Starting on Tuesday, Akron hosts an every-other-year event on the technology, science and art of tire making.
To add to the Rubber City-centric geekery, the three-day event — the International Tire Exhibition and Conference, or ITEC — also will celebrate the 100th birthday of a significant piece of industrial machinery, the Banbury Mixer, still used in the rubber-making process.
“This is the largest tire manufacturing show in North America,” said David Zielasko, publisher of Rubber and Plastics News and editor and publisher of Tire Business. Rubber and Plastics News, part of Crain Communications, organizes ITEC.
This year’s ITEC will have 99 exhibitors, including 21 from seven other nations, said Brent Weaver, sales manager.
People are coming to the event from around the world, too. Visitors who have registered for the three-day event that ends on Thursday are from 34 states, Washington, D.C., and 21 other countries, said Zielasko.
“It really shows the draw of Akron,” he said. The last ITEC, in 2014, drew nearly 1,700 people. Registration is ahead of the pace two years ago, Zielasko said.
ITEC, with its emphasis on manufacturers and their suppliers, is not open to the general public.
ITEC got its start in 1994 in Akron. The program was relocated to the I-X Center outside Cleveland in 2008 but returned to Akron in 2014.
The opening day keynote speaker at 4 p.m. is David Stafford, executive vice president of Michelin North America. His talk, Running In The Fast Lane — Future of Mobility and Its Opportunities, will focus on technology, advanced manufacturing, a changing workforce and innovation. He is chief human resources officer for Michelin North America and former chief operating officer of Michelin Americas Research Co., with a background in technology.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, the Harold Herzlich Distinguished Technology Achievement Award Ceremony Breakfast will feature the presentation of a medal to Andreas Limper, a university professor and also managing director of the Freudenberg plant in Germany for rubber industry supplier HF Mixing Group.
“He has a track record of turning research theories into practicality,” Zielasko said.
Other programs include the University of Akron’s 44th Tire Mechanics short course, a consumer information panel and more.
Among the local exhibitors are Akron-based Smithers Rapra, HF Rubber Machinery, Acro Tool & Die Co., Akron Rubber Development Laboratory Inc., Akron Polymer Technology Services, Polymer Machinery Co. and more.
There will be more than 55 technical sessions, covering such things as tire materials, recycling, tire forensics and modeling. Among the topics being covered are so-called smart or intelligent tires with built-in technology.
And of course there will be programs centering around the Banbury Mixer and its 100th anniversary.
“It’s at a lot of the tire plants,” Zielasko said.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ