For seven days the city of Munich was taken over by the bauma trade fair, during which around 580,000 visitors from 200 countries came to the Messe München exhibition centre between 11th and 17th April (Figure 1). This is an increase of more than 9 % in comparison with the last bauma in 2013.
The top ten visiting countries to Germany were Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. A total of 3,423 exhibitors – 1,263 German and 2,160 international companies – presented their latest products, developments and innovations on a record exhibition space of 605,000 m2. At 63 %, the proportion of international exhibitors has never been so high. Together with the energy agency NRW the international mining journal Mining Report Glückauf was presented at the common booth of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The mining sector enjoyed an extremely positive response at bauma, as Erwin Schneller, Managing Director at SBM Minerals, reports: “Bauma is very international. We had visitors from all over the world, from Chile to Canada, China to Russia, Africa to Norway. My personal highlight was the fact that we made unplanned sales directly at the event itself.” Furthermore, Anja Wiehoff, Communication Manager at Atlas Copco in Germany, confirms: “We are very pleased with how the exhibition has gone and the sales figures testify to the importance of bauma, on an international as well as national level. We have exceeded our goals. Bauma is continually developing and reinventing itself. All customers and target groups are represented here, on an international level too. This year saw very high attendance from Scandinavian customers. We also welcomed visitors from Benelux, Peru, Colombia, Turkey, India, Indonesia, the USA, Australia and Poland. For Atlas Copco it was an eventful and successful bauma 2016.”
All this clearly demonstrates that bauma is the platform of choice for companies looking to unveil their innovations to the world. John L. Garrison, CEO & President of Terex Corp., stresses: “Bauma allows us to meet customers from around the world every three years. As the largest of the industry events, it is a great opportunity to introduce new products and services.” Masatoshi Morishita, Managing Director & CEO at Komatsu Europe, sums it up as follows: “We make the most of the level of attention at bauma to present our innovations. It is a milestone for the sector. It is not only Komatsu that tries to ensure that particular machines are finished in time for bauma. This trade fair drives the entire sector.”
The next bauma trade fair will take place from 8th to 14th April 2019 in Munich. (bauma/Si.)
