COMPOSITES EUROPE Blog

Dr. Elmar Witten is the managing director of the AVK. The AVK is the Partner of COMPOSITES EUROPE. The AVK holds its annual international AVK Conference at COMPOSITES EUROPE.

Dr. EW: Dr. Elmar Witten
CE:  COMPOSITES EUROPE

CE: Could you please give us a quick overview of the AVK? What is the mission of AVK?

Dr. EW: The AVK (Federation of Reinforced Plastics) represents the interests of manufacturers and processors of reinforced plastics  as well as their raw materials suppliers on a national and European scale.
The AVK currently has more than 220 member companies along the whole value chain of reinforced plastics.
The AVK is the leading organization for all companies at the German composites market.
The mission of the AVK is to provide its´ members with all services one stop and to represent their interests towards all institutions. Thereto we primarily follow up the following objectives: increase the image of composites, promote innovations, offer further trainings, expose sustainability and enlarge the composites network.

CE: What kind of projects have you undertaken for your members? How do your members profit from AVK?

Dr. EW: The companies profit from the AVK membership by attending our unique and exclusive expert task forces. The AVK offers nearly 20 up-to-the-minute as well as permanent topics which are focus of these regularly meetings. The participants of these task forces develop actions for marketing their issues. One example is the AVK task force “Euro-RTM-Group” which is – as in recent years – present at COMPOSITES EUROPE´s Product Demonstration Area. Overall the companies profit from all the AVK activities to promote composites.

CE: Looking to the future, where do you think the composites industry is headed to? What are the biggest challenges and opportunities?

Dr. EW: There are many opportunities for composites, e. g. the industries´ demand for lightweight or sustainable material. The potential for innovations and substitution is  very high. The biggest challenge is still to convince the decision makers in the application industry of the often unknown advantages of the composites material and to find material mix solutions.

CE: How important is COMPOSITES EUROPE for your association?

Dr. EW: The AVK is partner of the COMPOSITES EUROPE from day one. The show is very important for us and our member companies as most of them are exhibitors and/or visitors.
The COMPOSITES EUROPE and the AVK Conference as the opening event cover all the relevant topics in the composites market.

CE: Finally, are you looking forward to the COMPOSITES EUROPE show this year?

Dr. EW: I am of course looking forward to this year´s show as we expect to see some product and process innovations, to meet interesting people and to get some inspiration how we together can help the composites market to grow.

Markus Jessberger, Event Director, RX Germany, reflects on the challenges and opportunities of event rebranding and relocation, and offers some tips on cross-border cloning.

Q. Describe your role and responsibilities

A. As Event Director at Reed Exhibitions Germany I am responsible for the two industrial fairs; ALUMINIUM and COMPOSITES EUROPE. My portfolio also includes SHOWTECH, an international trade fair for stage and event technology, as well as MODERNER STAAT, a trade fair and congress dedicated to the modernisation of public administrative bodies.
Q. What achievement are you most proud of in the past 12 months, and why?

A. That is impossible to say in a single sentence. Certainly the close cooperation with the German association of mechanical engineers, VDMA, for COMPOSITES EUROPE is one of them. Also, focussing even more strongly on targeting specific visitor groups for my trade fairs is an important milestone. And finally, I am proud that in spite of the strong international competition, we again held the pole position on the global technology stage in 2011.
Q. What is the strategy behind the new look for ALUMINIUM 2012?

A. “Visions become reality” is the name of our new campaign which we launched for ALUMINIUM and COMPOSITES EUROPE in parallel and it is based on an emotional world of imagery. We see a child enthusiastic about technology, depicting a vision of tomorrow. With this motif, we intend not only to generate attention in an industry relying purely on technology, but also to “awaken man’s inner child”, as the German phrase goes. We feel that many of our mostly male trade fair visitors will recognise themselves in that child, and that our female trade visitors will also find this emotional visual language attractive. With this campaign, we further hope to be able to encourage researchers and developers to discover and advance the opportunities inherent in aluminium and composites today.
Q. What is the biggest challenge you face this year?

A. Quite clearly, it is the change of location of ALUMINIUM and COMPOSITES EUROPE. Düsseldorf is one of the world’s biggest trade show locations and a far cry from the crowded premises in Essen which capacity limits we had reached in 2010. Even selling the same exhibition space and attracting an equally high number of visitors, our exhibitors could possibly feel that the Düsseldorf trade fair is less frequented. This is why we are making every possible effort to significantly increase the number of visitors to ALUMINIUM and COMPOSITES EUROPE in Düsseldorf and to further enhance the share of international visitors. With our combined number of approximately 1,400 exhibitors we are the largest and most innovative trade fair platform for lightweight construction worldwide!
Q. What are your top tips for successful cross-border cloning?

A. Trade fair rollout offers us two big opportunities. First, the presence of a trade fair in other geographical markets is an extremely important building block in international marketing. And second, we open up access to further markets for our exhibitors with global operations. In my view, ALUMINIUM is a prime example of successfully exporting a trade fair. Presently, the international “mother trade fair” in Düsseldorf is complemented by four events in all of the world’s major aluminium markets – China, India, the Middle East and Brazil. This has been accomplished without any cannibalising of the regional offshoots or the mother trade fair.

We exploit the full potential of the respective geographical regions by bringing to bear our in-depth experience gained over many years with ALUMINIUM in Germany, and by applying our high standards while still responding to the specific requirements of the respective regional markets. In concrete terms, this means that in the case of ALUMINIUM we contribute the know-how, and our RX colleagues in the specific regions are responsible for its implementation in line with the market.

From our base in Germany, my team and I also work intensively with our local colleagues to develop all the subsidiary trade fairs, and we also encourage our global partners to be present there. We do this in spite of the fact that we do not generate any turnover of our own in Germany with trade fairs abroad. The ALUMINIUM fairs are a successful example of the Reed Elsevier group’s “boundarylessness” practices!

Q. How important is social media to the on-going development of your events? How are you using it?

A. In the same way that trade fairs were not replaced by Internet offers, communication via social media will not be a substitute for the other channels of successful trade fair communication!

However, social media is an additional, extremely fast and constantly updated channel, bringing a noticeable improvement in the way we communicate our events. Therefore, as organisers we will profit greatly from them. For this reason, we are present in all relevant social communities with ALUMINIUM and COMPOSITES EUROPE. In addition to Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing and Twitter we primarily use our own blogs to communicate with exhibitors and visitors. We post our own information about the trade fair, along with exclusive contributions from specialist authors and contributions from our exhibitors in all networks. The “interview” (Q&A) is an instrument we use with increasing frequency in order to include exhibitors in our communication. The positive response demonstrates that this is the right track.
Q. What excites you most about the year ahead?

A. With the first edition of ALUMINIUM and COMPOSITES EUROPE in Düsseldorf, we will gain a multitude of experience and data which will be analysed and qualified and will serve as the basis for innovations in 2014 to further optimise the two fairs. This requires not only a high degree of precision from my team, but also a good feel for the constantly changing requirements on the customer side.

Apart from that, the ‘oldest trade fair’ in my portfolio, SHOWTECH, is again on the ‘playing schedule’ in Berlin. Presently we are making trail-blazing changes with a new project team in order to make this trade fair even more attractive for our exhibitors and visitors. And who knows, perhaps we will see an offshoot of SHOWTECH on another continent soon?

Finally, we are also working on complementary or new trade fair themes and different formats which means that things will remain very exciting at Reed Exhibitions Germany and in my portfolio for the foreseeable future.

For more information contact Markus Jessberger

We met Michael Scharmer at our show in Stuttgart. For MSC Polymer AG it is a premiere to exhibit at CE show. www.msc-polymer.com

Q: Question

MS: Answer of Michael Scharmer

Michael Scharmer (man on the right side on the picture) www.msc-polymer.com/

Q: Please introduce yourself and MSC Polymer AG.

MS: MSC Polymer AG is a capital markets company LC. I am in the bord of directors as a director of technology and the Chief Executive Officer. 1988 the company was founded as a technical consulting company. Later on it had been developed towards a distributor of materials. Glass fibre reinforced epoxy laminates are the backbone of the classical PCB. Our customers already expected that we supply materials for premanufactured and pretooled. So we had to invest in suitable machinery and step by step we became a manufacturer of glass fibre reinforced parts for broad applications (despite PCB, our core business). We are at at the COMPOSITES EUROPE show because we had more and more inquieries asking for new materials as they are being shown here.We knew nobody in this industry, now we know a lot! Exhibitions are not only to attract new customers, but also to come in touch with the industry. We wanted to find new suitable suppliers and tool makers. In addition, we have a lot of contacts, for example to science institutions. It is really worth to come here. The next time in Düsseldorf we will bring more examples with us made of carbon fibre. In a few years we want to become an important European player in the manufacture of 3D-parts for many application industries, especially for the machinery industry.

Q: So how did you come to the COMPOSITES EUROPE show?

MS: We observed the development within the composites industry and the COMPOSITES EUROPE trade show. I asked myself where is this industry going? Looks like it is getting really important. I would have come as a visitor anyway. So why not taking a booth? The stand is also a meeting point. It can not be replaced by google or other social platforms. In the evening you also meet your visitors in the same hotel at the bar. This trade show is very well organized, not bureaucratic at all and our administration efforts to manage our participation were markable low compared to other major German exhibitions.

Moreover, it takes place in one of Germany’s most beautiful exhibition centres!

Our team met the exhibitor Kegelmann Technik at COMPOSITES EUROPE show 2011 in Stuttgart! Today is the 3rd and last day of our exhibition.

Kegelmann Technik presents it’s product range here. The company offers prototyping and small-series production for complex prefabricated parts made of metal and plastic.

Kegelmann Technik at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011, Mr. Weber, http://www.ktechnik.de/

80 employees work at the location of Rodgau-Jügesheim. In this way Kegelmann Technik unifies 100% in-house production depth in one company, from the design, construction, rapid-prototyping technology, model making, tool making to injection moulding.

We asked Mr. Weber (on the picture) if Kegelmann Technik alsways worked in the field of composites.  He answered “Yes, we have worked in the field of composites technology for many years now. At the COMPOSITES EUROPE show we present the RTM-production technology in the prototyping phase.”

So how was their impression of our show? Kegelmann Technik is a new exhibitor this year! The answer is “Positiv. COMPOSITES EUROPE is a specialised exhibition. Here you can find the market place for the area of composites manufacturing.”

Come to the show and meet Kegelmann Technik in hall 4/booth E65! http://www.ktechnik.de/

COMPOSITES EUROPE Blog interviewed Stephan Knappe – International Sales and Applications Manager at NETZSCH-Gerätebau GmbH. The company is a new exhibitor at COMPOSITES EUROPE show in September!

Q: Question

SK:  Stephan Knappe

Q: Please introduce yourself – who are you, what are your responsibilities at NETZSCH-Gerätebau GmbH?

SK: Chemical engineer, International Sales and Applications Manager, dedicated to polymer and composite applications. Currently also responsible for sales in Southern Europe.

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COMPOSITES EUROPE Blog met Mr. Stefan Hilbrath – divisional director of UHU Industrieklebstoffe. For the first time UHU will exhibit at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011 in Stuttgart. We have asked him a few questions to get some interesting information.

Q: Question
A: Answer

UHU Indutry adhesives - new exhibitor at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011 in Stuttgart - http://uhu-profi.de/

Done and dusted. The German government’s decision to withdraw from nuclear energy has also paved the way for the development of renewable forms of energy. The proportion of electricity generation from renewable sources is expected to rise to at least 80 percent by 2050. Wind energy is planned to play a major role in this. Last year the sector contributed 7.9 percent to the total amount of electricity generated in Germany.

The energy policy of the German government includes giving greater support to offshore wind farms. The remuneration for this power is to be raised to 15 cents per kilowatt hour. Operators of onshore wind turbines will continue to receive up to 10.2 cents per kilowatt hour. 0.5 cents are paid for power from new wind parks if the old equipment went online before 2002. The new turbine should also deliver twice the amount of power than the old one.

Example of how the crystal structure could be used in the rotor blade of a wind turbine. (Photo: Wüstefeld)

These factors therefore represent healthy prospects for the future of the wind power sector. The manufacturers of fibre-reinforced composites are also expecting to benefit from this development – because modern wind turbines are inconceivable without glass and carbon fibre-reinforced plastics. The organisers of the international Composites Europe (CE) exhibition, to be held from 27 to 29 September 2011 in Stuttgart, recognised this early on and are giving the industry the platform it deserves. Well-known producers and processors of fibre composites for the wind energy sector and the relevant machine producers and suppliers get together each year at the event.

But it is not only the presence of the big names which makes a visit to the exhibition so worthwhile. Jens-Hagen Wüstefeld from Starnberg, for instance, has developed a crystalline structure as a lightweight construction element. It yields an 85 percent reduction in weight, lower manufacturing costs, outstanding rigidity and design flexibility in comparison to a solid material. Starting out with a geometric concept, he made a three dimensional lattice from triangles, similar to a crystal structure. Any forces applied to such a symmetrical grid are distributed optimally to adjacent surfaces and edges.

These lightweight elements can be manufactured to any scale, from any materials and in any form – including those appropriate for wind turbines. The resulting reduced weight of the tower would allow the foundation to be simplified. And the lower weight of the rotor would result in lower bearing loads and therefore reduced wear and greater efficiency in the entire turbine. The reduced amounts of materials required would also reduce production costs. Individual segments can easily be joined together, simplifying both transportation and erection.

Every movement must be just right when the blade and rotor hub of a wind turbine are married together at a dizzy height.  Because screwing the rotor blade onto the rotor hub 100 metres above the ground represents a major bonding technology challenge. Heavy-duty threaded bushes are bonded into the fibre-reinforced flange on the blade holder of each blade – and the bond must be absolutely rock solid.

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The significance of wind energy is increasing throughout Europe.

A study carried out by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) shows that capacity increased by just under 20% to almost 65,000 megawatts in 2008. The possibility for growth is Read Full Post

Dear reader, sympathizer and friends,

an eventful year is drawing to its end.
We would like to thank you very much for reading our blogpost, visiting our show or telling us what is going wrong or fine.

The year 2009 has the sub-title “year of the crisis”. But we never gave up. We always tried to find a solution – pretty often a creative solution. Our shoulders were closed against the vortex downward.

What will be in 2010 ? – Outlook.

Few days ago we saw that the first plane with extra-easy carbon fibers for Engine tail, Thrust reversing housing etc. is able to fly – and will save 20% of fuel.

In Copenhagen the world discusses over reduction of Co2 – We need stronger energy sources apart from the atoms energy – wind mills with especially long reinforced carbon fibres wings will play a serious role.

My last point: The weight of the battery in electric vehicles must become balanced somehow to protect the positive effects.

Fiber reinforcements are able to change characteristics of plastics. With reinforced plastics designers are able to design more beautiful things and it makes our life lighter. Who would like me a contradicting, if I said that: We improve the world with Composites!

We wish you and your familiy happy holidays as well as a healthy, peaceful and successful new year 2010!

Best regards,

Frank Mertz
Sales Manager COMPOSITES EUROPE

Looking forward to your comment:
Frank.Mertz@reedexpo.de
+49 (0) 211 90191 227
http://www.twitter.com/ceshow