Stateside with Stephanie
The Little Engine that Could
Stephanie Selesnick investigates what keeps the motors running at Detroit’ s major MPT Expo
he Motion + Power
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Manufacturers Alliance Motion + Power Technology Expo held their biennial exhibition in October at Huntington Place Convention Center in Detroit. Produced by The American Gear Manufacturing Association and the American Bearing Manufacturing Association, they are 108 and 107 years old respectively.
What do they do? They make anything that moves and rotates. Without gears and bearings, cars, planes, trains, clocks, robots, and even skateboards don’ t move.
This is a small but mighty industry that has been significantly impacted by the Trump Tariffs as they rely on imports used in the manufacturing process. Quotations for gears and bearings can change significantly, as tariffs change.
However, the show just came off its largest, most successful event post- Covid. How? A lot of hard work.
Rebecca Brinkley, senior director, member engagement and communications and Leah Lewis, senior. director, education and events, gave the Detroit Customer Advisory Committee( I’ m a member) a presentation on how they did it, and it’ s impressive. The big lesson here? If a small association management team can do this, so can your organisation.
Background These two mature associations were established to create standards for their industry’ s products, evolving from streetcars back in 1916 and 1917. Because of their mandate, they have
Top: Rebecca Brinkley
Bottom: Leah Lewis always proactively stayed focused on the cutting edge of emerging technology trends and new materials.
Their membership re-sign rate is 97-98 %. Besides the expo, there’ s a 8x annual highly technical print magazine( engineers prefer paper to electronic), and a lot of educational programming.
Brinkley says:“ We actively seek out both industry disruptors and enhancers, geopolitical trends, and anything else that will affect our members’ businesses. For the world, our industry has to stay healthy and have the resources they need to stay that way.”
Member companies range in size from mom & pops worth $ 500,000 to multinationals worth $ 100bn. Smaller members receive buyout offers“ all of the time. Weekly! Consolidation has led to a lower number of manufacturers, which is another disruption in the industry.”
Detroit, being a centre of engineering and innovation – not just for autos – is a perfect location for the event.
The show This is a trade show with a small educational component. 2025’ s edition had 174 exhibiting companies, 2060 visitors in 60,000 sq. feet( 5,600sqm) including activations. Mornings( with breakfast included) had educational offerings in three tracks with subject matter expert panels on aerospace and defence, robotics and automation, and trade and tariffs. Show hours followed, so exhibitors were able to attend.
Co-located with M + P is the Fall Tech Meeting with its research and development focus, bringing in some of the biggest buyers and decision-makers in the industry. The conference includes a full day on the show floor.
Know your members The association team regularly visits their members at their factories. They’ ve gone from asking,“ What kind of gears do you make?” to conversations with workers on the factory floor
28 Issue 6 2025 www. exhibitionworld. co. uk