ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL. — September 9, 2026 

What Manufacturers Need Most: Accuracy, Precision, Automation, and Data at IMTS 2026

Competitive advantage in manufacturing rarely comes from a single capability anymore. The shops pulling ahead are the ones that hold tighter tolerances, repeat them across full production runs, run more hours with less manual intervention, and make decisions from live machine data.

Accuracy, precision, automation, and data are four different investments, but they compound into one result: a process you can trust at scale. Here is what each one delivers.

Accuracy: hitting the number

Accuracy is the ability to machine to the target, and the target keeps tightening. Manufacturing intricate parts with higher level accuracy opens design possibilities that did not exist a generation ago, and it is changing what industrial equipment can be. The same demand shows up at the other end of the scale, where a vertical boring mill has to meet the accuracy requirements on a workpiece weighing several tons. Shibaura Machine builds horizontal boring mills, vertical turning and boring mills and double column machines engineered to hold accuracy through heavy cuts and long cycles.

Precision: hitting it every time

Accuracy gets the part right. Precision gets it right every time, and in production, that difference is everything. Repeatability is what allows a shop to prove a process once and trust it across an entire run, which is the foundation of real process control. A machine that behaves the same way cycle after cycle provides workpiece accuracy into something you manage. That consistency is built into the machine design maturity refined across generations of Shibaura Machine products.

Automation: more throughput from the same floor

Every hour a machine sits idle between operations is capacity paid for and not used. Automation closes that gap. For example, Shibaura Machine's TMD series of Vertical Boring & Turning Mills and BTD and BTH series Horizontal Boring and Milling Machines are designed for high-accuracy machining of large and heavy parts and offers automation options including pallet changer systems that stage the next workpiece while the current one runs, and automatic tool changers that swap tooling without an operator in the loop. The result is less downtime between operations, longer unattended stretches, and skilled machinists spending their time where judgment matters.

Data: the input you can never have too much of

Every setup, cycle, and alarm is information, and the shops that capture it make better calls on scheduling, maintenance, and process improvement than the shops running on end-of-shift reports.

Shibaura Machine's machiNetCloud platform gives factories a secure, low-risk path into Industrial IoT, with real-time visibility into machine status, utilization, and performance. Controllers support MTConnect and OPC-UA standards, so machine and process data flows directly into plant MES and ERP systems. Paired with on-machine probing and in-process monitoring that adjust for conditions like tool wear as they change, data closes the loop: it is how a shop knows its process is in control, and where the next improvement is.

See what comes next at IMTS 2026

Shibaura Machine has supported the industry's most demanding work for decades, with thousands of machines installed across the Americas with world class sales, parts, service, and application support.  The support behind the machine is as proven as the machine itself.

See the machines at IMTS 2026, September 14-19 at McCormick Place in Chicago, South Hall Booth #339424, where Shibaura Machine will feature the BTD-200QS Horizontal Boring & Milling Center and TUE-150S Vertical Turning Boring and Turning Mill with live spindle or contact the Machine Tool Sales Team to talk through your application.

Contact us at at (888) 593-1616 or mt-sales@shibaura-machine.com.