AMB 2018 sets new standards
05.10.2018
After five days, the AMB 2018 trade fair closes its doors today on the largest and most successful AMB of all time. "Exhibitors, visitors and, of course, Messe Stuttgart are very happy – the AMB trade fair was a complete success," Ulrich Kromer von Baerle, spokesperson for the management team, was pleased to announce. "There was a lot on offer, especially with regard to digitalisation in production," Kromer added. This was true from the Digital Way and the Showcases to the exhibitors' stands.
Anyone entering the Stuttgart exhibition centre during the five days of the AMB trade fair to peruse its halls would have seen satisfied faces in every direction – on both exhibitors and visitors: AMB 2018 not only met up to all expectations; it also broke all previous records. "We had 1553 exhibitors over an exhibition space of what is now more than 120,000 gross square metres, plus 91,016 visitors. These are all record figures for the Stuttgart trade fair centre," Kromer announced. We have started drawing visitors from further afield: Eighteen percent of the visitors came from 83 countries to attend AMB in Stuttgart. However, Messe Stuttgart is not the only contented party. The exhibitors and partners in the ten fully booked halls are very happy with their part at AMB and have been convinced of the importance of the metalworking exhibition for the industry.
According to Kromer, this success has confirmed Messe Stuttgart's intention to push ahead with expansion plans it has announced as part of its 2025 master plan, such as the construction of additional parking spaces, a new Hall 11 and a second convention centre towards the west of the trade fair site.
Impressed by high visitor quality and eagerness to invest
The quality of visitors was impressively high. Around three quarters of visitors said they were involved in purchasing and procurement decisions while 78% came to the exhibition with specific purchase and investment intentions. Mechanical engineering accounted for the largest proportion of visitor industries at 36%. This was followed by the metalworking and processing industry at 27%, the automotive/vehicle manufacturing industry at 18%, tool construction and mouldmaking at 12%, and metal construction enterprises at 10%. More than one third of visitors said that AMB was the only event which they attended. Over half the visitors were certain that AMB would become more important in future. Eighty-eight percent of visitors said that they would recommend AMB to others.
Save the date: On 15th–19th September 2020, AMB will be celebrating a "zero" anniversary with its 20th trade fair.
Statements on AMB 2018
"The response from the membership of the VDW has shown that investment is ongoing within Germany and in the European market, and this is reflected in the quality of visitors at AMB. Meanwhile, digitalisation in production is becoming an increasingly central topic," summarised Dr Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director of the German Machine Tool Builders' Association (VDW). Using umati, a standardised tool for connecting machines with existing IT structures, it is possible to "meet the current demands of suppliers and customers; for us, AMB was the right place and the right time for us to launch umati onto the market," Schäfer added.
"The atmosphere was excellent, and we saw a flow of visitors of exemplary quality. This was by far the best AMB of all time," concluded Lothar Horn, Chairman of the Technical Association for Precision Tools in the German Mechanical Engineering Association (VDMA). The new Paul Horn Hall (Hall 10) was received with the highest enthusiasm. For Markus Heseding, Managing Director of the VDMA, the huge rush of visitors to Halls 1 and 3 demonstrates the significance of precision tools for value creation in metalworking production. "Our members are talking about an 'AMB of superlatives'," Heseding reported.
"All of the halls at the AMB trade fair centre were full, and the corridors were packed with crowds of people," commented Rainer Glatz, Managing Director of the Software and Digitalization Association in the VDMA German Mechanical Engineering Association. The Software and Digitalization Association was in Hall 2 at AMB with a stand of its own, and the exhibitors expressed their satisfaction over the event. According to Glatz, "This is because digitalisation is extremely important for the industry. Without software, no machines can run, and there is no production." Glatz continued to say that, in connection with this, the "Digital Way" special exhibition, presented by AMB for the first time, was a good approach to the path leading to a digital future.
Exhibitors are delighted
"We are extremely happy with AMB 2018. We were in Hall 10 for the first time, and we were very impressed with our stand location," enthused Irene Bader, Director of Global Marketing at DMG Mori. Bader was equally complimentary of the new AMB concept with a new distribution of stands in the halls. "The whole trade fair site was buzzing, and people were flooding in from Entrance West, which was near to us, from 9 a.m. on the first day." The quality of the visitors was also exceptional, according to Bader. After only three days, the number of quotations requested was far ahead of the previous AMB. Visitors to the trade fair mostly directed their questions towards topics that were focal points at the DMG Mori trade fair stand: Digitalisation, automation and additive production processes. Trade fair discussions about digitalisation became significantly more substantial. In addition, almost half of all machines on display were already equipped with automation solutions, a trend that Bader is convinced will rise dramatically at the next AMB trade fair in two years' time. There was also much interest in the combination of additive production processes with machining, which DMG Mori has offered for many years.
At first, Dr Dirk Prust, Managing Director of Technology and Management Spokesperson at INDEX-Werke, was afraid that the excellent state of the economy might cause some potential visitors to forego the trade fair due to a lack of time. "That wasn't the case at all." As he explained it, "The demand for implementation of new projects is so high that people simply need to keep up to date with what's going on." It is clear that these concrete requirements are taking much of the sting out of unstable political influences. They could also be hugely beneficial, as the INDEX boss underlined, drawing on the example of combustion engines: "The strict limit values for emissions call for new generations of engines, partly with additional components such as turbochargers. New machines will be required to produce these components."
The Yamazaki Mazak trade fair stand was similarly "fuller than full, with even more going on than at the last AMB," stated Martin Engels, Managing Director of Yamazaki Mazak Germany. As Engels pointed out, there is often a lack of personnel to operate machines, which has made automation a key topic. Engels declared himself a "huge fan of AMB". His reasons for this include the compactness of the trade fair, the proximity of the airport and the location – right in the heart of Europe's leading region for machinery.
"Demand is high for complete solutions," reported Christian Jung, Managing Director of GF Machining Solutions, a provider of machine tools employing various technologies, primarily for tool construction and mouldmaking. Jung went on to point out that his company offers complete solutions in this sector. He noted that many customers came with very specific questions and a concrete remit. According to Jung, GF Machining Solutions also used to the AMB trade fair to grow its customer groups. He concluded, "AMB is ideal for us – it is exactly the right size, so our customers can look around all of the stands they are interested in, and be back at work the next day. The short distances between different areas of the trade fair site are a contributing factor."
"Over its ten years at the new trade fair site, AMB has developed into a high-interest trade fair for our customers in the metalworking sector," announced Steffen Nagel, Managing Partner at Nagel Werkzeug-Maschinen. This makes him of one opinion with Koldo Arandia, Managing Director of the company's production partner Ibarmia, who declared that AMB was "the best machine tools show in the world." Nagel continued, "AMB is the ideal platform for us because we can enter into discussion with all partners of relevance here – from machine operators to entrepreneurs." And this is done with great success, as shown by the huge interest of AMB visitors in the CNC turning machines of the company's new sales partner, Hyundai Wia.
As part of the reorganisation of AMB, the machine tool manufacturer FFG moved into Hall 6. Head of Marketing, Joachim Jäckl, stated, "The change to Hall 6 with its mix of machines and automation gave us the impetus to bring our integrated production solutions – a combination of machines and automation – closer to interested visitors, and to gain a better position for ourselves in this sector." Jäckl went on to say that the warm reception they enjoyed from their visitors and the high quality of discussions with concrete enquiries fully confirmed this decision.
Philippe Selot, Manager of Marketing Communication at the grinding machine specialist United Grinding, praised the flawless organisation of the AMB trade fair. "AMB is a wide-ranging trade fair. Its geographic location in the south of Germany, near to Switzerland and Austria, is ideal for us. The short distances and excellent transport connections are a real advantage for visitors. The fact that the AMB trade fair can be visited in one day is attractive to our customers. The new, thematic organisation of the halls makes it easier for visitors to find their way around, and to find what they are looking for." This has all played a part in United Grinding's increase in qualitative leads, which, according to Selot, is "a clear indication of the outstanding quality of our visitors."
High interest in tool innovations
"The quality of the discussions was significantly higher than at the last AMB; we had more decision-makers come to our stand," reported Dr Jochen Kress, Managing Director of the precision tool manufacturer Mapal Dr. Kress in Aalen, Germany. Discussions were steered towards complete solutions for projects. According to Kress, another focal point was electro-mobility, for which Mapal has developed a special new milling range. "This trend will continue to develop, just like networking and automation, and will play a big part at the next AMB in 2020."
"Excellent business, continued investments," announced Claude Sun, Division Manager for Machining in Europe at Ceratizit, the precision tool manufacturer from Luxembourg. "The flow of visitors at AMB has risen again compared to previous trade fairs; overall, visitors were extremely interested in innovative products," he was pleased to elucidate. Sun observed that noticeably more Industry 4.0 solutions were showcased by the exhibitors this year than at AMB 2016. Toolscope is one such solution, developed by the Ceratizit Group to monitor machines and tools, and to optimise productivity.
For LMT Tools, availability and productivity increase were the main requirements of trade fair visitors and customers. "These subject areas are being driven forwards by new possibilities and technologies," observed Maik Kämpchen, Director of Sales Germany for LMT Tools. Many discussions also focussed on the possibilities arising from additive production. LMT is taking advantage of these possibilities itself to produce its new thread rolling head, a typical serial part.
"After the trade fairs of the last few weeks, we arrived in Stuttgart with high expectations, and they have been exceeded once again," summarised Markus Horn, Managing Director of the precision tool manufacturer Paul Horn. "We had more – and better – discussions at our stand than at previous AMBs." Horn thinks that very concrete projects are to thank for this. Many of the highly technology-oriented companies want to know precisely how certain solutions work in order to get the most out of their projects and processes. New technologies such as out-of-round turning – a dynamically adjustable side and face cutter – or speed forming – a reinterpretation of the familiar planing process – were of particular interest.
"This was the best AMB we have ever attended; we set a new visitor record every day and the mood among our customers was very positive," summarised Oliver Gühring, Managing Director of the precision tool manufacturing company of the same name. Of course, the economic boom also has a downside: Long delivery times in all sectors and a lack of personnel, which is "one of the key issues at the moment – we are in need of employees in all sectors." This is why "productivity and efficiency are the main concerns for many of our customers," Gühring ascertained.
Katrin Hummel, Managing Director of HAHN+KOLB, a leading dealer specialising in tools and machinery, was very pleased: "Compared to the previous AMB in 2016, we recorded a clear increase in visitor numbers." It was not just figures that rose, however; even more importantly, the quality increased too: "We have noticed that visitors have been coming to our stand with very concrete requirements. Many questions were related to the processing of extremely specific materials, and enquiries were aimed particularly at our new drilling range."