Newcast Trade Show Canceled for 2009

The organizers of Newcast, the International Trade Fair for Precision Castings, have cancelled the event planned for June 23-25 in Dusseldorf, Germany. It was to have been the third presentation of Newcast, which consists of an expo of high-tech casting design and production capabilities; the Newcast Forum, a technology conference; and the Newpart Innovation Park, an exhibit of advanced and innovative designs of finished metal components. In its announcement, Messe Dusseldorf cited the global economic crisis and its impact on the automobile and machine building industries, “which in turn is felt by high-tech foundries around the world, for which these two industries represent primary customers.” This would have been the first presentation of Newcast apart from the Gifa, Metec, and Thermprocess expos, which are staged together on a four-year cycle. Messe Dusseldorf had emphasized the rate of technological advances in product design as its reason for adopting a two-year cycle for Newcast, and it sought to expand the range of exhibitors and attendees to include products and technologies that compete with castings (e.g., forgings.) The next staging of Newcast will be in 2011, together with the other three events. "A trade fair is always a reflection of the market. A year ago nobody could have anticipated the magnitude that the global economic crisis would take on by now,” Messe Dusseldorf managing director Joachim Schafer explained. “It was a difficult decision for us to cancel Newcast this year. Nonetheless, we believe that we are acting responsibly and in the best interest of our customers with our decision." Messe Dusseldorf said the decision was made in close consultation with the participating umbrella organizations of Newcast. "For the good of the entire industry, we support Messe Dsseldorf's decision to cancel Newcast 2009. We hope that we will soon be able to look toward better economic times," according to Dr. Gotthard Wolf of the Federal Assn. of the German Foundry Industry.