Digital solutions determine market for joining, cutting and surfacing technology
Industrial trade fair on course for success: With 826 exhibitors and 40,000 trade visitors from 124 nations, SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN impressively confirmed its position as the world's leading trade fair for joining, cutting and surfacing technology. For five intensive days, everything revolved around innovations, investments, networking and knowledge transfer at Messe Essen. "The atmosphere in our exhibition halls was excellent. After the pandemic-related break, it was noticeable how much the industry appreciates this platform. Many companies have reported concentrated and successful sales talks to us; they are also expecting good post-fair business", said Oliver P. Kuhrt, CEO of Messe Essen. "In addition to the high internationality, the procurement competence of the trade visitors was particularly impressive. This shows: SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN is the trade fair for investments."
83 percent of all trade visitors accompany purchasing decisions in their companies. A particularly large number of experts from the steel, mechanical engineering and vehicle construction sectors, but also from wholesale, the service sector and the energy industry, came to SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN to find out about new solutions and to place orders on site. A third of all visitors used the trade fair to make or prepare investments, and the average order volume increased significantly compared to the previous event. Whether networked cutting systems, sustainable welding gases, high-quality protective equipment or efficient and resource-saving software – innovations from numerous areas were in demand. After all, the industry is the driving force for many other sectors of the economy, such as automotive or architecture. In 2022, the production value of German welding technology alone amounted to a total of 4.11 billion euros – a new record. Dr.-Ing. Roland Boecking, Managing Director of DVS – German Welding Society: "We are impressed by the success of SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2023 and our expectations were even exceeded. The trade fair offered a fantastic overview of the innovations and trends in the industry. The exhibitor and visitor numbers also showed that the need for a large trade fair is there. Messe Essen offers the perfect forum for this and we are already looking forward to SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2025."
Trade fair all about digitalisation
Once again, the industry presented itself in a ground-breaking way at SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN. As in hardly any other branch of industry, digitalisation and networking play a decisive role in the future orientation here. Smart robot systems that work hand in hand and together carry out the most diverse process steps efficiently were on display, as were systems that create digital twins and thus enable optimisations thanks to their real-time data.
Igor Mikulina, President of Board of Trustees of the IndustryFusion Foundation: "Our industry is highly innovative: The trade audience was able to experience numerous digitalisation solutions live at the exhibitors' stands. The IndustryFusion Foundation also recorded a high number of visitors at its stand – our open source networking solution IndustryFusion-X interested end users as well as machine and plant manufacturers and software providers. We are already looking forward to the next SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN."
World premieres and innovative start-up ideas inspired the trade audience
Traditionally, SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN is the stage where companies present their innovations to the public. A world premiere was celebrated, for example, by oxyacetylene welding machines that are powered by hydrogen and thus make an important contribution to more climate protection, occupational safety and CO2 reduction. International and German start-ups supported by the German government used SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2023 as a global platform to present their own ideas and solutions to the market. Among them was the company Steeldate, based in Bad Nauheim, Germany, which brings together order and material in a precise match with its resource-saving matchmaking tool. MX3D, on the other hand, showed additive manufacturing from the 3D printer – a technology with which the Dutch start-up has already realised a footbridge in Amsterdam.
Overall, 66 percent of the exhibiting companies came from abroad. Numerous nations presented themselves jointly under their respective national flags, including China, France, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the USA. Lu Daming, Vice President of CMES – Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, draws a positive conclusion from the Chinese joint presentation: "After six years, the welding industry was very much looking forward to SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2023. The fair showcased the latest technologies, the newest products and the latest processes of the global welding industry and is rightly regarded as the leading global trade fair. With almost 150 Chinese exhibitors, we occupied an area of 3,500 square metres. The fair is always worth a trip to exchange ideas with colleagues from all over the world."
Supporting programme made underwater technology tangible
The supporting programme also impressed the professional audience. The accompanying DVS Congress from Monday to Thursday attracted almost 450 participants. It was a combination of the Large Welding Conference, which focused on current topics such as "Welding in Electromobility" or "Artificial Intelligence in Joining Technology", the DVS Campus, a format in which students presented their final theses, and, for the first time, the Underwater Technology Conference, which highlighted the challenging work in wet depths. In addition, the trade visitors experienced practical application examples in a diving container and were able to observe an expert at work.
The young talents of the industry also showed their skills live on site. The best German welders were selected in the DVS national competition "Jugend schweißt" (“welding youth”) and teams with young talents from eleven nations competed against each other in the Young Welders' Competitions.
Successful social media presence
SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN also attracted attention away from the exhibition halls in the social media on Instagram, LinkedIn and Co. While the exhibitors were committed to sharing their trade fair experiences, the trade fair's own platforms also scored points on the social web. A time-lapse video of the trade fair set-up and a compilation of impressions achieved more than 7,8 million views and more than 206,000 likes on the Instagram channel of Messe Essen. Well-known content creators from the industry such as Anna Sänger, JP Metalldesign, Manfred Welding, Erik Alu Löffel or Igor Welder, Colin Furze, Ben Steel and GMAW Welding Belgium visited SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN, gave talks and reported entertainingly on their channels about encounters, innovations and new products.
High intentions to visit again
95 percent of the trade visitors were satisfied with their visit to SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2023. 94 percent plan to visit again and recommend the trade show to others. In addition to the registered trade visitors, international delegations and guests of honour as well as many international press representatives and participants in the supporting programme visited the event.
The 20th SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN, from 11th to 15th September 2023 at Messe Essen, registered 826 exhibitors from 40 nations. On the part of the exhibitors, 94 percent are planning to take part again in the next SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN, which will be held from 15th to 19th September 2025 at Messe Essen.
Further information at www.schweissen-schneiden.com.
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