I was not surprised to learn that the planners of GIFA, METEC, and THERMPROCESS recorded solid attendance at the simultaneous trade shows last month, in Dusseldorf, Germany, nor that each will be staged again in 2011.

I was surprised to learn that the organizers, Messe Dusseldorf, plan to stage the fourth component of the event — NEWCAST — on a two-year cycle. NEWCAST will be held again in June 2009.

NEWCAST is a congregation of casting designers, and the explanation for the accelerated schedule is that visitors to NEWCAST 2007 indicated a desire to gather and share information sooner. This deserves a little more careful examination, but the conclusion isn't hard to reach: we all know the world is changing faster than ever, but now we know where the changes are happening fastest … and it's not in the workshops where equipment is built or fabricated. It's in the laboratories, and hard drives, and the imaginations, where products are designed.