Dates set for 2017: The 5 trade-shows will take place on 6-8 June
“Highly satisfactory” is the rating given to the five industrial trade-shows –FERROFORMA, SUBCONTRATACIÓN, FITMAQ, PUMPS & VALVES and MAINTENANCE – held at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre on 26-29 May. More than 18,500 trade specialists from 65 countries and from almost all Spain’s autonomous regions attended the shows, making this the year’s biggest industrial trade event in southern Europe.
The countries from which most visitors came were Morocco, Algeria, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, India, Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy or Portugal, the UK and Turkey. Around 48% of the domestic trade visitors to the event came from outside the Basque Autonomous Community, mainly from Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia, the Community of Valencia, Cantabria, Galicia and Navarre. A total of 1439 people took part in the various seminars organised in the course of the week.
Close to 1200 exhibitors showed their products at this great industrial platform, including state-of-the-art services and technologies in processes and equipment for manufacturing, industrial supplies, hardware, DIY, used and bargain machinery, pumps and valves and maintenance. One of the main distinguishing features of the five concurrent trade-shows was the synergy between different sectors, with exhibitors at one show becoming customers at others.
Taking advantage of these five trade-shows, the Basque Government Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness held a press conference to present the results of its Industry Plan 2014, at which Basque Government Minister Arantxa Tapia reported that the plan had had a direct impact on 3627 industrial projects, had created 3490 new jobs in industry and had helped to maintain at least a further 16,121. Five projects had also been carried out with foreign direct investment to the tune of €44.5 million under the strategy “Invest in the Basque Country”.
At the end of day three Ms. Tapia, who apart from being the Basque Government Minister for Economic Development and Competitiveness is also the Chair of the Governing Board of the BEC, hosted an official reception at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for exhibitors, visitors and the international media attending the five industrial trade-shows. At the reception Xabier Basañez, General Manager of the BEC, outlined the key points of this “strategic move” and invited attendees to enjoy and take advantage of one of the main values of trade-shows nowadays: personal contact.
The dates have also been set for the 2017 edition of the platform: FERROFORMA, SUBCONTRATACIÓN and FITMAQ will take place on 6-8 June.
SUBCONTRATACIÓN, International Fair of Manufacturing Processes and Equipment
A total of 592 exhibitors from 24 countries took part in this year’s SUBCONTRATACIÓN trade-show, with the main participants being from Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Morocco, Belgium, Romania and Switzerland. This year two new areas were incorporated into the exhibition: the additive manufacturing area was organised by ADDIMAT (Spanish Association of Additive Manufacturing and 3-D), which also took the opportunity offered by the event to hold its first governing board meeting. The association is made up of representatives of the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, Danobat Group, Egile Corporation XXI, Fagor Automation, Goratu, Ibarmia, Ikor Sistemas Electrónicos, Kondia, Leartiker, Sicnova 3D and Tumaker. Its chair is to be Antxon López Usoz of the Danobat Group. The second new area was given over to composite materials, and was organised by the Chamber of Commerce of Gipuzkoa. The firms exhibiting in this special area included Talleres Amondarain, Mariskone, Comargo Composites, Bronymec and the Compositadour technology centre.
The show also hosted the European Industrial Subcontracting Event, in which 1500 top-level meetings were arranged. Foreign purchasers from automotive firms such as Thomas Schmitt, Yedase Euro, Activa Automotive, Psa Peugeot Citröen Innovation, Valeo Power Electrical Systems, Vignal Systems, Jtekt Europe, IFC Team y Reydel Automotive, among others, took part in the event, which was the biggest of its kind held in Spain to date. Contractors from other sectors who took part included Schneider Electric, Assa Abloy Entrace Systems, Cybernetix, Allkom Gmbh, Sven Müller, Voith Hydro, Alois Poettinger, Airax, Cnim Division Solar, Dalby, Gmt International, Himbert Technologies, Dordelec, Siref and Sodikart
Aeronautics firms also had their own programme of prearranged meetings, presentations and round tables at AEROTRENDS. This years event featured purchasers from companies including Airbus Helicopter, Thales Alenia Space, Aciturri, Safran, Tecalemit, Zodiaz Aerospace, Droniris, Stelia Aerospace, Aircelle and Sela, among others. The busiest day for this sector was the 28th, when there were presentations organised by Ik4 Research Alliance, the University of the Basque Country, Mondragón Unibertsitatea, Fundación Tecnalia, CTA and Hegan under the title “Global overview of prospects for the future in aeronautical manufacturing in the context of the Industry 4.0 strategy”.
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