Global Fastener News

March 19, 2013 FIN – There are walls – not just drapes – between booths. Fastener Fair Stuttgart exhibitors may welcome you into their space, which may even include a kitchen and a meal for you.  You sit down on upholstered chairs around a table and talk business.
One U.S. distributor attending told FIN he liked “the size and quality of the booths – including serving beer and the lunches in the booths.”
North Americans attending Fastener Fair Stuttgart immediately notice the different look and quickly detect a different atmosphere from trade shows in their homeland.
First, Fastener Fair Stuttgart was larger than any North American fastener event. The exhibit space more than doubled the largest North American fastener trade show’s record.
There were 811 exhibiting companies occupying a total of 16,000 square meters (172,223 square feet). The North American fastener trade show space record is 82,900 sq ft.
Show organizer UK-based Mack Brooks Exhibitions announced 10,600 participants from 97 countries attended the three-day show, which began on a snowy February 26, 2013.
One first time attendee from the U.S. who has a major European customer observed “the setup allowed participants the ability to conduct business which was a great benefit.  I was able to meet with many of our Asian and European suppliers.  The people were friendly and with English being the language of world business, communication was easy.”
Mack Brooks reported host country Germany had the most exhibiting companies from a single nation, but three quarters of exhibitors came from outside Germany, with Italy, Great Britain, Turkey, the Netherlands Spain, Poland, France and the U.S. as the leading Western exhibiting countries.
From Asia the largest number of companies were from Taiwan, China and India.
One U.S. distributor attending for his third time commented that FFS has “gotten decidedly stronger each year.”
Mack Brooks announced a 21% increase in the number of exhibiting companies and total exhibit space rose 30% over the 2011 biennial trade show in Germany.
“I like the variety of countries represented – particularly the former Eastern Block countries and India,” the distributor said. “Next time I will bring more people as it is too difficult for me to cover the show by myself effectively.”
The distributor also noted what he found to be a negative difference – the German show allows OEMs to participate, so some distributors become exhibitors.
A first time attendee observed that FFS was “much bigger than I expected.”
The National Fastener Distributors Association had a booth (called a “stand” in Europe) at the show and leaders of the European Fastener Distributors Association and Taiwan Fastener Trade Association met during the show.
In addition to 642 industrial fastener exhibiting companies, Fastener Fair Stuttgart reported 302 exhibitors supplied construction fasteners; 122 manufacturing technology; 102 assembly and installation tools; 34 information, communications and services; and 26 storage, distribution and factory equipment.
Indeed, one attendee said that he “found a number of suppliers for non-traditional product (non-fastener).”
The show is held at Stuttgart Messe, which is near the Stuttgart airport.  There are adjoining hotels and a train, which is a 25-minute ride to central Stuttgart. “The train makes it very easy to stay in the city and get out to the show,” commented one exhibitor.
“It was nice to see different ways of doing the same thing,” another exhibitor said.
“I had been told of what to expect and it met expectations,” said a fastener executive attending a European trade show for the first time.
Fastener Fair was first held in 1995 in the East Midlands of England. The Stuttgart trade show was first held in 2005.
The next biennial Fastener Fair Stuttgart will be March 10-12, 2015.  For information contact Mack Brooks Exhibitions, Romeland House, Romeland Hill, St. Albans, Herts AL3 4ET UK. Tel: (44) 1727 814 400 Fax (44) 1727 814 501 E-mail: info@fastenerfair.com Web: fastenerfair.com  ©2013/2015 Fastener Industry News.
For information on permission to reuse or reprint this article please e-mail: FIN@GlobalFastenerNews.com