A brand new trade fair and conference for the technical foam supply chain arrived in Europe last week, bringing with it the latest innovations, solutions and developments in materials and manufacturing technologies.
The three-day event was an enormous success, welcoming 155 exhibitors showcasing their products to 3,259 attendees from across the entire foam industry. At the conference, 52 high-level speakers shared their insights to engaged audiences.
With so many industry specialists in one place, the trade fair was an opportunity to meet new customers, chat with potential partners and foster new business leads.
Globally renowned companies were in attendance, including Airbus, Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW Group, Robert Bosch GmbH, BASF, JSP, Faurecia, LyondellBasell and Porsche AG.
International in scope and inclusive in nature, the show welcomed everyone from global conglomerates to young startups to share ideas and connect. Armacell’s chief corporate development & investor relations officer Normal R Rafael commented: “Foam Expo Europe is really great to meet peers from around the globe; we have people here from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Europe and the US, so coming here and seeing what the industry is doing in one place is much more efficient than going around the world and meeting these people in their own countries.”
Reinforcing the expo’s position as an industry meeting place, an evening reception was held on day one, encouraging attendees to network over drinks and canapes. Meanwhile, a B2B Meetings service connected professionals in scores of one-to-one discussions, fostering new business relationships.
Many exhibiting companies took part in the exclusive Product Showcase – interactive product demonstrations which took place on the show floor. Among the most popular were Zotefoams manufacturing process displaying their physically expanded closed-cell, cross-linked foam, Recticel’s new concept for tackling acoustic issues in industrial equipment, and Cellmat Technologies’ presentation of its new image analysis tool, which determines the cellular structure of foams quickly and accurately.
With so many innovation products on display, many companies enjoyed high sales of new technologies. ATOM was among them, with director Christopher Thornhill commenting: “We had a lot of customers. Right from the beginning, people were here and we sold two machines [on the first day].” Palziv Ltd’s Mark Cox agreed: ”It's just been a great show from start to finish. Existing customers, new customers; I've spoken to people from all over the world. It's been a fantastic experience.”
Foam Expo is already gearing up next year's shows – Foam Expo North America 26-28 March, 2019 in Novi, Michigan and Foam Expo Europe, 10-12 September, 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany. To be part of the industry’s most important dedicated trade fair and conference, contact us today.