This year’s virtual FMA meeting kept attendees up-to-date on business strategies and the state of the metals industry as pandemic worries slowly dissipate.

FABTECH Mexico has again fallen victim to the coronavirus, with the 2021 event now canceled. FABTECH is the leading trade show for the North American metals processing community, presented jointly by the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, SME, Precision Metalforming Association, American Welding Society and Chemical Coaters Association International.

A promising year for the industrial economy was turned on its head by the biggest public health crisis the globe has seen in more than a century.

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The coronavirus has wiped out trade shows and in-person conferences. Flow and Steel Market Update are responding to the new environment with digital alternatives.

COVID-19 has claimed two more trade shows, as METALCON 2020 and FABTECH have both been canceled. METALCON was slated for October in Las Vegas, while FABTECH was planned for the same location the following month.

FABTECH has become the latest casualty of the coronavirus, as organizers have canceled the 2020 event. The show had been scheduled for November in Las Vegas.

While the nation's economy is nowhere close to "all systems go" status, the arrival of June brought a noticeable uptick in activity.

The coronavirus has sent a shockwave through the metals industry, but even in the face of this crisis, equipment manufacturers try to remain optimistic.

FABTECH Canada, the biennial trade show for Canadian manufacturers, fabricators, welders and processors has been called off due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The event had been scheduled for June 16-18 in Toronto.

FABTECH Mexico is the latest event to be canceled, FMA executives determined. The event had been scheduled for May 12-14 at Citibanamex in Mexico City.

The COVID-19 outbreak led to the cancellation multiple conferences and trade shows. More events on the metals calendar remained up in the air at press time.

Paul LeTang has announced his retirement from his position of press brake manager from Bystronic, Elgin, Ill. He has worked in the sheet metal fabrication industry for more than 50 years, the last seven with Bystronic.

Service centers, fabricators and other metal users expect to spend more on capital equipment this year than they did in 2019, according to the 2020 Capital Spending Forecast from the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association.

FABTECH attendees who were willing to get to McCormick Place in the morning hours last Wednesday were rewarded for their early bird tendencies. At the annual Forecast Breakfast sponsored by The Fabricator, Huntington Bank Economist George Mokrzan made the prospect of looking at the tantalizing new capital equipment upstairs much more palatable.

FABTECH, the largest annual trade show for the metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing industries, wrapped up its four-day event Thursday, Nov. 14. This year’s show will mark the last Chicago event held in November, as the Midwestern event shifts in future years to September.

Bystronic will present at Fabtech new and innovative high-performance solutions that cover the full spectrum of file-to-part manufacturing: high-speed laser cutting of sheets, plates and tubes, precision bending, material handling automation, and powerful software technologies.

Marposs, a leader in measurement and process monitoring technologies, will demonstrate its Brankamp X3S intelligent process monitoring system for metal forming and stamping operations.