Germany Puts on a Show for the Industrial Market

Having spent the last three days at SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg, I’m once again blown away by the scale and organisation of a German event. The exhibitors filled 11 halls in Nuremberg’s Messe and it was attended by many tens of thousands of engineers. Despite the huge numbers, everything run like clockwork from the minute the gates opened till 5pm when the show officially closes and the beer is brought out for the social networking hour.

The scale of the show is immense, and that is matched by some exhibitor stands. Companies like Rockwell, Phoenix Contact and Rittal took up good proportions of their allocated halls with displays that took used space for around ten or more average stands.

The aisles of the exhibition were always pretty crowded. While in other countries, exhibitions seem to be dominated by middle aged people who are well established in their careers, in Germany the demographic seems much younger as a whole. Young engineers in their early to mid twenties who are starting out in their careers are much more visible at German exhibitions. Exhibitions are important to let decision makers see the latest products that can make processes more efficient, but they are also important for continued education and to provoke ideas. I think that German business appreciates this fact much more than other countries. Could it be because of the country’s Mittelstand industrial philosophy that young engineers are given more responsibility earlier?

The theme of the exhibition is industrial technologies, and as expected Industry 4.0 was the dominant topic. The message was that Industry 4.0 is no longer an idea that can make industry more efficient and reduce downtime, it is here now, and the products and services are available to put the strategy into place.

This year seen another change in my opinion. Power semiconductor companies were much more visible. Power Integrations exhibited for the first time, joining Microchip, Renesas, Infineon, ST, Rohm and others at the show. This presence targeted makers of control equipment with the message that the latest power products could enable even more efficient designs. With electric motors using up a large part of the earth’s power generation (45% according to Clean Technica), powering them more efficiently has the potential to make a huge reduction in consumption. The message seemed to be getting through as these company’s stands always looked busy. 

PSD