23 www.drivesncontrols.com February 2025 SPS SHOW REVIEW n Noteworthy in Nuremberg The 2024 edition of the SPS (Smart Production Solutions) automation exhibition – the 33rd in the series – attracted around 51,300 visitors and just over 1,100 exhibitors to its Nuremberg venue. These gures were similar to the 2023 event, which attracted 50,000 visitors and 1,229 exhibitors. The 2024 show was spread across 16 exhibition halls, covering a total area of 125,000m2. “In view of the current challenging economic situation in the industry, this increase in visitor numbers compared to the previous year is a strong and important signal for the automation sector,” says Martin Roschkowski, president of Mesago Messe Frankfurt, which organised the event. “The SPS is the agship event for the automation industry,” adds Steen Winkler, CSO of Bosch Rexroth’s automation business. “Even in dicult economic times, the SPS remains an important platform for innovation and discussion.” SPS has a lot of fans who believe that, unlike some other events that are essentially corporate shop windows, the Nuremberg exhibition is a meeting place for engineers. “The SPS attracts experts who listen to one another. It is a hub for technical professionals and developers,” says Stefan Hoppe, president and executive director of the OPC Foundation. “At no other exhibition can I meet so many technical decision-makers from other companies. That’s what makes the SPS truly unique.” The 2025 SPS will take place from 25-27 November, thus returning to its traditional timing of the last week in November as happened in pre-Covid years. Between exhibitions, the SPS oers digital events such as its monthly Technology Talks and the SPS Insights. On 22 May 2025, it will premiere an Industrial Technology Summit in Stuttgart to oer industry experts and decision-makers a further platform to discuss technological advances and their uses in automation. n Despite the weak German economy, the 2024 SPS automation show managed to attract a similar number of visitors and exhibitors to the 2023 event. In the following pages, we look at some of the technologies and products that made their debuts at the show. Images on this page: Mesago Messe Frankfurt / Arturo Rivas Gonzalez
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