IMTS 2026 Conference to Tackle Femto-Second Laser Micromachining on the Shop Floor

Laser micromachining is no longer a lab curiosity. At the IMTS 2026 Conference, manufacturing professionals will get a focused look at the current state of high accuracy, high reliability laser micro-machining — and why femto-second laser technology is changing what precision shops can cut, and how cleanly they can cut it.

The conference listing was published August 18, 2026 by Justin McCombs of GIE Media's Manufacturing Group.

A process without the thermal baggage

The core engineering argument for femto lasers is simple: precision without heat damage. Industrial laser technology continues to evolve rapidly, with improvements in output parameters and CAD/CAM software control enabling high-speed ablation at micron-level accuracy. That combination opens the door to a process description worth quoting directly:

"High accuracy, five-axis laser micromachining with femto-second laser sources deliver a digital, repeatable, and clean process."

"Femto lasers ablate material with no heat-affected-zone, eliminating collateral thermal effects and delivering high precision ablation with sharp edges and no burr."

For engineers accustomed to fighting recast layers and post-processing deburring, sharp edges with no burr straight off the machine is a meaningful claim.

Skipping the electrode, skipping the mask

Beyond cut quality, the session will address process economics. Conventional EDM workflows carry a hidden cost in electrode production — one that laser ablation sidesteps entirely:

"Lasers eliminate the time and cost for EDM electrode production, thus enabling rapid prototyping and rapid design iterations."

"A laser machine can also ablate only where required, thus eliminating the need for masking/de-masking processes."

Selective ablation without masking steps is particularly relevant for shops running short iterations or prototype cycles where setup time dominates.

Material breadth as the selling point

Lasers can ablate an unusually wide range of materials: hard metals, semiconductors, ceramics, and transparent materials. That breadth is what makes the technology applicable across nearly every market segment — and it's the rationale behind integrating an industrial femtosecond laser into a 5-axis CNC machine tool for high precision manufacturing.

The presentation will ground these capabilities in real-world examples, covering production applications in medical devices, micro-electronics, and industrial micro-tooling.

Who's presenting

Ed Ingerman will deliver the session. He brings a background in R&D and applications engineering, with expertise in both laser and conventional micromachining processes — a combination that should let him speak credibly to engineers weighing one process against the other. Ingerman has supported the medical, information and communications technology, and aerospace industries across North America and Europe. He currently serves as a technical sales support engineer for laser technologies within the CHARMILLES division of UNITED MACHINING, and is based in Chicago.