The organizers of GIFA 2015 and its three companion events reported that 78,000 visitors attended the five-day program that concluded recently, at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany. The figures match the attendance results from previous presentations of GIFA, Metec, ThermProcess, and NewCast, which are staged concurrently every four years.
The schedule for the 2019 staging of Metec, ThermProcess, and NewCast will be announced in the coming weeks, according to Messe
Erich Brunner, director of DISA and Wheelabrator, confirmed the success of GIFA in 2015: “GIFA was again excellently organized. There were large crowds of existing and potential customers from all over the world. The innovative solutions we exhibited, such as complete blasting machine programs to satisfy all the standard and special requirements of both large and small foundries and a global and locally based service network, attracted a particularly large amount of attention.”
GIFA, Metec, and ThermProcess were presented with technical programs that accompany the equipment and product expos, while NewCast presented hundreds of examples of design and production capabilities by foundries and diecasters from around the world.
Messe Düsseldorf, the organizing body, indicated that 56% of the visitors and 51% of the exhibitors were from countries other than Germany. The majority of international visitors to GMTN came from India, Italy, Turkey, France and China.
In particular, Asian visitors in particular were drawn to the four events by the availability of European foundry and metallurgical process technology, due to increasing industrials requirements to conserve energy and resources.
The organizers also noted that the events’ 2,214 exhibitors reported numerous business transactions with customers from all over the world. Reportedly, two-thirds of GMTN visitors were top-level and mid-level managers of their companies with direct involvement in investment decisions.
“We had an extremely high number of international customers with concrete plans to invest,” reported Dr. Ioannis Ioannidis, CEO and president of Frech Gruppe, a developer of diecasting systems. “Additionally, several business deals have been confirmed. The demand for innovative products as well as the atmosphere in the halls was promising. We are looking forward for the next GIFA show in Düsseldorf.”
MAGMA managing director Dr. Marc C. Schneider agreed that presented at GIFA 2015 had been positive for his company: “The atmosphere was unusually positive and the visitors to our stand showed very keen interest in the technical trends in the industry and in the optimization of their processes.”