K2010: International Plastics Fair
K 2010 - At the latest International Plastic Fair, overall visitor numbers were down, but visitors from the Asian regions were up.
It does not seem long since the last K show in 2007 but the mood of this, the latest International Plastics Fair, was very different. In 2007 the industry was in a boom phase. That period as we know came to a dramatic end. However the industry seems to have weathered the credit crunch followed by recession and appears to be leaner and fitter. The Wittmann Battenfeld takeover is an example. The new range of Battenfeld machines was impressive. There was a general feeling that the worst is over and that we are turning the corner faster than predicted. Engel UK reported yielding the highest ever UK machine sales in its entire company history of 46 years.
Certainly in some areas it appeared to be business as usual. The big material suppliers continue to sport enlarged stands andthey are clearly making money, with Asia still in growth. There were the usual mandatory very large machines, but interestingly a number of machines in this class have come down in foot print size due to canny design, driven by customers looking to optimize factory space and use less energy. Innovation and new ideas were to be found everywhere. Billion demonstrated a very interesting 2-shot machine, coupled to a robot assembly and printing unit, making a fully finished and functioning product - a 4 times a day pill dispenser.
Colin Hindle and I completed the marathon of every aisle in all 18 halls, a tough assignment even with 3 days to do it in. Since the last show Messe Düsseldorf does not appear to have reduced in size at all. Perhaps redundant space has been filled by the growing numbers of Asian exhibitors. One of my foremost reasons for visiting the show was to get technical information from the horse's mouth as it were. This is necessary more and more these days as many suppliers in the UK are reduced to small sales offices only and, as we become a satellite of the larger European players, it is more and more difficult to find people with good technical knowledge. K 2010 ticked all the boxes in this respect, and on my return I had a steady stream of samples and information arriving daily, and all my questions had been answered usually by the boffin in charge.
The statistics for a K-show are always impressive, approximately 220,000 visitors from over 100 countries, down by around 9% on the 2007 figures but considerably more than the 200,000 initially expected.
Close to 60% of attendees at this year's event came from outside of Germany, a figure similar to the 2007 event. However, while 57% of foreign visitors at the previous show were from Europe, this time the proportion was down to 54%. The biggest growth in visitors was from the Asian region, which represented around 30,000 visitors. The visitor attendance from China was at about the same level as in 2007. More than 10,000 visitors to the show were from Latin America and around 6,800 from North America.
This year Scottish companies were very thin on the ground, with only Silberline exhibiting. Over 135 UK companies exhibited and the 30 or so that I spoke to reported a good show, some with machine sales off the stand and solid lists of prospects. None is expecting a smooth ride back to stability until the UK economy improves.
The show for us ended on a high at the Exhibitors' party, which featured a number of bands, the headline act being Sister Sledge, who were fantastic.
Report by Ralph McNeill, SPRA Council Member, Nov 2010
