North America's largest manufacturing technology show ran six days in Chicago this September. We spent three of them in the automation halls — here's what stood out.
TRADE SHOW UPDATES Published October 4, 2026 · 6 min read · By Apexwell Sales Team
Apexwell attended IMTS 2026 in Chicago as visitors, spending three of the show's six days in the automation and controls pavilions at McCormick Place. Our main takeaway: US and Canadian machine builders are asking many of the same closed loop and efficiency questions we heard from European visitors at Hannover Messe in April — but with a noticeably stronger focus on retrofitting equipment already on the shop floor rather than specifying motors for brand-new machine designs.
Show basics: dates, scale, and where we spent our time
IMTS 2026 ran September 14–19 at McCormick Place in Chicago, organized by AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology. Held every two years, IMTS is the largest manufacturing technology trade show in the Western Hemisphere, and past editions have drawn upward of 90,000 attendees to the show floor.
As a motor manufacturer rather than a machine tool builder, we skipped most of the main event floor and concentrated on the smaller controls, automation, and quality-assurance pavilions, where motor and drive suppliers tend to sit closer to the systems that actually use them.
What caught our attention on the show floor
A few patterns repeated across the booths we visited:
● Retrofit conversations outnumbered new-build ones. More conversations centered on upgrading motors and drives on machines already installed on a shop floor than on specifying components for a brand-new line — a different emphasis than what we heard walking Hannover Messe in April.
● Domestic sourcing came up constantly. With ongoing US tariff and trade-policy uncertainty, several exhibitors and visiting engineers raised supply-chain resilience and lead-time predictability as design criteria in their own right, not just cost line items.
● Condition monitoring is standard on new spindle and axis drives. As at Hannover Messe, several controls vendors demonstrated vibration- and current-based diagnostics built directly into the drive, rather than sold as a separate monitoring package.
● The efficiency conversation has crossed the Atlantic. Multiple exhibitors referenced the US Department of Energy's tightening motor efficiency requirements as a near-term design constraint, echoing the same IE4/IE5 pressure we wrote about after the EU made it mandatory.
Where this connects to our own product line
None of this changes our roadmap so much as confirms it. We've heard the same retrofit-focused questions from customers evaluating a swap from open loop to closed loop steppers on existing equipment, and IMTS made clear that's a US-wide pattern, not something specific to the accounts we already serve. Our stepper motor and BLDC motor ranges are built with this kind of drop-in upgrade in mind — most frame sizes are available in both open loop and closed loop configurations without changing the mounting footprint.
If your team is evaluating a motor upgrade ahead of the 2027 US efficiency deadline, our engineers can walk through frame compatibility and driver requirements before you commit to a swap.
What we'd tell a first-time visitor
IMTS is too large to walk end to end in a single visit — plan which halls matter to your business before you arrive. We found more value in two focused days in automation and controls than we would have gotten from a faster walk across the entire show floor, a lesson we'd already learned at Hannover Messe.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was IMTS 2026 held?
IMTS 2026 ran from September 14 to 19, 2026, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. The show is organized by AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology and is held every two years.
Did Apexwell exhibit at IMTS 2026?
No. Apexwell attended as visitors, spending three days in the automation, controls, and quality-assurance pavilions to see how US and Canadian machine builders and integrators are approaching motor and drive selection.
How does IMTS compare to Hannover Messe for motion control?
Hannover Messe is broader in scope and more automation-and-software focused, while IMTS is organized more tightly around machine tools and manufacturing processes, with motion control and drives represented in adjacent controls and automation pavilions rather than as a headline theme. See our recap of Hannover Messe 2026 for comparison.
What motor-related trends stood out at IMTS 2026?
Retrofit-driven demand for closed loop upgrades, condition-monitoring features built into standard drives, and growing attention to the US Department of Energy's upcoming motor efficiency requirements were the most consistent themes across the booths we visited.
Sources & Further Reading
● IMTS 2026 — AMT (Association for Manufacturing Technology) — amtonline.org
● IMTS 2026 Official Show Site — imts.com
● IMTS Show Coverage — Modern Machine Shop — mmsonline.com
● US Motor Efficiency Standards — U.S. Department of Energy — energy.gov
Trade Show Updates
Hannover Messe 2026: What We Learned Walking the Show Floor as Visitors
CIIF 2026 Preview: What Shanghai's Zero-Carbon Factory Push Means for Motor Buyers
Motor Engineering Knowledge
What Is a Stepper Motor? A Beginner's Guide to How It Works
NEMA Stepper Motor Sizes Explained
Stepper Motor Selection Guide: Types, Benefits, and How to Choose One
Stepper Motor vs Servo Motor: Which One Fits Your Application
Motor Technology Trends
Energy Efficiency Standards Reshaping BLDC Motor Design
Considering a closed loop retrofit?
Tell us your existing motor frame size and control setup — our engineers will tell you if a drop-in closed loop upgrade is possible.
Curious what we're building next?
Follow our Motor Technology Trends and Engineering Knowledge series for more from the team.
