Lounges 2015: A small, fine fair that wants to grow again

Impressions of the trade press

Impressions cleanroomonline

Impressions Conversations

Conference impressions

Lunch impressions

Impressions after work

Drone impressions IPA CAT

Ulrich Rothgerber

Guido Kreck

Andreas König

Dr. Lutz Behle

Werner Ueberrhein

Jörg Dressler

Bernd Dehner

Approximately 25 percent fewer exhibitors, 15 percent fewer visitors, and yet satisfied faces. The lounges in 2015 at the Stuttgart trade fair grounds were again what they should be for Ulrich Rothgerber from the organizer Inspire Eventmanagement: a relaxed industry meeting "with really good atmosphere and very pleasant conversations."

About 7,000 visitors, of whom around 70 percent were from the pharmaceutical industry and 15 percent from the food sector, registered to see what the 187 exhibitors had to offer this year. For the fact that the fair was smaller than the previous year, Ulrich Rothgerber identified two main reasons: First, the close timing to the ACHEMA in Frankfurt (June 15-19, 2015), which with its 3,800 exhibitors is considered the leading trade fair for the process industry – and second, the trend observed in many companies to exhibit at lounges only every two years. Additionally, the rail strike cost about 1,000 visitors. "Our goal is to reach the exhibitor strength of 2014 again next year," Rothgerber said, adding: "Based on the commitments we already have, that will work."

In 2016, there will be a slightly changed structure for the 10 lounges from May 10 to 12. The areas planned are "The Pure Environment," "Pharma," "Food," and "Biotechnology." The organizers especially want to "give a stronger home to medical technology and biotechnology," Rothgerber explained.

According to his statement, the mix of various communication platforms proved successful: In addition to traditional trade fair booths, the lounges featured 230 technical presentations, 52 actions on the hall stages, 4 panel discussions, 20 product shows, and 12 open discussions with individual exhibitors over three days.

How the lounges in 2015 were received by exhibitors was to be known by "Reinraum-Online" through a small survey in the Stuttgart exhibition hall.

For Guido Kreck from the Stuttgart Fraunhofer IPA, the lounges are "a very important trade fair." The institute has been involved from the beginning and gladly takes the opportunity to present its testing and development services for cleanrooms and cleanliness technology to the industry. This time, Kreck and his colleagues showcased, among other things, a drone from the company CAT, which can be used for filter inspections in high-cleanliness rooms. "So far," Kreck said, "the equipment usually has to be removed from the cleanrooms for this." With the measurement drone, which flies about half a meter below the ceiling, this becomes much easier. The manufacturer expects the device to be market-ready by September 2016.

The declining visitor numbers made little impression on Andreas König, managing director of Karlsruher Systec & Solutions GmbH, a specialist for industrial PCs and mobile workplaces that can be used under GMP conditions. The company displayed, among other things, a PC-equipped trolley whose batteries enable computing times of over 20 hours. This allows at least two shifts to work in industry without needing to connect to power. "The lounges, which we've been part of from the start, are a small, fine trade fair," König stated. Since Systec & Solutions already serves a niche market, they are not focused on high frequency but on intensive contacts.

Also among the regular exhibitors is MT-Messtechnik GmbH from Adelzhausen in Bavaria. The company distributes particle counters from the American manufacturer Lighthouse and offers cleanroom monitoring. Dr. Lutz Behle, responsible for sales at MT, showed great interest in the Apex R 5 particle sensor, which self-monitors and automatically alarms in case of errors. This is especially advantageous for the pharmaceutical industry, where entire batches of medication could not be used if defects in the particle counters are detected too late. However, experience shows it takes some time for such innovations to really gain market acceptance. Behle was satisfied with the visitor response at the lounges, but added, "But we have to see if the costs are recouped through the orders."

Innovations for the cleanroom were also presented by Schmidt Technology GmbH from St. Georgen in the Black Forest. Marketing and sales manager Werner Ueberrhein promoted the company’s air flow sensors, which promise energy savings of up to 30 percent compared to differential pressure measurement devices. Ueberrhein also mentioned that the system offers safety advantages, as it precisely indicates whether there is still overpressure in the cleanroom in case of sluice errors. "Where other devices already go to zero and thus indicate possible contamination, air flow sensors can often still detect that no air has entered from outside," Ueberrhein said. He was pleased at the lounges to have "time for conversations that go into depth." Since he did not expect a walk-in audience, he was not bothered by the declining visitor numbers.

Jörg Dressler, managing director of PMT Partikel-Messtechnik GmbH from Heimsheim in Baden-Württemberg, now sees the lounges as "more of a normal trade fair." Since moving from Karlsruhe two years ago, the event has grown significantly. His company's focus is not only on counting particles but also germs in real time. Unlike the traditional method, where germs must first be captured and cultivated to determine if there are problems, the PMT process allows immediate statements and thus immediate consequences. The method is well received in the electronics industry, where there is always an effort to better understand processes. In the highly regulated pharmaceutical sector, however, it is especially important to know which methods are approved or prescribed.

For the first time as an exhibitor, Bernd Dehner, who runs an engineering office in Perl, Saarland, developing controls for material and personnel sluices, participated. Having previously known the lounges as a visitor, this time he wanted to "show the flag." Regarding the number of visitors to his booth, he noted: "There could definitely be more." Overall, the feedback was "okay. We find our audience." After all, work in the cleanroom is not mass production but "problem-solving in detail." There are no major waves of innovation in the industry anyway.