Expansion for 4th Leading International Trade Fair for Industrial Coating Technology

Growth is plainly foreseeable for the 4th PaintExpo, which will take place in Karlsruhe from the 17th through the 20th of April 2012: Roughly 15 months before the next leading trade fair for industrial coating technology, the exhibitor list already includes more than 180 companies from 13 countries. Organizer Jürgen Haußmann attributes the high level of international interest in participation to, on the one hand, extensive investment requirements for companies with painting facilities. This is being triggered by ever stricter requirements regarding efficiency, quality, flexibility and environmental protection, as well as by new materials and material combinations. On the other hand, PaintExpo is the number one information and procurement platform for users, due to the fact that it presents the world’s most comprehensive offerings ranging from pre-treatment right on up to final inspection.

“PaintExpo has evolved into one of the principal trade fairs for the coating industry. Consequently it’s an important platform for presenting our innovations, and our product spectrum”, says Ulrich Schmid; head of sales for general finishing at Eisenmann Anlagenbau GmbH & Co. KG. As is also the case with this manufacturer, nearly all industry and technology leaders from the fields of equipment manufacturing, application technology and paints have already decided in favour of participating at PaintExpo 2012 in Karlsruhe. “Due to the fact that participation at the trade fair was highly positive for us in 2010, we’ve already registered for the upcoming event and we assume that it will be very successful for us again”, explains Michael Pleuse, German accounts manager at paint manufacturer Oxyplast Belgium, regarding the company’s early decision. All other sectors, for example pre-treatment, are already well represented in the exhibitor list as well with companies like Forster Chemicals, Haug Chemie, Plasmatreat and Walther Trowal. “Positive effects have also resulted from the first PaintExpo Eurasia, which will take place in Istanbul from the 6th through the 8th of October, 2011, because a number of exhibitors from that region have also registered for PaintExpo in Karlsruhe”, reports Jürgen Haußmann, managing director of event organisers FairFair GmbH.

Market-Oriented, Representative, Forward-Looking Offerings
PaintExpo’s recipe for success is its focus on the process sequences for liquid painting, powder coating and coil coating. The trade fair offers the world’s most extensive offerings in these areas. And that’s what attracted roughly 6400 visitors from 62 countries to Karlsruhe in the economically critical spring of 2010 – 8% more than in 2008. “We’re expecting significant growth in visitor numbers again in 2012”, says Jürgen Haußmann. This seems very likely based on the investment requirements which have become apparent amongst companies with in-house painting facilities around the globe. Although users are faced with different requirements in the various parts of the world, they’re becoming stricter in general everywhere. Amongst other things, the use of technical innovations that contribute to energy saving operations and make efficient use of resources is absolutely essential in order to be able to stand up to international competition. After all, this is the only way to assure that painting systems can be operated highly efficiently and ecologically, and with low operating costs. “The combination of painting systems with technological opportunities from the field of renewable energy sources such as solar-thermal energy conversion is also becoming more and more important. In this way, energy intensive production processes like painting can be integrated into energy concepts which are laid out for the entire plant”, notes Ulrich Schmid. Michael Pleuse cites energy saving opportunities resulting from coating materials as well: “We expect further demand increases for low-temperature powdered enamels which contribute to reduced operating costs and CO2 emissions.” Internationally growing demand for coating materials, and at the same time ever scarcer resources, will lead to further price increases according to Pleuse. And thus the use of application and recovery technologies which reduce material consumption will continue to gain in significance. “All over the world, users of industrial painting technology must adjust to actual requirements to an ever greater extent, which necessitates the use of new materials, for example lightweight structural components made of fibrous composite materials and the use of various materials within the finished product. This is why it’s so important to offer systems technology for associated production steps such as joining and bonding, and at the same time to maintain high processing speeds in manufacturing”, elucidates Ulrich Schmid further.
Thanks to its complete and fully representative exhibition offerings including systems and equipment for liquid painting, powder coating and coil coating, application systems and spray guns, liquid paints and powdered enamels, automation and conveyor technology, cleaning and pre-treatment, drying and curing, environmental technology, compressed air supply and exhaust purification, water treatment, recycling and disposal, accessories, measuring and test technology, quality assurance, paint stripping, job-shop coating, services and technical literature, PaintExpo presents future-oriented solutions in all areas of industrial coating technology. Beyond this, downstream process steps such as printing and packaging are covered as well. Further information and a preliminary exhibitor list can be accessed at www.paintexpo.com.