Motion + Power Technology Expo 2027: The Flagship American Show for Fluid Power, Drives, and the Industry That Connects Them

The Motion + Power Technology Expo has a lineage that runs back to the origins of organised fluid power in the United States. What began as the National Fluid Power Association's own exhibition has evolved — through consolidations, rebranding, and the changing structure of the American industrial technology exhibition market — into the largest dedicated fluid power, power transmission, and motion control show in the Western Hemisphere. When it next opens, attendees will find 1,500-plus exhibitors covering the complete spectrum from hydraulic pump platforms and pneumatic valve banks to variable frequency drives, servo systems, linear actuators, and the software that integrates all of it.

MPT Expo 2027 is scheduled on the quadrennial cycle that has characterised the show in recent editions, with the exact dates and venue to be confirmed closer to the event. The show is organised in collaboration with NFPA, AGMA, PTDA, and the other associations that collectively represent the fluid power, gear, and power transmission industries — a multi-association structure that broadens both the exhibitor base and the visitor constituency beyond what any single association event can achieve. Previous editions have been held in Las Vegas and Chicago; the 2027 location follows the established pattern of major US convention cities.

What Makes MPT Expo Different from IFPE

The natural comparison is with IFPE, the International Fluid Power Exposition that co-locates with CONEXPO every three years in Las Vegas. MPT Expo serves a different function. IFPE's value is inseparable from its CONEXPO co-location — the construction and agricultural equipment OEM engineering community that drives so much mobile hydraulic procurement attends because of the combined show package. MPT Expo serves the broader industrial motion control and power transmission market: the gear drive manufacturers, the belt and chain drive suppliers, the servo amplifier companies, and the linear motion specialists who are not primarily selling into construction equipment but into general industrial machinery, robotics, automotive production equipment, and the packaging and material handling sectors.

That distinction creates a different buyer profile at MPT Expo. The fluid power section overlaps with IFPE — the same pump manufacturers exhibit at both — but the surrounding exhibitor and visitor community at MPT Expo is more industrially diversified. An axial piston pump manufacturer exhibiting at MPT Expo will encounter OEM engineers from paper mill drives, plastic injection moulding machine hydraulics, and marine hydraulic system integrators alongside the construction equipment engineers who dominate IFPE. For companies with product ranges that span mobile and industrial hydraulic applications, the broader MPT Expo visitor base is commercially complementary rather than duplicative.

Quick Reference

The Gear, Belt and Chain Transmission Context

The power transmission exhibitors at MPT Expo — gear drive manufacturers, belt drive suppliers, chain drive companies, and coupling specialists — share exhibition floor with hydraulic pump and motor manufacturers in a configuration that reflects how industrial power transmission actually works. Most industrial machinery uses a combination of fluid power and mechanical power transmission: a hydraulic motor driving through a reduction gearbox, a variable speed belt drive supplemented by a hydraulic brake, or a gear pump driven through a flexible coupling from an electric motor. Engineers evaluating complete drive system configurations need to see all the components in proximity, and MPT Expo provides that integrated view of the power transmission and fluid power market.

For hydraulic pump manufacturers, the AGMA and PTDA visitor constituencies at MPT Expo represent customer segments that dedicated fluid power shows do not concentrate. Gearbox engineers who specify hydraulic lubrication pump systems, industrial drive system integrators who select hydraulic power units for their machinery packages, and maintenance engineers from large industrial facilities who attend MPT Expo for its cross-technology scope — all of these are commercially relevant audiences that a hydraulic pump manufacturer benefits from reaching, and MPT Expo is where they appear in largest concentration in the American market.