Global Fastener News

Wire Düsseldorf will add fastener and springs independent exhibition areas in 2020. Fastener machinery has long been a part of the biennial trade show in Germany.

The 2018 Wire show drew 42,248 attendees and 1,442 exhibitors from 51 countries with nearly 700,000 sq ft of exhibition space. The next Wire show will be April 8-13, 2020, in Düsseldorf.

“For quite some time now the organizers of the global trade fair wire and cable have observed developments on national and international markets and interviewed exhibitors and potential customers – always with a view to being close to the market and able to respond to current needs of the wire and cable industries,” the trade show website explained. “With these two new exhibition areas fasteners and springs, Messe Düsseldorf responds to market needs while closing the gap between machinery, plant, raw materials and finished products at the same time.”

Currently the world’s largest fastener trade show is the biennial Fastener Fair Stuttgart. The next Stuttgart show will be March 19-21, 2019. The 2017 trade show drew 11,709 visitors from 91 countries. There were 895 exhibiting companies. Fastener Fair also has smaller European shows in Italy, France and Turkey, plus shows in the U.S., Mexico and India.

The International Hardware Fair in even-numbered years in Koln (Cologne), Germany includes a fastener section.

Other major shows include the fastener distribution-oriented International Fastener Expo in the U.S., which includes a fastener machinery section and multiple shows in China.

The U.S.-based International Fastener Machinery & Suppliers Association has long met in conjunction with the Düsseldorf show. IFMSA executive director Ray Zirkle recalled when the fastener machinery section moved from Basel, Switzerland, to Düsseldorf.  

In the early years fasteners in addition to machinery were exhibited at Düsseldorf, Zirkle recalled. “History repeats itself,” he told FIN.

Düsseldorf had consulted with Zirkle about adding a fastener section.

IFMSA is sponsoring the International Fastener Machinery Expo May 14-16, 2019, in conjunction with InterWire in Atlanta.

Wire Düsseldorf noted passenger cars contain more than 1,000 screw connections – 300 of them in the combustion engine – and some 1,000 springs.

The automotive fastener market “is thought to have amounted to some US$20 billion in 2017 and it is expected to reach almost US$21.5 billion in 2018 and rise to over US$25 billion by 2025,” the trade show explained.

According to the Deutscher Schraubenverband e.V. (German Screw Federation), 796,000 tons of fasteners worth €3.3 billion (US$3.8b) were produced in Germany in 2017, one of the leading producing and exporting countries for screws and fasteners. Of these, 794,000 ton worth €4.5 billion (US$5.2b) went to exports. The same year the country imported 895,000 tons of fasteners.

There are 50 German screw manufacturers with 8,000 employees, according to DSV.  

Beyond automotive, Wire cited the principal buyers of fasteners as including producers of household appliances, electrical equipment and furniture, construction industry, machinery, apparatus and steel engineering.

Industrial springs include coil springs, torsion springs, disc springs and helical springs used in the automotive industry, mechanical engineering, the electrical industry, building technology, optics, office equipment, toys and in the fittings industry.

In 2016, the global spring market volume is thought to have totaled slightly over US$20 billion and is expected to rise to over US$32 billion between 2017 and 2025 with an average annual growth rate of 5.1%.

In April 2018 wire and cable industries presented machinery, equipment, raw materials, technologies and services to a global audience. Two-thirds of the exhibiting companies came from outside Germany.

In terms of visitors, the Metals & Flow Technologies section is a major draw for Wire Düsseldorf. Friedrich-Georg Kehrer, metals & flow portfolio director described the finished products fasteners and springs as “especially ideal complements for the machinery, equipment and raw materials we have presented at Wire in Düsseldorf so far. This extension of ranges guarantees wire an additional pillar with growth potential from 2020.” Web: wire.de or wire-tradefair.com Video: wire-tradefair.com/cgi-bin/md_wiretube