FABTECH, North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, and welding exposition and conference, is co-sponsored by four leading manufacturing associations: Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Int’l (FMA), the American Welding Society (AWS), the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA). A Finishing Technologies Pavilion, sponsored by CCAI, will complete the manufacturing loop for the show, allowing manufacturers to visit one show each year to see metal manufacturing processes from beginning to end.

“We are very excited with our new partnership with FABTECH and their co-sponsoring organizations,” states Bruce Bryan, CCAI President. “FABTECH has a long history of being a world-class event that provides manufacturers with everything they need to improve their manufacturing processes. It is a logical fit to have a finishing pavilion as part of an event that deals with the process of manufacturing a product. To be able to add finishing to the mix enables the event to cover it all. It will also allow our members and exhibitors to reach an audience far beyond what we could reach in a finishing-only event.”

Long time FABTECH attendee and now exhibitor, Eric Jones, president of Col-Met Spray Booths, is excited about the new Finishing Technologies pavilion. “I have been going to FABTECH for years buying equipment for our plant, and a few years ago noticed that nobody in our segment of the industry was exhibiting,” Mr. Jones commented. “What I noticed is that anyone who has a metal fabrication/production shop attends FABTECH (or should). Obviously, these people have to deal with finishing their products in some form or fashion, either by contracting it out or in-house. We have obtained great leads over the past few years exhibiting there and we were somewhat lost in the shuffle with the metal working equipment. Dedicating a finishing section to this show will only help the visibility of our industry. We are excited!”

In addition to being responsible for selling exhibit space in the Finishing Technologies Pavilion, CCAI will also produce conference programming focusing on a wide variety of finishing technologies, including liquid finishing, powder coating, electrocoating, pretreatment, curing and plating. CCAI’s Finishing Technologies Pavilion will debut at FABTECH, Nov. 2 – 4, 2010 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

FABTECH 2010 is expected to draw more than 22,000 attendees, attract more than 1,000 exhibitors and feature thousands of live equipment demonstrations throughout its pavilions. When recent attendees were asked on a post-show survey what additional manufacturing technologies or services, if any, they would be interested in seeing at an upcoming FABTECH, of the technologies listed, 37.6 answered Finishing/Painting/Coatings. More than 23% of recent attendees when registering for FABTECH said they planned to evaluate finishing products while at the show.

FABTECH, when held in Chicago on the odd years, draws an even larger crowd, typically more than 30,000 attendees. The show rotates between Chicago, Atlanta and Las Vegas, with Chicago being the anchor city every other year.

CCAI is a non-profit technical and professional association that provides information and education on surface coating technologies worldwide. Founded in 1972, CCAI has a network of grass root chapters that provides education and training to finishers. CCAI’s membership is comprised of end users of industrial finishes, custom coaters and industry suppliers. Visit CCAI on the web at www.ccaiweb.com.

Anyone interested in exhibiting in CCAI’s Finishing Technologies Pavilion can email us at fabtech@ccaiweb.com or call Andy Goyer at 941-373-1830 for more information. For more information on FABTECH, visit the show website: www.fabtechexpo.com.