ANN ARBOR, MI--Automate 2013, North America’s leading automation event, was attended by a record 10,975 attendees from across the United States and 55 countries. The event took place Jan. 21-24 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

“Automate 2013 exceeded all of our expectations,” says Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, the primary sponsor of Automate 2013. “All of our numbers were up sharply, including total exhibitors (+17%), show attendees (+62%) and conference participants (+10%). Our post-show survey indicates that Automate is becoming the primary trade show in the field for many people, as about 50% of Automate attendees do not attend any other automation related trade shows.

“It’s clear that our message that automation is the best way to become a stronger global competitor is resonating with companies in virtually every industry," Burnstein continues. “Robot sales set a record in 2012, the Automate 2013 show was better than ever, and we expect these trends to continue as the manufacturing resurgence in the United States gains an even stronger foothold. We believe this will lead to an expanded Automate event when it is next held in 2015.”

NBC 5 and WGN, and many different trade publications. Much of the coverage centered on how using automation technologies displayed at the show can help save and create jobs. 

“Many of the sessions were geared to small and medium sized companies who are new users or considering using robotics, vision, motion control, and other automation technologies,” Burnstein asserts. “One of the featured sessions highlighted small company executives who have successfully automated in order to become stronger global competitors. These executives provided real-world examples of companies who would have had to either go out of business or send manufacturing offshore but instead succeeded by automating.”

Automate 2013 was collocated with ProMat 2013, sponsored by the Material Handling Industry of America. The next Automate Show and Conference will be held March 23-25, 2015 in Chicago.