Interpreters for ITES (Shenzhen International Industrial Manufacturing Technology and Equipment Exhibition)

ITES and SIMM are the same show

If you knew it as SIMM, the Shenzhen machinery show, you are in the right place. It started in 2000 as SIMM (深圳机械展) and was renamed ITES in 2020, when 100,000 sqm were added. Its full English name is the Shenzhen International Industrial Manufacturing Technology and Equipment Exhibition. Search for both names when you look up exhibitors and past editions.

What the show is like

The 28th ITES runs 24–27 March 2027 at Shenzhen World in Bao'an. Hours are 9:00–17:00 for the first three days and 9:00–15:00 on 27 March. It is for professionals only, and under-18s are not admitted. The organiser describes it as the first show of its kind in South China to be a UFI member and BPA-audited.

The halls cover machine tools, metal cutting and forming, measurement, tooling and automation. You will see machining centres and lathes under power, sheet-metal lines, robot cells and CMMs, often with Chinese builders and imported brands a few aisles apart.

Before you go

1. Register onlineunder your real name; your passport is checked on site
2. Register your interpreter toogroups of three or more can register together
3. Bring a real partits drawing and material, your target cycle time and annual volume

Registration is online and under your real name, with a passport check on site. Groups of three or more can register together, which is useful if you travel with colleagues. Register your interpreter too.

If you are buying a machine, bring the drawing and material of the part you want to make, your target cycle time and your annual volume. A sales engineer can only size a machine against a real part.

What the interpreter handles at the stands

Machine-tool specs are easy to mistranslate and expensive to get wrong. Positioning accuracy is not repeatability. Spindle taper and speed, axis travel, rapid traverse, tool-changer capacity, thermal compensation, linear scales, five-axis simultaneous or 3+2, and which controller is fitted. For tooling, insert grade and coating; for measurement, probing and CMM accuracy. A tolerance stated in microns has to stay in microns.

The negotiation is mostly about what comes with the machine. Is installation and commissioning included, and who travels to your plant? Will they run a factory acceptance test on your part before shipping? How long is the warranty, who supplies spare parts in your country, and how long does a service call take? What voltage and safety standard is the machine built to? What is the deposit, and what is the lead time after it? A good interpreter keeps these points in one list, so you can compare three suppliers' answers in the evening.

After the show

1. Shenzhen WorldBao'anthe show closes at 15:00 on 27 March
2. Bao'an and LonghuaShenzhenindustrial areas
3. Dongguan
4. Huizhou

Builders and job shops are spread across Shenzhen's Bao'an and Longhua industrial areas, Dongguan and Huizhou. Visiting the assembly floor or a user's workshop shows you the machine cutting metal, not idling on a stand. The show closes at 15:00 on 27 March, which leaves that afternoon for a first workshop visit. Book it and any later factory days on the booking page as factory visits, with the interpreter who kept your supplier comparison list.