19. 12. 2008
EuroMold 2008 – a huge success
The 15th EuroMold closed its gates on Dec. 6, 2008, and had for four days hosted 58,842 from 87 countries. That means, the proportion of international attendees has grown in comparison to last year’s EuroMold. In total EuroMold 2008 greeted 19,535 international visitors, a quota of 33.2 % of all attendees. The rate of non German visitors grew by 4.4 %.

The 15th World Fair for Moldmaking and Tooling, Design an Application Development was inaugurated by Prof. Hans-Olaf Henkel. Subsequent to the opening press conference and the round table discussions on the subject of the Host Country India he made a round tour on the venue to get an overview of the high-class, innovative and versatile products and technologies showcased by 1,523 exhibitors from 38 countries.



International Attendees

EuroMold is of major importance for countries from Central and West Europe. The biggest visitor countries were Italy (9.1 % of all international attendees), Switzerland (8.5 %), followed by Austria, France and the Netherlands. Asia was well represented by Japan (2.6 % of all non German visitors), China (1.5 %) the host country India (1.4 %), South Korea (1.0 %), and, Iran (0.8 %). Other important visiting countries were USA (2.3 %), Brazil (1.8 %) and Israel (1.1 %). EuroMold attracted interest from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Martinique, Chile and Tajikistan, too.

Trade visitors by sectors of industry

Most attendees, 21.0 %, were from the automotive industry, despite the restrictions for business trips in many large concerns. The second biggest sector was engineering (17.3 %) followed by electrical & electronic industry (6.3 %), plant construction (5.0 %), medical industry (4.9 %), and, aerospace (3.8 %).

With regards to EuroMolds specific sectors most attendees came from Moldmaking and Tooling (15.7 %), Patternmaking and Prototyping (8.3 %), Engineering (8.1 %), Design (6.1 %), Tools (5.8 %), Machine Tools (5.6 %), Materials (5.5 %), Soft- and Hardware (5.3 %), and, Rapid Prototyping & Tooling (5.2 %).

Traditionally the biggest group of visitors at EuroMold consists of executives and decision makers. This includes department managers (15.4 %), proprietors (10.3 %), CEOs (10.0 %), and, R&D managers (7.3 %). A considerable number of attendees were foremen (3.3 %), production managers (3.1 %), purchase officers (2.8 %), and, chief operating officers (2.2 %). Most represented departments were production (21.0 %), construction (17.2 %), Sales (13.0 %), R&D (12.1 %), purchase (8.7 %), design (8.1 %), and, product development (7.1 %)

24.3 % of all attendees came from enterprises with more than 500 employees followed by companies with 100 – 500 workers (23.3 %) and companies with 10 – 49 employees (22.6 %).

Round up

On more than 75.000 m?2; floor space the World Fair presented numerous special feature shows in the halls 5.0, 6.0, 6.1, 8.0, 9.0 and the Galleria, and set up new standards with its versatile supporting programme.

A considerable number of exhibitors from different industrial sectors reported very good business contacts and many conclusions of contracts. The 15th EuroMold showed up impressively how companies from all areas of product development can be successful, despite the existing financial crisis.

Not only suppliers of Rapid Prototyping, but also in other areas within the process chain, like for instance design or special machine tools, exhibitors stated prosperous contacts and partly business transactions during the show.

Very well attended were all international conferences, as for example the Mold- and Toolmaking Synergy Symposium Russia. The most important international conference on future markets Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Manufacturing, organised by Wohlers Association Inc, Fort Collins / USA, had a great feedback and attracted much international interest. Meantime the Wohlers Conference has become tradition at EuroMold, held for the first time ten years ago.
The symposium arranged by Society of Plastics Engineers, Brookfield / USA, attracted worldwide attention, too. Here attendees could get informed about latest news and state-of-the-art technology with regards to raw materials and the process of manufacture in the automotive industry. It addressed design engineers, product executives, injection moulders, and, tool and mouldmakers.

EuroMold-AWARD

Especially the sector Rapid Prototyping with a remarkable increase of exhibitors showed many top-class innovations: Among others Huntsman, the winner of this year’s EuroMold-AWARD, presented a novelty within Rapid Manufacturing and could sign up a contract at EuroMold 2009.
The EuroMold-AWARD was bestowed during the inauguration by Prof. Hans-Olaf Henkel on Dec. 3, 2008. The second prize was awarded to ECMTEC for its machines and services for electro-chemical micro milling (ECF). The AWARD in bronze for the third winner was handed over to Helmut Diebold GmbH & Co. Goldring Werkzeugfabrik for its Diebold Coolant Module (DCM). The EuroMold-AWARD is bestowed annually for innovative and trend setting products and services.



Prospects for 2009

Next EuroMold will be Dec. 2 – 5, 2009. 2009 EuroMold will show up with a new hall concept, and become even more attractive for trade visitors as well as for all exhibitors. The new modern halls 11.0 and 11.1 certainly will upgrade the periphery of EuroMold 2009, and will make it very convenient for visitors due to short walking distances. The new concept will bring attendees and exhibitors even closer together.

Already after the successful ending of EuroMold 2008 many exhibitors had re-booked and asked for bigger stands. Thus, EuroMold 2009 also will be an innovative and technological top-class event and furthermore attract much interest from the exhibitors.