Japan's Leading Manufacturing Hub, Kansai: Comprehensive Exhibition 'Factory Innovation Week KANSAI 2026' to Accelerate Manufacturing Transformation, Held for 3 Days from Wednesday, May 13 to Friday, May 15, 2026

RX Japan Ltd. will hold the "2nd Factory Innovation Week KANSAI," a comprehensive exhibition to support manufacturing challenges and innovation, from Wednesday, May 13 to Friday, May 15, 2026, for three days at INTEX Osaka. This exhibition is the largest of its kind in Kansai for the manufacturing industry, comprehensively addressing key themes such as DX promotion, automation, decarbonization, and labor shortage countermeasures.

[Kansai] Factory Innovation Week is composed of the following four specialized exhibitions, offering opportunities to encounter specific technologies and solutions for challenges faced by manufacturing sites:

　・[Kansai] Smart Factory EXPO (Manufacturing DX, IoT, AI)

　・[Kansai] Robodex (Robot Development, Implementation, Automation)

　・[Kansai] Manufacturing Industry Decarbonization Exhibition (Decarbonization, Energy Countermeasures)

　・[Kansai] Manufacturing Industry Labor Shortage Countermeasures EXPO (Recruitment, Education, Retention, Labor Saving)

*Kansai's Largest: Comparison of exhibitor numbers and product display area with similar exhibitions, including co-exhibitors.

Background of the Event | Why is it being held in Kansai now?

Kansai is one of Japan's leading manufacturing hubs, with manufacturing bases in a wide range of industrial fields such as automotive, electronics, semiconductors, machinery, and materials. However, manufacturing sites are required to respond to complex challenges such as delays in DX promotion, worsening labor shortages, and demands for decarbonization. Against this backdrop, RX Japan is holding Factory Innovation Week KANSAI as "a place where Kansai's manufacturing industry can encounter the next technologies that will lead to site innovation."

Features of This Exhibition | Covering Key Manufacturing Themes at Once

This exhibition comprehensively introduces themes directly related to both manufacturing management and on-site operations – DX, automation, decarbonization, and human resource issues – through four specialized exhibitions. Visitors can efficiently compare and consider the latest technologies and services in multiple fields according to their company's challenges.

■ "[Kansai] Smart Factory EXPO" to Actualize DX in Manufacturing Sites

At "[Kansai] Smart Factory EXPO," the latest solutions supporting the advancement and efficiency of factories and manufacturing sites through IoT, AI, FA, and data utilization will be gathered, focusing on DX (Digital Transformation) in manufacturing. In manufacturing sites, challenges such as visualization of equipment and processes, improvements through data utilization, elimination of person-dependency, and countermeasures for labor shortages are currently intertwined. This exhibition is characterized by its ability to grasp everything from understanding product/equipment-level technologies to optimizing entire factories and promoting DX. As a place where specific hints can be obtained from the perspectives of technology, systems, and operations to answer the question "How do we change the site?", the [Kansai] Smart Factory EXPO is one of the core exhibitions constituting Factory Innovation Week KANSAI.

■ "[Kansai] Robodex" to Grasp Automation and Robot Utilization at the Site Level

"[Kansai] Robodex" is a specialized exhibition that broadly covers robot-related technologies, including industrial robots, AGVs/AMRs, humanoid robots, and assistive suits active in factories and logistics sites, as well as peripheral equipment such as sensors and grippers, and robot development technologies. In manufacturing sites, against the backdrop of labor shortages and increased workload, the theme is not just simple automation but how humans and robots can collaborate. At [Kansai] Robodex, robot technologies and specific utilization proposals that look ahead to development, introduction, and utilization will be introduced to address such challenges. A major feature is the ability to view robot introduction not as a standalone equipment consideration, but from the perspective of optimizing the entire factory and redesigning the production system.

■ "[Kansai] Manufacturing Industry Decarbonization Exhibition" - Practical Exhibition for "Advancing Decarbonization at the Site Level"

The "[Kansai] Manufacturing Industry Decarbonization Exhibition (Green Factory EXPO)" is a specialized exhibition focused on decarbonization and environmental measures in the manufacturing industry, bringing together technologies and solutions for achieving carbon neutrality in factories, such as energy visualization, CO₂ emissions management, energy-saving equipment, renewable energy, and environmental load reduction technologies. In recent years, while the manufacturing industry has faced increasing environmental regulations and demands for decarbonization across the supply chain, many companies grapple with challenges like "Where should we start?" and "How can we implement it on-site?" This exhibition introduces practical approaches, from the concept stage to introduction and operation, to address such issues.

■ "[Kansai] Manufacturing Industry Labor Shortage Countermeasures EXPO" - A Specialized Exhibition Directly Addressing the "Human" Challenges in Manufacturing

The "[Kansai] Manufacturing Industry Labor Shortage Countermeasures EXPO" is a specialized exhibition focused on challenges faced by the manufacturing industry, such as labor shortages, securing talent, and skills transfer. Recruitment support, education/training, reskilling, technology transfer, and talent management services and solutions that support talent "recruitment, development, retention, and success" in manufacturing are gathered in one place. In manufacturing sites, in addition to chronic labor shortages, challenges related to human resources are becoming more complex and advanced, including the aging of skilled workers, the training of young talent, and the acquisition of new skills due to the introduction of digital technologies. This exhibition introduces practical countermeasures from the perspectives of systems, structures, and tools to address these issues. It serves as a forum to consider human resource challenges not merely as "recruitment difficulties" but as important management themes supporting the sustainable competitiveness of the manufacturing industry.

Featured Programs This Time

■ Learn the Forefront of "Physical AI" Driving the Future of Manufacturing at the "Physical AI Open Seminar"

In response to labor shortages and the increasing sophistication of manufacturing processes, Physical AI is expected to play an important role in the future of manufacturing as a technology supporting human-machine collaboration, productivity improvement, and site autonomy. The content will provide practical insights for visitors considering the next steps for manufacturing.

■ "AI Table (Expert Panel Discussion)" to Decipher the "Now" and "Next" of AI Utilization in Manufacturing Sites

Currently, while interest in AI utilization is high in manufacturing sites, many companies face challenges in the implementation phase, such as "Where should we start?" and "How can we apply it to our own business?" This program will feature discussions from a "practical, on-site perspective" rather than purely technical discourse, addressing such questions. AI Table is one of the notable seminars, offering practical hints for transforming manufacturing sites by making AI utilization more than just a fleeting trend.

Approximately 60 Companies Exhibiting from the Kansai Region

Approximately 60 companies based in the manufacturing hub region of Kansai will exhibit at this event. Kansai, as a region where final product manufacturers, component/equipment suppliers, and processors are in close proximity, has a fertile ground for developing technologies honed through practice and accumulated improvements. By bringing together companies with such technologies, this exhibition will feature numerous displays where visitors can experience "real technological strength" rooted in manufacturing sites. The depth of regional technologies, made possible by the Kansai location, is a major highlight of Factory Innovation Week KANSAI. RX Japan aims to communicate the power of manufacturing in Kansai to the rest of Japan and the world through this event.

*Kansai refers to (Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture).

★ Those wishing to attend as general visitors can register here.

Event Outline

Name: 2nd Factory Innovation Week KANSAI

Date: Wednesday, May 13 - Friday, May 15, 2026 Venue: INTEX OSA

Organizer: RX Japan Ltd. Official Website: https://www.fiweek.jp/osaka/ja-jp.html

【Simultaneously Held Exhibitions】
 ・2nd NEPCON JAPAN [Kansai]
 ・14th Highly-Functional Material Week [Osaka]
 ・2nd Photonix [Osaka] – The Laser and Photonics Exhibition –
 ・2nd Recycle Tech JAPAN [Osaka]