Professionals from the sheet metal working industry will gather at Hannover in October for the 24th EuroBLECH, a flagship event.

EuroBLECH, the world’s leading biennial sheet metal working exhibition is getting ready for its 24th edition at the Hannover fair grounds in Germany during October 25-29, 2016. From a small beginning in London in 1969 with just around 100 participants, this iconic event soon moved to the continent, first to Switzerland before eventually settling down at Hannover in 1992 thanks to the huge fair grounds, with a stopover at Essen till it grew too large for that venue.

The theme of EuroBLECH 2016, “The New Generation of Sheet Metal Working”, reflects the trend towards digitalisation and smart manufacturing in modern sheet metal processing. With all the recent developments and emphasis on Industry 4.0, the exhibition will, once again, be the meeting place for sheet metal working professionals from all over the world looking to find enhanced machinery and innovative production solutions. “EuroBLECH is a vertical event for the sheet metal industry covering the entire value chain,” said Ms Susanne Neuner, PR & Marketing Director, EuroBLECH Press Office, Mack Brooks Exhibitions, the organiser company. “For the 2016 edition, the show has attracted nearly 1600 exhibitors from 40 countries of which almost 80% are those that had exhibited in the previous edition,” she added. This also means that there are about 300 new exhibitors this year. Total exhibition space will cover more than 90,000 sq.mtr, representing an increase in net floor space of 4% compared with the previous exhibition.

Against the backdrop of Industry 4.0, today’s production is undergoing major changes. Automated production, machine-to-machine communication, intelligent process chains – smart manufacturing has now become an integral part of sheet metal working. Data exchange along the entire production value chain paves the way for optimised manufacturing processes, improved planning reliability, more flexibility and higher product quality. With product variety increasing and batch sizes decreasing, manufacturing processes in sheet metal working are becoming ever more complex and require highly efficient and flexible solutions. Companies in the industry sector are, therefore, currently facing an environment of change that requires vital decisions for the long-term adaptation of their production processes.

Visitors will be able to discover an extensive variety of products, from conventional systems to high-tech solutions, and gain an insight into the latest technological advancements in sheet metal working. As the global business barometer and leading industry platform for the sheet metal working industry, EuroBLECH will present a large variety of tailor-made solutions for optimising and modernising production processes. Exhibiting companies will put a comprehensive range of machinery, tools and systems for the entire value chain of sheet metal processing on display. The exhibition profile includes sheet metal, semi-finished and finished products, welding and surface treatment, processing of hybrid structures, tools, quality control, CAD/CAM/CIM systems and R&D.

While Germany contributes the largest number of exhibitors comprising 45% of the total, the fact remains that more than half of the participants come from the rest of the world, with Italy, China, Turkey, The Netherlands, Switzerland Spain, Austria, UK and USA sending large numbers in that order. An event of this scale also attracts a large number of visitors and close to 60,000 attended the 2014 edition, of which 37% came from outside Germany. While the number of Indian companies participating in this event is small – just 6 are listed as of now for the forthcoming show – but India being one of the major markets for these products, the number of visitors runs into several hundreds.

Exhibition Manager, Ms Evelyn Warwick pointed out that EuroBlech 2016 will be spread across 8 halls at Hannover exhibition grounds, one of the world’s largest venues, and the allocation of the halls to exhibitors reflects the sheet metal working technology chain, embracing sectors such as handling, separation and forming technologies, flexible sheet metal working, tube/pipe sections, processing of metal/plastic hybrid sections, machine elements and components, joining and fastening technologies, surface technologies, data processing, automation and robotics, and services, etc.

Visitors will be able to see live demonstrations of a large variety of machinery and systems and discuss practical applications with top industry experts. The show targets all sheet metal working specialists at every management level in small and medium-sized companies as well as large enterprises. Visitors include design engineers, production managers, quality managers, buyers, manufacturers, technical directors and experts in associations and R&D. In conclusion, Warwick stated that based on the statistics gathered during the previous editions of the show, nearly half of the visitors come to the show with definite plans of buying machines and equipment.

Complete list of exhibitors is available at: http://www.euroblech.com/english/exhibitor-list/