We are now just a few short weeks away from the EMO 2025 exhibition taking place in Hannover, Germany, from 22 – 26 September 2025. EMO got its name from Exposition Mondiale de la Machine-Outil (Machine Tool World Exposition), and the variety of content on show at the exhibition still reflects EMO’s machine tool heritage, although it now also extends far beyond lathes and mills.
This year is a significant milestone for EMO in that it’s celebrating its 50th anniversary and that this year will also mark the first time that EMO will feature a partner country – Canada.
Canada has had enough of its unruly neighbour to the south and it wants to take the opportunity to show its manufacturing capabilities off.
Jayson Myers, CEO of NGen, the organiser of the Canadian participation in the EMO, says: “Because of the trouble with our noisy neighbour to the south, Canadian industrial companies are very enthusiastically looking for new customers, new suppliers and reliable innovation partners. In the metalworking sector, we can find them at the EMO. We are therefore delighted to be the first Alliance Partner of the EMO.”
NGen, short for Next Generation Manufacturing Canada, is a non-profit organisation based in Hamilton, Ontario, and it leads Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for Advanced Manufacturing. It’s backed by a network of 11 000 members representing manufacturers, technology providers, academic and research institutions, business service providers and financial backers from across Canada.
Myers’ goal is to raise global awareness of the manufacturing expertise of Canadian companies: “NGen is proud to be the EMO Alliance Country at the EMO 2025. We will be representing a wide variety of companies with advanced technologies that can be utilised in the machine tool and metalworking sectors, as well as Canadian machine tool manufacturers seeking new customers, suppliers and innovation partners outside of North America,” explains the Canadian CEO.
“Now is the right time to showcase Canada’s advanced manufacturing capabilities to the world. The EMO represents a great opportunity to do this, with Canadian companies looking to diversify their markets and supply chains in the face of difficult business challenges.”
“We are delighted to welcome Canada as an EMO Alliance Country”, says Dr Markus Heering, Executive Director of EMO organizer VDW. “In the current turbulent times on the global market, there is huge interest in working with stable partners in the machine tool business. The fact that we can offer the Canadians an attractive platform for their metalworking industry here at the trade fair will strengthen our bilateral relations,” states Dr Heering.
International exhibitions remain the best way to see the latest technology trends for our industry in one place. They also provide priceless opportunities for networking. Get in touch if you’d like to join me at the South African networking event on the Wednesday evening.
Opportunities do not create themselves – you have to go out there and create them yourself. The point I am trying to make here is that South African manufacturing also has the ability to do what Canada is doing.
Aside from EMO, this month, as usual, and something we have been doing here at Metalworking News for 25 years, is to showcase yet more South African success stories in the local manufacturing industry. We too have the potential to grow our manufacturing sector and seek new trade partners around the world. If only our government would realise this.
I encourage you to read about Pabar, JP Engineering, the Production Technologies Association of South Africa (PtSA) and the other companies we have written about in this issue.
They are just a handful of companies trying to make a difference in the South African manufacturing landscape, not just through their products and components, but through their willingness to want success.
See you at EMO.
Damon Crawford
Online Editor / Journalist
