PaintExpo Expands – Even in difficult times
Lots of valuable leads, numerous concrete RFQs and business transacted directly at the event assured a good mood amongst the 327 exhibitors at the 3rd PaintExpo. And this offers good reason to hope that growth can once again be expected in the coatings industry, which has already been substantiated by the 3rd edition of the leading international trade fair for industrial coating technology which took place in Karlsruhe (Germany) from the 13th through the 16th of April, 2010: Exhibitor numbers increased by 14%, and PaintExpo visitor numbers grew by 8% to a total of 6397.
“PaintExpo is very well accepted by our customers and other interested parties because it offers an extremely clear-cut picture of the entire coatings industry. All of the relevant companies from all fields of industrial coating technology are represented here in a concentrated fashion. We’re very satisfied with the quantity and the quality of the visitors again this year”, reports Martin Weidisch from marketing services at J. Wagner GmbH, who has participated at all three events to date. And industry presence was concentrated like never before: 327 exhibitors, 14% more than in 2008, took part at the 3rd edition of the specialised trade fair for industrial coating technology. 20.5% of the exhibitors came from outside of Germany, representing 15 different countries. Trade fair offerings, which were focused exclusively on products and services for the entire scope of the liquid painting, powder coating and coil coating process sequences, attracted 6397 visitors to Karlsruhe – an 8% increase. Foreign visitors who journeyed from a total of 62 countries made up roughly 19,5% of the total number. This growth, as well as increasing levels of internationalism, underscore PaintExpo’s undisputed top ranking as an industry event for industrial coating technology.
Specialist visitors with high levels of decision making authority
In addition to the large numbers of specialist visitors, the exhibitors were also enthusiastic about their technical qualifications and decision making authority. “Visitors who attend PaintExpo are a dream-come-true for anyone who’s involved with customer consultation. All of them are engineers, technicians or process engineering experts – exactly the kind of people we want to hook up with. We’re able to discuss things with them at a highly technical level”, explains Achim Trefz, assistant sales manager from SATA GmbH & Co. KG. Things took on very concrete contours at the booth operated by I.L.S. Vertriebs GmbH & Co. KG as well, as described by sales manager Michael Müller: “PaintExpo is demonstrating very positive development, and has been extremely successful for us. We had more visitors at our booth and customers who placed orders that we did at the last trade fair.” Lübbo Röttgers, director of application technology for GI liquids at Relius Coatings GmbH & Co. KG, who participated at the leading trade fair for industrial coating technology for the first time together with BASF, summed things up in a similar way.
“We were able to establish good contacts at PaintExpo, and we’ve discovered that the decision makers really do come to this trade fair.” Frank Wübben, district manager of the European division for industrial and automotive equipment at Graco GmbH, is also very pleased with the way things went at the trade fair: “It’s strictly a technical trade fair without any so-called hunter-gatherers, but rather specialist visitors only. This made it possible for us to pick up highly interesting leads, and I assume that we’ll exhibit at PaintExpo again in 2012.” Siegfried Nittmann of Nittmann Filters for painting and air-conditioning systems is already convinced that he’ll participate at the trade fair again in two years: “Lots of customers have visited us here, and numerous new contacts have been established with employees from companies in the automobile and automotive supplier industries, as well as from the electronics industry and machinery manufacturing all over Europe. Experience has shown that customer relations evolve from roughly 50% of the contacts we make at PaintExpo. And we’ll have a bigger booth at the trade fair in 2012 for this reason”, says the company’s proprietor. Bettina Love, assistant to general management at SurTec Deutschland GmbH arrives at nearly identical conclusions: “Our first appearance at PaintExpo has paid off, and we’ll be back again next time around.” Some of the exhibitors were surprised by the high levels of visitor internationalism. “We’ve received lots of concrete RFQs for our water treatment technology division. It’s been somewhat surprising for me that project RFQs have come to a large extent from North Rhine – Westphalia and northern Germany on the one hand, and on the other hand from foreign visitors. In some cases from neighbouring countries like Switzerland, Austria and France, but also from visitors from, for example, the USA, Kazakhstan, Greece, Scandinavia and Slovakia. My impression is that PaintExpo has become more international”, explains Stephan Heuer, managing director of Hardo Heuer GmbH. “We participated for the first time at PaintExpo this year, and things went surprisingly well for us at the trade fair. The visitors were highly interested and very knowledgeable. During our discussions it became apparent that we were dealing with employees of industrial companies who were looking for solutions to actual problems. And they came from both inside and outside of Germany. We had visitors from Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Korea, France, Holland, Italy, Spain, Poland, Russia and other countries at our booth“, sums up Rüdiger Kaiser, sales manager at E.M.M. Deutschland GmbH.
Ideal opportunities for gathering information
PaintExpo is first choice for users around the world as well, wherever solutions are required for the liquid painting, powder coating and coil coating process sequences. This is not least due to the fact that the leading trade fair is focused exclusively on industrial coating technology, and presents internationally comprehensive and diverse offerings ranging from pre-treatment, paints and application techniques, right on up to final inspection. The next PaintExpo, leading international trade fair for industrial coating technology, will take place in Karlsruhe from the 17th through the 20th of April, 2012. We would be pleased to receive copies of, or links from/to, all of the publications in which the contents of this press release appear.
Further Exhibitor Statements
Angelika Hecht, marketing, ITW Gema GmbH, Switzerland
“We feel we’re in good hands at PaintExpo, and we’re happy that there’s a genuine technical trade fair at which we can present our products. We had large numbers of visitors at our booth once again this year, and there was practically no difference in comparison with previous events. I assume we’ll exhibit again in 2012.”
Werner Naujok, sales and branch office manager for surface engineering, Rippert Anlagentechnik GmbH & Co. KG
“We’ve been on-board since the very first PaintExpo, and it’s still the most important trade fair for us. This year as well, we’ve received very interesting RFQs from various industry sectors. We’ll be back again for PaintExpo 2012. Not participating at a trade fair like this one would be inexcusable.”
Ralf Dürr-Krouzilek, authorised signatory, LUTRO Luft- und Trockentechnik GmbH
“As a leading trade fair for surface finishing technology, PaintExpo provides us with plenty of potential, and we’ve once again been presented with very interesting projects. We can certainly call it an entirely positive trade fair experience.”
Michael Pleuse, account manager Germany, Oxyplast Belgium n.v./s.a., Belgium
“As powdered enamel manufacturers, we’re very well represented in the Benelux countries. We participated at PaintExpo for the first time in order to expand awareness of our company in Germany. We were able to establish lots of interesting contacts, and our participation at the trade fair has been a complete success. For this reason, I think we’ll exhibit at PaintExpo again in 2012.”
Gerhard Pelzl, managing director, L & S Oberflächentechnik
“PaintExpo has evolved in a positive fashion. There are more exhibitors and the visitors are extremely interesting. The quality of the visitors is even better than it was in 2008. This is due to the fact that investments are now being made place where they’re necessary. We’ll be back again in 2012.”
Michalina Wawrzyniak, marketing & commercial department, ZUGIL, Poland
“This is the first time we’ve ever exhibited at a trade fair in Germany. We’ve met up with companies at PaintExpo who were already familiar with us, and with whom we’ve been able to discuss possible projects. We’ve also been able to establish lots of new contacts, and we hope that these will lead to new business relations.”
Nicole Mihlan, marketing manager, Venjakob Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG
“Visitors come to PaintExpo with entirely concrete requirements, and they praise the fact that you can find everything here that’s involved with coating technology. We had very interesting discussions again this year, and participating at the event has paid off. It would also appear that PaintExpo has become more international: Amongst others, we had visitors from Turkey, Israel, Russia and France at our booth.”
Heidi Wich, project coordination, CSF Förderanlagen GmbH
“In the past, we attended PaintExpo on a regular basis, and we decided to participate this year. Based on the good feedback, I assume that our participation will result in one or more projects.”
Elke D. Kocher, inside sales manager, PPG Dr. A. Schoch AG, Switzerland
“The good contacts we were able to establish made PaintExpo very interesting for us once again. There’s no doubt that this year’s visitors had very concrete tasks in mind, thus further increasing visitor quality. The visitors came from a great variety of industry sectors and from many different countries all over the world.”
Konstantin Weidinger, technical outside sales, Tiger Coatings GmbH & Co. KG, Austria
“We’re exhibiting for the first time at PaintExpo and lots of existing customers have visited us, but we’ve also made contact with numerous, interesting potential new customers. Trade fair organisation is highly commendable. We’re fully satisfied and PaintExpo is a trade fair at which we have to be represented.”
Stefan Hartauer, sales manager for industrial paints, MIPA AG
“MIPA has been exhibiting at PaintExpo right from the very beginning. The trade fair has developed nicely, and it’s the forum for industrial painting. We’re very pleased with the way things have gone at the event this year. Most of the visitors say that PaintExpo is the trade fair they go to to look for solutions to their coating problems. Roughly 20% of the visitors at our booth come from outside of Germany.
Petra Schotte-Pirker, marketing manager, WIWA Wilhelm Wagner GmbH & Co. KG
“In my opinion, PaintExpo is demonstrating very positive development and things have gone very well for us again. There aren’t any so-called looky-loos here, but rather strictly experts who have specific problems and questions. We’ve picked up lots of very concrete leads. This is also due to the fact that people have been putting off their investments because of the crisis, and the improving mood is making companies more confident – now they’re coming to the trade fair to look for solutions to their problems. I’d like to see a few more fringe areas represented at PaintExpo, for example material manufacturers.
Sandra Gehringer, marketing manager, Emil Frei GmbH & Co. KG
“As far as I’m concerned, PaintExpo is the only interesting trade fair for paint manufacturers. There’s no alternative. Once again, we’re very satisfied with our participation at the event. A sense of excitement about the future was plainly perceptible this year, and our customers were saying that the economic situation is again slowly improving.”
For more information
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Jürgen Haußmann
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E-mail: info@paintexpo.de, Web: www.paintexpo.de
