Lightening up the future of the manufacturing industry

Photonics technology is enjoying steady growth. China is still the most important application market for industrial lasers and laser systems. Demand in this country is expected to remain strong in the years ahead.

Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Deputy CEO of Messe München, pays tribute to the positive development of the leading photonics show in China: “LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA 2016 has responded to the strong market through the inclusion of top-level laser and photonics technologies. After 10 years of development, it has cemented its leading position in the laser and photonics industry in Asia through constant adaptation to market trends and enhancement. LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA is now widely recognised and accredited.”

The exhibition featured all the industry leaders such as Chutian, Coherent, Feibo Laser, Focuslight, Han’s, HFB Photonics, HG Laser, Raycus, Rofin, and Trumpf, as well as new entrants like CETC TXSTAR, EFR Laser, Micromach and YL-Laser.

Dipl. Phys. Uwe Wielsch, Director Asia-Pacific of JENOPTIK Optical Systems said: “LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA is a key trade show in Asia. We are meeting ever greater numbers of qualified and well-educated visitors. We are seeing visitors from all over Asia, including Japan, Taiwan and Korea and meeting all the customers of markets such as the semiconductor, consumer electronics manufacturing and medical industries.”

Wei Wang, Sales Director , Wuhan Raycus Fiber Laser Technologies, also comments: “LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA 2016 is the biggest in its history, with the most participants and visitors. We consider the exhibition to be a very important platform, enabling us not just to exhibit our latest technology and products, but to make contact with many buyers as well. We will continue to exhibit at future events.”

Laser processing, as an advanced manufacturing technology, is widely used in numerous application industries, especially in automotive and metalworking manufacturing. This year, LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA, together with electronica China & productronica China, organised an 'Automotive Day' during the show, exhibiting innovative electronics and laser processing products and technologies for automotive industry users.

Xianghu Huang, Vice GM from Han’s Laser Technology Industry Group, stated: “We have taken part in LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA in each of the past 11 years. It is a very professional trade show with industries present not just on a broad front, but also in depth. Visitor promotion is very successful and we have met a lot of users here.”

The PHOTONICS CONGRESS CHINA 2016, held alongside the trade show, offered in-depth discussions on a variety of hot topics in the laser and photonics industry, including laser technology, laser processing and application, additive manufacturing, laser 3D printing, optical component production, machine vision, optoelectronics and advanced laser materials, thin-films, laser safety and beam analysis. 2,666 delegates participated in the conferences.

Vision China (Shanghai), the biggest, most professional and significant machine vision event in China, was held alongside LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA 2016 in collaboration with the Machine Vision Professional Committee under the China Society of Image and Graphics. 142 machine vision exhibitors presented their latest products and technologies at the trade show on a space 27% bigger than last year.

The Vision China (Shanghai) conference laid the foundations for the future 'Smart Manufacturing'. Machine Vision is a key technology for the implementation of Industry 4.0. There is a direct link between the use of machine vision technology and the control environment in production, which is a first step toward smart manufacturing.

For the first time, Vision China (Shanghai) was supported by Germany's VDMA Machine Vision Association as a partner. Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Deputy CEO of Messe München, said: “We are very confident that this partnership will contribute significantly to the further development of Vision China (Shanghai) in terms of quality and scope.”

Kane Jiang, BD Product Marketing of Cognex’s GS&S Business Unit stated: “This is Cognex’s second exhibition at Vision China (Shanghai). We think that Vision China (Shanghai) enjoys a clear comparative advantage in terms of its size, organisation and professionalism. It provides a very good platform for machine vision enterprises to expand their vision, increase their competitive edge and find proper solutions.”

The outlook is good for the next LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA, from March 14–16^th, 2017. As outlined in “Made in China 2025”, China is preparing to shift from low-end manufacturing to high-end, value-added manufacturing. The plan focuses on intelligent manufacturing, applying the tools of related technologies to production. In the next five years, benefiting from supportive government policies, the laser and optoelectronics industry in China is expected to grow 10-15% annually. This five-year period will also mark the advance of China’s laser industry, with a lot of new high-tech laser products seeing themselves being applied in this market.