Officially launched on 11 Nov 2022, Machine Tools Africa 2024 is Africa’s biggest machine tools exhibition showcasing cutting edge developments across the machine tools and related industries. A Machine Tools Merchants’ Association of South Africa (MTMA) event, Machine Tools Africa will be taking place at the Expo Centre in Nasrec, Johannesburg, from 21-24 May 2024.

Speaking about the industry and the launch of the show, Joanne Canossa, MTMA Chairperson, says that over the 2020-2022 trading period, South African manufacturers and metal fabricators have had to endure more than one blow: Covid-19, KZN unrest and rioting, port congestion and sabotage resulting in shipping delays, flooding on our East Coast, a steel industry’s strike and to top it off the Russian-Ukrainian war impacting on material and component supply globally.

However, with all this said, she says that “statistics show a large increase in revenue of industrial machinery in 2021/2022. This confirms that even though South Africa has been hit negatively for the past two years, businesses are investing in machinery and upgrades.”

There has been keen interest in automation, smart factories, and Industry 5.0 and how it will affect the manufacturing sector in the coming years, and according to Canossa, the “timing for the Machine Tools Africa exhibition in 2024 is perfect.”