EMO Hannover 2005 Reaches New Heights

/in /by

At its staging from September 14 to 21, EMO Hannover 2005strengthened its undisputed position as the most popular international trade fair for the machine tool industry. Over 160,000 trade visitors from 82 countries lined up to explore all the latest trends and cutting-edge engineering advancements for the manufacturing industries, as showcased by some 2,000 exhibitors from 39 different nations.

“This EMO vastly exceeded exhibitor expectations,” said Dr. Detlev Elsinghorst, the event’s commissioner, at the wrap-up press conference on September 21. “Even on the first day of the show, many exhibitors expressed great satisfaction with the high-yield business talks they were having with scores of visitors from all over the world.”

Attendance from abroad, representing 35% of all visitors, was well above that of the previous event in 2001. More than 10% more visitors came from overseas, especially from Asia and North America. The increase was particularly notable in the case of visitors from Japan and the USA. The next-largest foreign visitor contingents were from Switzerland, India, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and the UK.

“Many exhibitors reported a huge leap in the number of specific inquiries fielded,” explained Elsinghorst. In some cases, exhibitors reported a doubling of requests for quotes as well as actual order signings—despite the fact that EMO is not positioned as a sales exhibition per se.

Many exhibitors also emphasized the importance of boosting their profile on the international machine tools market and forging ties with new business associates and leads. “Not everyone in the industry is familiar with us,” said Dr. Stephan Kohlsmann of Profiroll Technologies in Bad Düben. “And EMO is thus the ideal place to raise our image.”

Participating exhibitors were in excellent spirits at the close of the event:

  • “We are being approached by customers from all over the world intent on really talking business. And it’s not just a matter of numbers; it’s also all about making the right contacts that can culminate in major projects.” — Chris Pockett, Renishaw plc,UK.
     
  • “Customers have come to us with specific inquiries and projects, and we can detect strong pent-up demand. The audience makeup is extremely international, once again underscoring the special role of EMO.” — Martin Engels, DMG AG, Germany.
     
  • “Our visitors came with a number of very precise inquiries. We were able to close a disproportionately high number of deals. Overall, we can see that the market is now more willing to invest – in Germany, in particular.” — Dirk Hemscheid, Yamazaki Mazak Deutschland GmbH, Germany.
     
  • “We were surprised to see such an upswing in attendance right from the very first day. We really hadn’t counted on so much interest.” — Markus Kurringer, Gebr. Heller Maschinenfabrik,Germany.

Visitors were especially interested in the themes of cost reduction in manufacturing, increased flexibility in production, and new machining methods. The integration of various production technologies was a pronounced trend: whereas dual-technology machines were common at the 2001 show, exhibitors in 2005 presented multipurpose machining centers with built-in lathing, milling, threading and drilling components, allowing them to replace up to five machines and reducing processing times by a whopping 90%.

Over 8,500 young people visited a special youth display at EMO to check out the latest technology and career prospects in machine tools and production engineering. Fabian Niehoff, a high school pupil from Neustadt, Germany, said that the special display “made technology come alive.” Like many other students, he made the most of this opportunity to touch base with exhibitors and company representatives.

The next EMO will be staged in Hannover September 12–19, 2007.

For further information:

VDW Verein Deutscher Werkzeugfabriken e.V.