Vision 2009 will feature, for the first time this year, the Integration Area which will be situated in Hall 4. It will provide system integrators and solution suppliers with an attractive and clearly demarcated exhibition area. "The aim of the Integration Area is to focus more on applications and solutions at Vision", said Florian Niethammer, Project Manager of Messe Stuttgart. "Solution suppliers will be pleased", added Niethammer, "that the world's leading trade fair creates a clearly discernible forum and therefore also appeals more to end users".

Application-specific systems still account for most of the turnover in the business of the worldwide machine vision industry. Complex and demanding tasks will also have to be solved in many years in future. Roy Dietsch, Head of the Machine Vision Division of iiM AG, sees the task and advantage of a system integrator as "offering the end customer a problem-oriented solution in the area of machine vision from a single source". The range of services of iiM AG extends from the selection, installation and connection of suitable sensors and peripherals through to the manufacture of complete automatic measuring machines and special machines. However, the company's services also include the development of corresponding visualisation and statistical software. Dietsch: "After clarifying the task over the phone, our customers send us in practice sample parts and a description of the task. If, for example, a robot picks up many different parts from a conveyor, it must know the component's exact position and type. In this case we create the ideal system configuration which comprises components such as a camera system, lighting and optics, and integrate the system in the machine. After successful commissioning, our services include maintenance of the systems and training of the operators."

A large number of companies operating as system integrators in the machine vision industry are also developing their own innovative components. These companies include SmartRay GmbH which, "as a system integrator and competent partner in all areas of 3D machine vision, offers solutions tailored towards users' needs", said Mathias Reiter, Managing Director. SmartRay will present a new generation of 3D smart cameras at Vision 2009. "Thanks to this highly integrated system, pictures can be evaluated immediately in the camera", said Reiter.

The Integration Area is another step towards increasing the proportion of machine vision applications at Vision, the world's leading trade fair for machine vision and identification technologies. This strategy will also be continued in future. The Integration area is sponsored by INSPECT.