According to organizers and promoters the first edition of the Moulding Expo, debuting in Stuttgart in may, at the very heart of the Baden-Württemberg region, in Germany, was such a «successful premiere» that it «exceeded all expectations». Thus, the Stuttgart Messe organizing committee is today looking forward to the following event, to be staged in 2017, relying on the fact that «98% of the visitors» claimed they «want to recommend the Moulding Expo to others»; and that «94% want to return in 2017». The exhibition attracted in fact some 15,000 guests, as sources reported, and managed to represent all of the most important branches in the manufacturing industry. 31% of participants belonged to the automotive and automobile supply chain segment; while 27% came from the tool construction and mould making business. Furthermore, 20 out of 100 visitors were representatives of the mechanical engineering and plant construction specialties 16% of the plastics industry. Last but not least, 11% of the managers at the Mex would be committed to the «metal working, processing and production» arena. Most of all, as Stuttgart Messe strongly pointed out, «the quality of visitors was also excellent», since «78% stated that they played a decisive role in purchasing and procurement decisions in their company, or participated in the decision-making process», or», finally, played «an advisory role». Remarkable was the overall number of foreign participants: «The percentage of visitors from abroad», as Messe Stuttgart wrote, «was 11 %. Altogether, they came from 44 countries, and mainly from Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France».
Building upon these figures, the managing director of the Precision tools association and the measurement and testing technology association in the VDMA (German Engineering Federation), Markus Heseding, focused on the origin and provenance of visitors, also underlining their quality: «Despite the rail strike», as Markus Heseding considered, recalling the protests that affected the Stuttgart area during the first week of May, «the Moulding Expo far exceeded our expectations. We are delighted not only with the almost 25% share of foreign exhibitors from around 30 countries, but also the good mix of international visitors. Thanks to the combination of Mex and Control, some 80 renowned member companies of the VDMA from the areas of tool making, metal cutting, clamping technology, dimension measurement and testing were able to present their extensive know-how to visitors on roughly 6,400 square meters of floor space at the Stuttgart Fair Centre». Aiming to become a meeting point for suppliers and buyers in the moulding and metal working business, and to turn into a benchmark among international trade fairs, the German event also hosted a series of workshops and conferences about one of the manufacturing industry’s hottest topic: the 3D printing technologies. The goal was that of bringing together «the established industry and the young, up-and-coming industry of additive manufacturing and 3D printing», showing that a collaborative view between the traditional processes and the most innovative and revolutionary ones is possible: «We want to demonstrate», as Florian Niethammer, project manager of the trade fair, considered, «the useful synergy effects between the two alleged rivals». And this could be also one of the reasons why Wilfried Schäfer, managing director at the VDW (German machine tool builders’ association), stated that «the Moulding Expo has, with its premiere event, already positioned itself as the future leading trade fair for tool, pattern and mould making».
