Composites Europe 2013 show review

Lightweight construction is today's priority, and composite materials are the necessary key technology. The impending boom of these innovative materials was also reflected at Composites Europe 2013 which set new records with a clear increase in exhibitor (26%) and visitor figures (30%). 406 exhibitors (previous event in Stuttgart 2011: 322) from 28 countries and 9,171 visitors (2011: 7,080) came to the Stuttgart exhibition Centre from 17-19 September. “With these figures, Composites Europe has now definitely established a firm position for itself among European lightweight construction fairs,” said Hans-Joachim Erbel, CEO with trade fair organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland. The leading producers and processors of composite materials, mechanical engineering companies and research institutions had come to Stuttgart for the eight edition. The focus of the trade fair, the lecture programme and the accompanying AVK conference this year were new materials systems, integrated production technologies and innovations for the application markets. “Composites are a key technology for Germany as an industrial location,” said AVK Chairman, Dr Michael Effing. “This is also evident at Composites Europe.” The significance of Germany as a location for the composites industry and its application sectors is also reflected in the strong participation of international key players in the trade fair. The large national pavilions with leading companies from France, Italy, the Netherlands, the USA and China emphasise the international importance of Composites Europe. The mood at Composites Europe demonstrated that the sales markets for composite materials continue to pick up speed. The future prospects for the industry, while varying according to sector, are generally good. This is evident from the Composites Market Report 2013 published jointly by AVK and CCeV. In the largest segment – glass fibre reinforced plastics - experts expect a slight growth of 1% in Europe. “The trend is in keeping with the overall economic situation,” stated AVK managing director, Dr Elmar Witten. “With respectable increases, Germany is the largest market and driving force in this field and has now for the first time become the largest producer in Europe.” Prospects for the CRP market are promising, according to the Market Report: here the experts of the Carbon Composites (CCeV) industry network see a sound market with minimum annual growth rates of 13%. Currently, the potential for growth is in the large mass segments of wind power plants, aerospace and sports, as well as in the automotive segment which is considered the strongest driving force with the highest potential. As a result, companies have a positive view of the future. When asked about the perspective for business developments in their industry, 80% of the exhibitors expressed the expectation of a light to strong upward trend in the market. Automation of processes for the mass production of composite components continues to be the precondition for the success of composite materials in the application industries. At Composites Europe, composite application markets such as automotive, aviation, wind power as well as the building sector were the primary focus of the fair. The growing number of exhibitors from the mechanical engineering segment confirms the increasing significance of Composites Europe: “Most of the exhibiting VDMA member companies are highly satisfied and express gratification at the increasingly internationality of trade visitors,” said Dr Walter Begemann of the VDMA Forum Composite Technology. “We see fibre-reinforced composites as having great potential. We therefore feel we are in the right place at Composites Europe,” added KraussMaffei's Sebastian Schmidhuber. Evonik’s Martin Risthaus on the other hand attests to the high visitor quality at Composites Europe: “Here at the trade fair, we meet all the people we need to talk to get new projects rolling.” Kerstin Streuber, 3D|Core/Extended Structured Composites confirmed: “At Composites Europe we have encountered a highly qualified public - including, among others, the large companies from the automotive and aviation sectors.” The next Composites Europe will take place from 7-9 October 2014 in Düsseldorf. According to schedule, Composites Europe will then return to Stuttgart in 2015, where it will again be accompanied by HYBRID Expo. www.composites-europe.com