The organizers of GIFA, the International Foundry Trade Fair, have rescheduled the dates for the next staging of that event and the three related industrial expos that share the venue in Düsseldorf, Germany: GIFA, Metec, Thermprocess, and Newcast will maintain the four-year cycle that the custom since 2003. The next staging for the four events will bee June 25-29, 2019, in Düsseldorf.
The decision alters the plan Messe Düsseldorf announced last November to position the four expos on a three-year cycle, with the next staging to take place in June 2018. Of that decision, the organizer explained it was reacting to changes in the target industries (metalcasting, primary metal production, thermal processing, and engineered component design) and creating “appropriate platforms for good business and cutting-edge innovations.”
Messe Düsseldorf also cited some important exhibitors endorsing the initial change.
The 2015 staging of the same four events drew 2,214 exhibitors and 78,000 visitors from more than 120 countries to Düsseldorf.
Now, however, Messe Düsseldorf said it is responding to “numerous requests” from exhibitors. “For some time now, switching to a three-year interval has seemed necessary to us because the innovation cycles in the foundry technology and metallurgy sectors are getting shorter, too,” Messe Düsseldorf Director Joachim Schäfer explained. “It has now become apparent that a shortening of the cycle would put too much pressure on the exhibiting companies.
“Since Messe Düsseldorf always acts in line with its customers’ requirements, it was decided to maintain the four-year interval for the four leading trade fairs GIFA, Metec, Thermprocess and Newcast – at the request of large numbers of exhibitors,” Schäfer said.