 EUROEXPO claims LogiMAT has taken over pole position in the worldwide rankings in the international trade fair landscape. |
Organisers are calling LogiMAT 2015 the most successful intralogistics trade fair in the show's history as significant increases were experienced in "all areas" at last week's show.
With 1,162 exhibitors (+15.4%), among them 246 (+35%) from 28 countries (+10.5%), organiser EUROEXPO Messe-und Kongress-GmbH claims the 13th International Trade Fair for Distribution, Materials Handling and Information Flow has taken over pole position in the worldwide rankings in the international trade fair landscape.
For the first time this year, LogiMAT occupied seven of the eight halls at the Stuttgart exhibition centre. The total space taken up by the event increased by 14.8% from last year. There was a 7% increase to more than 35,000 trade visitors on the three days of the show.
"It was a record-breaking LogiMAT, even though the strike at Germanwings (low-cost airline) probably robbed us of the chance to report a double-digit increase in visitor numbers," says exhibition director Peter Kazander, COO of EUROEXPO.
Kazander attributes the significant growth numbers to the favourable economic climate in the sector, and a readiness and need to invest on the part of industry and trade. "The key segments in the intralogistics business are reporting rising demand coupled with a continued good order situation."
EUROEXPO claims that a number of orders worth in the millions were signed up in the exhibition halls.
"More than successful," Kazander sums up the integration of the retailing platform TradeWorld into LogiMAT this year for the second time. A four-fold increase in the number of exhibitors in this section and the responses of exhibitors in Hall 5 prove the high potential of TradeWorld.
"Logistics and retailing are closely interlinked and they are a perfect match at a trade fair," Kazander says. "For the coming year, we will amend a few things in some areas, but overall the reactions and the results here show us that the concept is right."
Over 21% of the exhibitors in Stuttgart came from outside Germany this year, a 17.1% increase in international participation. Among the 28 countries represented at the show, the highest in the rankings (after Germany) were The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and France.
More international exhibitors also travelled to Stuttgart this year, in particular from China and the US, and also from Korea and Taiwan.
About 69.2% of those trade visitors from abroad came from EU countries, 19.8% from the rest of Europe and 11% from outside Europe.
"LogiMAT has definitely established itself as the leading trade fair and networking forum for the intralogistics sector. And now the fair has also attained an international reputation as an intralogistics fair for Central Europe. In addition, it is an important trend barometer," says René Holzer, CEO of Gilgen Logistics.
"LogiMAT is becoming ever more important, because it has developed from a purely German-speaking trade fair into an international event," adds Heimo Robosch, executive vice president of KNAPP AG.
"LogiMAT is a firm date in our diary," says Claudia Signorelli, marketing director of Toyota Material Handling Deutschland.
The next LogiMAT opens in Nanjing, China, from 18 to 20 March 2015. LogiMAT 2016 takes place from 8 to 10 March 2016 in Stuttgart.