IMTS 2026 — McCormick Place, Chicago, 14–19 September 2026. Therness is in Chicago for the International Manufacturing Technology Show and for a week of meetings with welding-intensive manufacturers in the Midwest. If you run robotic welding cells in the Midwest and want 100% in-process weld inspection, this is the week to meet us in person.
IMTS is the largest manufacturing technology show in the Americas: every two years McCormick Place fills with machine tools, automation, additive manufacturing, metrology and the software that ties them together. For Therness it is the first stop of a September that continues with the Italy–Canada Soft-Landing Program in Toronto and Montréal and with InnoTrans in Berlin. This post explains what we are doing in Chicago and what we bring to North American welding operations.
Why Chicago, and why now
Our customers in Europe are automotive Tier 1 suppliers, rail vehicle builders, heavy fabricators and additive manufacturers who share one requirement: prove the quality of every weld without slowing the line. That requirement is the same in a Midwest job shop welding structural steel to AWS D1.1, in a pressure vessel fabricator qualifying to ASME Section IX, or in a Tier 1 supplier preparing for an AIAG CQI-15 welding system assessment.
North America is where robotic welding is growing fastest, where the shortage of qualified welders and inspectors is most acute, and where customers increasingly ask for per-part digital evidence rather than sampled inspection reports. IMTS week puts the people who buy, integrate and run those cells in one building, and it gives us the chance to visit plants in the surrounding states in the same trip.
What Therness brings to a US welding line
HeatCore AI is an in-process weld monitoring system built for automated and robotic cells. It adds an inspection layer to an existing cell without changing the welding procedure:
- Thermographic camera on the torch or the cell. A HeatCam IR-C or HeatCam IR-S infrared camera records the weld pool and the cooling bead for every joint, in GMAW, GTAW, plasma, laser and wire arc additive processes.
- Real-time AI scoring. Each weld is compared with the qualified reference signature for that joint. Porosity, lack of fusion, burn-through, misalignment and heat-input drift are flagged while the part is still in the fixture, so a drifting parameter is corrected after one part, not after a batch.
- Per-weld digital record. Thermal video, features, score and verdict are stored against the part serial number, the WPS and the robot program. The record is the traceability evidence that code audits and OEM assessments ask for, and it is retrievable in seconds instead of hours of paper.
- Process data in the same record. With WeldTrace, voltage, current, wire feed speed and gas flow are captured at 25 kHz and correlated with the thermal signature of the same joint; with PoolDrop, the weld pool is filmed at 480 fps for process development and troubleshooting.
Installation is measured in days, not months: the camera mounts on the torch bracket or on a fixed position in the cell, the system talks to the robot controller or the PLC for start and stop signals, and the first reference signatures are built from the shop’s own good welds. The implementation guide describes the steps.
Who we want to meet in Chicago
- Robotic welding integrators who want to offer inspection and traceability as part of a cell, with an interface to the controller and the MES.
- Automotive Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers in the Midwest preparing for CQI-15 or OEM-specific welding audits, especially on chassis, seat frames and battery enclosures.
- Structural and heavy fabricators working to AWS D1.1 who want to reduce dependence on sampled NDT and rework.
- Pressure vessel, heat exchanger and pipeline shops qualifying to ASME and API codes, where a joint that fails at hydrotest is the most expensive joint in the plant.
- Additive manufacturers running WAAM or DED on metal, where interlayer temperature control decides the part’s properties.
Practical details. IMTS 2026, McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois, 14–19 September 2026. Therness attends as a visiting delegation: meetings by appointment on the show floor or at your plant in the Chicago area during the same week.
Meetings in the Midwest during IMTS week
Alongside the show, we are scheduling visits to welding-intensive manufacturers in Illinois and Indiana, with the support of the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) office in Chicago. A plant visit is the fastest way to answer the questions that matter: which joints, which camera position, which signals from the cell, and what the record will look like for your auditor. If you would like a visit during the week of 14 September, write to us with the process and the material and we will find a slot.
After Chicago
The same team continues to Toronto and Montréal for the Italy–Canada Soft-Landing Program with the Italian Trade Agency, DMZ and Centech, and Therness is at InnoTrans in Berlin in the same days. Three markets, one message: weld quality control can move from reactive sampling to 100% process monitoring, and the evidence can be digital from the first joint.
Meet Therness during IMTS 2026
Chicago, 14–19 September 2026. Tell us your process, material and code, and we will book a meeting at McCormick Place or a visit to your plant in the Midwest.
Book a meeting in Chicago How the welding monitoring system worksFrequently Asked Questions
Is Therness exhibiting at IMTS 2026?
Therness attends IMTS 2026 as a visiting delegation, not with a booth. We are at McCormick Place in Chicago between 14 and 19 September 2026 to meet manufacturers, welding automation integrators and machine builders, and we hold meetings on the show floor or at your plant in the Chicago area by appointment.
Does HeatCore work with AWS D1.1 and ASME Section IX documentation?
Yes. HeatCore records a thermal signature, a score and a verdict for every weld and stores them against the part, the WPS and the welder or robot program. The record supports the traceability that AWS D1.1, ASME Section IX and customer-specific audits such as AIAG CQI-15 expect, alongside the visual and NDT inspections those codes require.
How can a US manufacturer arrange a meeting during IMTS week?
Send us your application through the contact form, with the process (GMAW, GTAW, laser, resistance, WAAM), the material and the code you work to. We confirm a time at McCormick Place or a plant visit in the Chicago area between 14 and 19 September 2026.
