The Vision Show and Conference 2009 to be held in Phoenix, March 31- April 2

The Vision Show, North America’s largest machine vision trade show and conference, will be held in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Phoenix Convention Center, March 31 – April 2.  This is the first time the show will  be located in Phoenix.

Phoenix was chosen for the 2009 show and accompanying conference due to its high concentration of semiconductor  manufacturing companies (ranking 4th in the nation); the growing number of federal defense contracts held; and  because of significant aerospace exports, an industry increasingly relevant to machine vision and imaging.  There is a very diverse concentration of  industries using machine vision technologies in the five or six states surrounding Arizona as well. In addition to the Midwestern and Southern states, Phoenix will draw attendees and exhibitors from nearby California, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Utah, and even Mexico.

The 2008 show and conference were recently held in Boston, Massachusetts on June 10-12.  The show featured the largest exhibitor base in about 10 years with 112  companies displaying their technologies (a 30% increase over the last show).  Attendance increased by over 5% with well over 2,500 registered attendees and the conference brought in 170 attendees.  ‘‘Overall, the show was a great success. Our goal is to help introduce new technologies, help people find suppliers and partners, educate the marketplace through technical conference tutorials and sessions, and help suppliers build relationships with customers — all in one convenient location,’‘ said Dana Whalls, AIA Managing Director. 

‘‘We’re looking forward to bringing The Vision Show to Phoenix and the surrounding areas; companies need machine vision and imaging technology to help them through challenging economic times.  Vision helps through quality control, increased throughput, higher levels of automation, reduced loss through increased security, advanced detection of potential leaks, impurities or other costly defects and more,’‘ added Whalls.

The Vision Show provides machine vision users, integrators, machine builders and OEMs with access to the latest machine vision technologies and applications from more than 100 leading manufacturers, distributors and suppliers from around the world.  Machine vision is used for tasks such as inspection, traceability, and process control in industries such as automotive, consumer goods, electronics, food and beverage, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.  More recent trends show machine vision applications in traffic control, robotics and other security and defense industries.

The accompanying conference features in-depth tutorials and sessions on topics such as the fundamentals of machine vision, lighting and optics, how to select machine vision components, integrating machine vision into your system, 3-D vision solutions, the latest advances in smart cameras and sensors, advanced in color vision, machine vision software, non-visible imaging and more.   

The trade show is free for advanced registrants, and the conference offers low-cost passes. Up-to-date information about The Vision Show can be found at www.MachineVisionOnline.org.

About AIA
Founded in 1984, AIA was organized specifically to promote the understanding and use of image capture and analysis technology and now represents over 300 machine vision suppliers, system integrators, users, researchers, and consulting firms from 26 countries.  In addition to The Vision Show, the AIA is best-known for the annual Machine Vision Markets Study (released each Spring), the biennial International Robots & Vision Show (June 9-11, 2009 in Chicago), its annual AIA Business Conference and Machine Vision Online (www.MachineVisionOnline.org), the world’s leading online resource for machine vision information.

For more information on AIA, visit www.MachineVisionOnline.org or contact AIA Headquarters at (734) 994-6088.