PaintExpo 2020 – Trends and impulses for coating technology

(Image source: PaintExpo)

The PaintExpo will once again transform the Karlsruhe Exhibition Grounds from April 21 to 24, 2020, into an international marketplace for innovations, applications, future technologies, and trends in industrial coating. By the end of March 2019, around 400 companies had already booked their booth space for the 8th world-leading trade fair. Industry giants are represented alongside innovative medium-sized and smaller companies. Visitors can expect a comprehensive range of solutions to optimize and future-proof coating processes.

As a cross-sectional technology, industrial coating technology has a decisive influence on the value creation of companies—whether in-house coating departments or contract coaters. Globally, the requirements for coating or finishing are increasing both in the manufacturing of industrial products and consumer goods, as well as in the architectural sector. On the one hand, the focus is on further improving coating quality and meeting the growing demand for individualized products under high cost pressures. On the other hand, stricter environmental protection regulations must be adhered to, and resources utilized more efficiently. Additionally, lightweight construction with multimaterial substrates and new manufacturing processes such as additive manufacturing with rough and porous surfaces pose new challenges for coating technology. Trends like automation and digitalization are also occupying coating companies and departments. All these topics will be at the forefront of the upcoming PaintExpo, held from April 21 to 24, 2020, at the Karlsruhe exhibition grounds. And this with a comprehensive offering that is unmatched worldwide. By the end of March, around 400 companies had already secured their booths, including all market and technology leaders in the industry. "The early and strong demand for exhibition space at PaintExpo clearly shows that providers of industrial coating technology see participation in this world-leading trade fair as indispensable. It is already foreseeable that we will present visitors with the most current and comprehensive global offering in industrial coating technology and solutions for their individual tasks," reports Jürgen Haußmann, Managing Director of the organizer FairFair GmbH.

All Technologies, Materials, and Industries

The range of exhibits at PaintExpo covers all technologies of industrial coating—from powder coating to wet and UV coating, as well as coil and Inmould coating—and spans entire process chains. To meet the high demands for quality, flexibility, material, energy, and cost efficiency in coating components, such as those made of metals, plastics, wood, wood-based materials, glass, and material combinations, exhibiting companies will showcase innovations, technologies, processes, and services for process design, execution, and optimization. This begins with pretreatment of parts and includes plant and application technology, conveyor systems, drying, and extends to quality control and packaging of coated products. For coating systems, new and further developed solutions for all coating processes are in focus, including ultra-high solids, chrome-replacement paints, gel coats, systems that impart specific functional and/or decorative properties to coated surfaces, improve corrosion protection, and contribute to material and energy savings. Responding to the challenges posed by the trend toward individualization up to batch sizes of 1, exhibitors will present plant and optimization concepts that are consistently designed for flexibility, quality, and efficiency.

Simulation and automation of the coating process are other current topics that will be emphasized at the upcoming PaintExpo. Increasing relevance is also being seen, especially in contract coating, in Industry 4.0—the digital integration of the coating process into manufacturing. Solutions enabling this will also be showcased at the world-leading trade fair for industrial coating technology.

"The complete and representative state-of-the-art offering allows contract coaters and visitors from in-house coating companies across all industries to find technically and economically optimal solutions efficiently and quickly for their tasks," is how Jürgen Haußmann is confident.