Formnext Chicago 2025 Launches

With Formnext Chicago, Mesago Messe Frankfurt is bringing its Formnext trade show concept to the United States. Formnext Chicago, April 8-10, 2025, will showcase the industrial process chain for additive manufacturing.

“We see huge potential in U.S. companies that have not yet encountered additive manufacturing (AM) or are not utilizing the benefits of this technology,” explains Sascha F. Wenzler, vice president, Formnext. 

With Formnext Chicago, Mesago Messe Frankfurt is expanding its strategy of regionally adapted formats in relevant AM markets, based on the original Formnext event in Frankfurt, Germany. Examples to date include the Formnext + PM South China in Shenzhen, China, and the Formnext Forum Tokyo, Japan.

Formnext Chicago is being organized by Mesago Messe Frankfurt in collaboration with AMT (the Association for Manufacturing Technology) and Gardner Business Media. AMT is the organizer behind IMTS, the largest manufacturing trade fair in North America. Gardner Business Media is North America’s leading media company focused on machining, plastics processing and other manufacturing technologies.

Challenging Scheduling

“Formnext was early to recognize the significance of the U.S. market for the AM industry and announced the 2025 Chicago event back in 2021. The AM community’s global growth is evidence of the high demand for the successful format. Other suppliers, such as Rapid + TCT, confirm our assessment of the potential of the local AM sector, but are now holding their event at the same time as Formnext Chicago,” says Douglas Woods, AMT President.

“We see Formnext Chicago as a great opportunity for the U.S. application industries because it covers the entire additive value chain from material suppliers, software, and production systems, to post-processing and quality assurance," woods adds. "This clearly differentiates the new format from existing 3D Printing or rapid prototyping events in the U.S. market.”

The meeting of the Additive Manufacturing Users Group in Chicago will also be held around the same time as Formnext Chicago. Due to the different formats of AMUG and Formnext Chicago, Sascha Wenzler sees further potential here “to discuss how we can realize synergies with AMUG and support each other. This allows us to create added value for the industry.”

“There will always be competition, especially in the USA. And in a market as large as the United States and with a technology as important as additive manufacturing, there is room for more than one format,” Woods adds.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.