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Displaying innovative capabilitiesEMO-Hannover 2011(September 19-24) stimulated new business throughout the international machine tool industry and the made-in-India brand came out quite strongly in this year’s show. ■ Soumi Mitra

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A strong international appeal underscores EMO’s role as the industry’s flagship fair in the

world. At the close of EMO-Hannover 2011 - the leading international trade fair for the machine tool industry - exhibitors, visitors and organisers were unanimous in their praise of the event. “This EMO was a winner in every respect and has earned top marks from visitors and exhibitors alike. EMO-

Machine Tool Builders’ Association (VDW), the organiser of the event. “Against the backdrop of an upswing in orders over the past few months, EMO’s positive outcome means an even stronger market footing for exhibitors,” concluded Schäfer.

On display

Staged under the motto of ‘Machine

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Hannover has further expanded its reputation as the flagship fair for the international metalworking industry,” remarked EMO-Hannover General Commissioner, Dr Detlev Elsinghorst at the end of the fair. “The machine tool industry continues in full swing. In the course of the past six days, the order volume reached a minimum of € 4.5 billion,” added Dr Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director, German

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Displaying innovative capabilities

Nov/Dec 2011 | EM

Tools & More’, the six-day event in Hannover featured the latest machinery, solutions and services for every conceivable aspect of metalworking - a veritable tour de force by some 2,037 exhibitors from 41 different nations. “EMO has confirmed its international reputation as an unparalleled showcase for innovations. With its remarkable innovative spirit and drive, the industry is clearly making a major contribution to sustainable growth,” Elsinghorst added.

The machine tool industry’s innovative capabilities were not only evidenced by impressive performance specs, but also in terms of highly functional and attractive design - an aspect that is just as essential to today’s high-performance machinery.

Focus

Sustainability in production was the main focus of most innovations and solutions at the event. Elsinghorst is certain, “this EMO reflects the high priority manufacturers are now giving to energy-efficient plant and machinery. When it comes to staying competitive in the global marketplace, the efficient use of energy and raw materials is becoming a decisive factor.”

With nearly 40 per cent of all EMO attendees coming from abroad, exhibitors were especially delighted with

the event’s international turnout. “The strong international appeal makes EMO unique throughout the industry, and is a key factor in its success,” said Schäfer, adding that he saw EMO as a reflection of ongoing globalisation. This accounted for a shift in foreign attendance, with an increase of more than 6.5 per cent in the ratio of foreign visitors from outside Europe, particularly Asia and South America, which in turn led to record-breaking figures for the duration of stay per visitor: “One out of every four attendees spent more than three days at EMO 2011,” Schäfer emphasised.

The industry’s positive mood was visible in the exhibition halls, where more than half of all visitors reported playing a major role in their companies’ purchasing decisions. Commensurately, 55 per cent of EMO trade visitors reported coming to the show with concrete investment plans. Among foreign visitors, this figure even reached 75 per cent. Around half of all attendees said their investments were targeted at expanded capacities, while 20 per cent were planning to make first-time purchases of machine tools. “There will be no rest for EMO exhibitors once the event is over. The many orders taken at EMO - on top of an already high utilisation of capacity - will have everyone working at full tilt,” Schäfer predicted.

Indian participation

India made its enthusiastic and dynamic presence in the event, thanks to the focused efforts from IMTMA and EM magazine. A very well-marketed presence of India at the show generated great opportunities for the Indian machine tool industry. India offered the visitors a perfect opportunity to establish excellent business contacts, experience technology breakthroughs, pave the way for cooperation agreements, and tap the growing business potential.

There were 24 companies from India, participating in this edition of EMO. The displays focused on both entry-level and high-end machines, turning centres, machining centres, grinding machines, tool turrets and automatic tool changers, cutting tools and a host of machine tool accessories.

With an improved level of manufacturing activities in Europe and the US, there is a stronger demand for machine tools in Asia and India in particular. Moreover, after a long gap of four years since the last edition of EMO-Hannover and with the improving business conditions, Indian exhibitors and visitors made the most from the show. This time, EMO helped in marketing the ‘Made-in-India’ brand in the international market, in a much stronger way.

Machines displayed at Pragati Automation stall Visitors at the ACE stall

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Impressions of Indian exhibitors

Glad with the show response, P G Jadeja, Jyoti CNC Automation Pvt Ltd, mentioned, “EMO is a meeting point for the customers as people come from all over the world. We have received good number of serious enquiries on the third day of the show itself.” Substantiating this, D D Mulherkar, Vice President, (Machine Tool Division), Premier Ltd, observed, “this EMO show is highly marked by Indian presence both in terms of exhibitors and customers (visitors). We have had people visiting us from Singapore, Iran, South America, Turkey, and South-East Asia enquiring for distributorship.” According to Indradev Babu, Managing Diector, UCAM, the show is very vital. The objective of the company is to look for partners from Brazil, South Africa, and Australia and strengthen its European activities and EMO certainly serves all these purposes. He commented, “EMO offers the best of technology to buyers and is definitely a Mecca of machine tools.” Echoing similar sentiments, A V Sathe, Chairman, Pragati Automation Pvt Ltd, shared, “there is no other way for Indian exhibitors to get foreign customers than participating at EMO. It makes a huge difference when visitors at the show see the machines running.” Validating similar thoughts with her experience, Mohini Kelkar, Managing Director, M K International,

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piped, “the best part of EMO is that it is attended by people from all across the world. So to come to EMO is to sell to the world.” Agreeing to this, Chandresh Vyas, Vice President, Bipico, averred, “EMO is the most acclaimed machine tool show in the world as the best of machine tool technology are showcased.” Impressed with the show, Vineet Sabharwal, Director Marketing, Hittco Tools Ltd, said, “EMO is an incredible platform where buyers across parameters visit. It is an amazing platform to showcase and interact with potential business clients. It is very efficiently organised and is a fantastic place for end-users too.” Putting forth his view, T K Ramesh, Chief Executive Officer, Micromatic Machine Tools Pvt Ltd, recounted, “with so much of restructuring happening in the machine tool space it is important to be in the EMO show. If one is serious about the business he has to be here.” Participating for the first time in EMO-Hannover, an enthusiastic Sachin Doshi, Executive Director, Abhijat Equipments Pvt Ltd, said, “we have received very good enquiries for dealership from outside Europe too.” Sharing his perspective on the show, Sreekumar R, Manager – Overseas Sales, Fenwick And Ravi, pointed, “our exports had started by being present at the EMO shows. The show helps in benchmarking of product quality.” Speaking of visitor quality, Amitabh Varma, Head - Milling

Machines Division & Marketing Services, BFW, put, “there is certainly no doubt that EMO always attracts many visitors and this time also there has been no exception. The crowd is very knowledgeable, good and the questions being asked by the visitors are very intelligent. The quality of the exhibits is fantastic.”

Special events

The many and varied supporting events, made a visit to EMO even more rewarding. Conferences on topics such as sustainable manufacturing, advances in aerospace technologies, Russia as growth market and talent recruitment for the future all sparked lively interest and debate.

EMO-Hannover (September 19-24, 2011) attracted some 140,000 visitors from more than 100 countries. Highly-qualified visitors from more than 100 countries, thousands of technical innovations, a supporting program about knowledge transfer, and orders worth billions is more than a trade fair. It is the world championship of the machine tool industry, and the champions compete here. The next EMO-Hannover is scheduled for September 16-21, 2013. ■

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Machines displayed at PremierCustomers enquiring at the BFW stall