up your favorite vendor.

This show is aimed at Chinese manufacturers. Us foreigners are pretty rare. And many booths have no one that speaks English. Not a problem when Henry is around, but he's not always available. Luckily specifications and prices don't need an interpreter.

While we are looking for machine accessories and precision measuring tools, the full range of machine tools is represented. Including all the international brands of CNC machines that we used to see at WESTEC before it shrank to quarter size.

It is great to meet and talk to the people that make the products that we sell. They are invariably nice folks who are doing their best to turn out quality products. They appreciate the feedback we provide from the people that are using their products.

I've attended this show four times in six years. One change I have noticed is the improvement in the Chinese CNC machines. On my first visit it was very easy to walk the aisles and tell the Chinese-built CNC machines from the international standards like Haas and the European brands. The Chinese machines simply didn't look as polished as the others. It is now much harder to tell which is which. The Chinese machines now at least look as good as anyone's CNC machines.

Lots of laser cutting and marking machines. One laser was cutting 1/4" thick steel. The laser cutting machines work on huge sheets of thin metal. They excel at making many varied shaped holes, as seen on the back of a desktop computer.

Many of the laser marking machines would not be suitable for import into the US. Look carefully at the photo. See that bright dot? See any guards or shield? Tip: I did not take the photo through a glass or clear plastic panel. They almost invite you to swipe your hand through the beam just to see if it is hot.

As always, this show has some pretty big equipment. Some companies make a full range, from the smallest to the largest.

And some machines are simply huge.

Here's a booth I found interesting because of the "architecture".

Here's another large machine with a not atypical salesman ready to answer any question.

As at trade show everywhere, vendors strive to gain attention. I've never seen an electric cello before.

And finally, the Me Hoo both. Me Hoo is Henry's company that sells American tools in China.