EASTEC 2008, the East Coast’s largest annual manufacturing event, recently brought together generation “now” and “next” of manufacturing buyers and practitioners. Held in West Springfield, Mass., this Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ event attracted some 14,000 decision makers representing a variety of industries.

While years and experience may separate these generations, the technology presented at EASTEC is a unifying factor. These groups checked out the latest and greatest technologies. In particular, generation “now” focused on making multimillion dollar purchases, as generation “next,” or hundreds of local high school students, participated in activities designed to give them a real-world glimpse of all things right-now, hot, and above all, high-tech.

This year’s strong attendance indicated that despite a gloomy U.S. economy, there remains a more optimistic outlook for buying the latest technologies and machines in the name of greater productivity.

Source: ThomasNet