euroLITE 2009 - post show report
International Trade Fair for Lightweight Design in Salzburg
euroLITE – the whole world of lightweight design
Stuttgart/Salzburg – The 3rd euroLITE took place in the Salzburg Exhibition Centre from 23–25 June 2009 with 181 exhibitors from 11 countries and offered a representative survey of software tools, materials, manufacturing technologies and series-production components for implementing lightweight design ideas. 1,963 professionals gathered information on this extensive range of products. The high level of professional qualifications and decision-making authority of the visitors led to intensive talks and excellent new contacts. This year’s highlights at Europe’s only trade fair specializing in lightweight design included the Lightweight Design Conference held for the first time in this form. Another premiere was the first supply exhibition euroSUPPLY, which was organized parallel to euroLITE and attracted a further 128 exhibitors.
There is a constantly growing demand for efficient lightweight designs. The comprehensive and representative range of products at euroLITE 2009 enabled the altogether 1,963 designers, development engineers, production managers, buyers and management decision-makers to source specific information and establish contacts in the field of lightweight design. Besides a broad spectrum of lightweight materials, the exhibitors at euroLITE presented design and simulation tools, prototype and model construction, manufacturing technologies, series production of lightweight parts, joining and fastening systems, surface finishing, systems and processes for component tests, services and research.
High quality of visitors enabled promising new contacts
The very high professional qualifications and decision-making authority of the visitors at euroLITE 2009 were convincing. 14.4 % of them came from the automotive industry, 12.8 % from the commercial vehicles sector, 10.2 % from rail vehicle construction, another 7.6 % from boat- and yachtbuilding, and 6.9 % from the aerospace industry. The largest growth in the sectors interested in lightweight design solutions was achieved by machinery construction with a share of 15.8 % of the visitors. “We are very pleased that we have only had to accept slight losses in the number of visitors, despite the difficult economic environment especially in our core sectors, the automotive industry and machinery construction,” says Wieland Kniffka, Managing Director of the organizer, H & K Messe. “This was, however, offset by the high quality of our visitors. The visitors who came despite the current travel cut-backs in the client industries prepared intensively in advance by obtaining information about the exhibitors on our website, had direct purchasing requirements and wanted to see specific possible solutions.”
“At the same time, this must not hide the fact that we must continue to step up our visitor promotion activities for the coming event,” adds Claus Hähnel, also Managing Director at H & K Messe. “Nowadays, a large number of visitors no longer guarantees the success of an exhibition. We are discussing this more intensively with our exhibitors and potential partners with the aim of developing more instruments to attract a higher quality of visitors than previously.”
The basis for these instruments has already been introduced successfully in organizing this year’s euroLITE. The new ordering and registration system used by H & K Messe provides a separate database with exclusive access for each exhibitor to enable him to actively follow up targeted visitors in advance and invite them to visit the exhibition.
Great response to Lightweight Design Conference
The attractions for visitors included the Lightweight Design Conference, which was organized for the first time in this form in cooperation with the Landshut Lightweight Construction Cluster. Well-known speakers from industry, research and universities discussed current solutions, new developments and trends in design, materials and manufacturing technologies at altogether 30 presentations. The conference was attended by more than 100 participants. “Not only was the good attendance at the presentations encouraging, but also the lively discussions afterwards, which were frequently continued outside the lecture room,” comments Marc Bicker, Project Manager at the Landshut Lightweight Construction Cluster.