NASHVILLE, TN – Last week, nearly 4,000 manufacturing professionals convened at the Music City Center in Nashville, TN to source products from 250 exhibiting companies at the 2nd annual ASSEMBLY Show SOUTH and the newly launched QUALITY Show SOUTH. The trade shows, produced by BNP Media’s ASSEMBLY Magazine and Quality Magazine, featured hundreds of new products, dozens of educational sessions, and networking at several special events. Photos are available at this link.
“Our second year in Nashville proved to be amazing – the trade show floor was double the size from our 2023 event which included the addition of the Quality Show South, and our registration increased by 20%, these are all solid indications that Nashville is a great venue for this southern focused manufacturing event said Bill DeYoe, Publisher, ASSEMBLY Magazine, producers of the event. “We thank our exhibitors, sponsors, attendees, partners, and speakers for supporting our initiative to support the booming Southeast Manufacturing market.”
The two events featured 250 leading vendors in the Exhibit Hall with working machinery and live demonstrations for attendees to interact with. Exhibitors for both The ASSEMBLY Show and QUALTIY Show are excited to come back to Nashville with over 50% of exhibiting firms already committing to the 2025 event. Additionally, Adhesives in Action will be a new segment added for the 2025 event which will be produced by Adhesive & Sealants Magazine, serving the global adhesive and sealant formulator, manufacturer, and end user.
Several awards winners were announced during the trade show. Quality Magazine presented The Quality Professional of the Year Award to Milt Krivokuca, Interim Program Coordinator, Master of Science Quality Assurance, California State University for the contributions he has made to the industry throughout his career. The magazine’s editors also presented the Quality Plant of the Year Award to Rob Glassburn, VP of Operations for 3D Engineering for their world-class quality technology, equipment, services and techniques used to improve quality standards.
In addition, John Sprovieri, Editor in Chief of ASSEMBLY Magazine announced the Best in Show Award winners. The program featured new products which were selected by the magazine editors. Attendees voted throughout the event and the following companies were announced the winners:
- 1st place winner: MS Automation for their 3D Bin Picking for Automated Stud Welding.
- 2nd place winner: Rivet King for their Rivet Tool for Robots
- 3rd place winner: Rhino Tool House for their new technology the allows material to move itself.
During the first day of the event five FIRST in Tennessee Robotics Teams, from across the state of Tennessee, demonstrated robots students designed, built and programmed as part of FIRST© Inspires. High school students represented Team Flagship, Team Pioneers, Team Secret City Wildbots, Team SoKno Robo and Team HVA Robo Hawks.
The event opened to a packed Keynote Address presented by, Leifje Dighton, Executive Director and Plant Manager of GE Appliance’s Refrigerator Assembly Plant in Decatur, AL. Ms., Dighton discussed transforming productivity at GE appliances through AI highlighting personal effectiveness to manufacturing excellence to a packed room of engaged attendees.
There were five pre-conference workshops; two were held in partnership with the Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (TMEP) focused on I4.0 and a Culture of Innovation and People Development Systems. The editors of ASSEMBLY Magazine offered two additional workshops on Automated Assembly and Bolted Joints. The Quality Show offered a fifth workshop on GD&T Fundamentals – Position Tolerances presented by Assurance Technologies (ATI). Following the workshops, attendees and exhibitors had the opportunity to network at the Welcome Reception.
Over a dozen exhibitors demonstrated their company's expertise related to the latest technological advances in two Learning Theaters on the show floor. Subject matter experts shared their knowledge on automation, robotic precision, Industry 4.0, supply chain, scalability, industrial automation and a special workshop on Collaborative Robots technology in The ASSEMBLY Show Learning Theater. The Quality Show Learning Theater featured sessions on using data, the role of Kaizen, vision solutions, advanced 3D systems, ethics & NDT, process mapping, and educating the next generation of quality professionals.
Attendees and exhibitors enjoyed two Networking Receptions including the opening night Welcome Reception and a reception in the Exhibit Hall sponsored by Atlas Copco. On Thursday morning Desoutter sponsored the Morning Mingle & Breakfast in the Exhibit Hall where additional connections were made.
The ASSEMBLY Show South show floor featured Gold Sponsor Promess; Silver Sponsors Atlas Copco and Desoutter Industrial Tools; and Bronze Sponsors Schmidt Technology, UJIGAMI by Tutelar Technologies, and Weiss North America. The QUALITY Show South show floor feature Gold Sponsor Deltek in addition to Hexagon, InnovMetric, FARO Technologies, 1factory, ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions and many others.
In 2025 The ASSEMBLY Show South, The Quality Show, and Adhesives in Action will be held Wednesday, April 16 and Thursday, April 17, 2025. All three events are produced by BNP Media (www.bnpmedia.com), one of the country's leading business-to-business media companies serving industry professionals across 60+ industries through magazines, custom media, e-newsletters, webinars, events and market research.
The ASSEMBLY Show South is sponsored by ASSEMBLY (www.assemblymag.com) the leading brand covering the processes, technologies, and strategies for assembling discrete parts into finished products. The magazine also produces The ASSEMBLY Show scheduled for October 22-24, 2024, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. The QUALITY Show South is sponsored by Quality (www.qualitymag.com), the leading resource for manufacturing professionals focused on quality assurance and process improvement.