parts2clean also convinces in challenging environments with quality, quantity, and internationality

At the end of parts2clean on Thursday, it was clear: the parts2clean 2019 met the expectations of most exhibitors, if not exceeded them. The international leading trade fair for industrial parts and surface cleaning achieved this not only with visitor numbers at the level of the still-booming 2018, but also with high-quality inquiries and projects that the trade visitors had traveled to the Stuttgart exhibition grounds for.

For three days, parts2clean, in its 17th edition, once again presented itself as a global information and procurement platform for industrial parts and surface cleaning, with 230 exhibitors from 20 countries. Around 4,250 trade visitors from 48 countries utilized the offerings in the Stuttgart exhibition halls to learn about solutions for their tasks. The international leading trade fair was able to maintain the level of the previous year's event. The proportion of foreign visitors has slightly increased to now 22 percent. 63 percent of them came from EU countries, and a further 28 percent from the rest of Europe. This means that almost every tenth international visitor comes from a country outside Europe. The most represented visitor nations after Germany were Switzerland and Austria, followed by Italy, France, and the United Kingdom.

The stable visitor level in a challenging economic environment demonstrates the great importance of parts2clean as a worldwide hub for business initiation in the field of industrial component cleaning," says Olaf Daebler, Global Director parts2clean at Deutsche Messe AG. In view of subdued economic prospects, an uncertain economic environment in the automotive industry, and reports of reduced or canceled travel budgets, many exhibitors arrived with quite cautious expectations for the fair. "We learned from our exhibitors that many conversations focused on new applications," says the organizer of parts2clean. This is confirmed by Rainer Straub, Board of Management, Vice President Sales & Customer Service, Ecoclean GmbH: "Due to the circumstances and participation in other leading trade fairs beforehand, parts2clean ran more stably for us than expected. Significantly fewer visitors from the automotive industry came, but we were able to establish very substantial contacts and received new inquiries regarding cleaning requirements that we had not encountered before. These involve tasks from lightweight construction, medical technology, electronics, precision engineering, and optics. We also received very interesting inquiries, among others from the aluminum die-casting sector, through our new solution for deburring and cleaning individual parts in a single process, as well as for partial component cleaning."

Investing and solution-oriented trade visitors with decision-making authority

The fact that the conversations at parts2clean are in-depth and technically specific is also evident from the consistently very high trade visitor rate of 99 percent, as well as the high decision-making competence. More than half of the visitors come from top management or hold a managerial position in their company. The proportion of those involved in investment decisions has slightly increased compared to the previous year, at 86 percent. 76 percent of the trade visitors stated that they attended parts2clean with concrete investment and purchasing intentions. Of these, 77 percent plan to make the investment within the next twelve months. The investment volume exceeds 100,000 euros for 39 percent.

Thus, the exhibiting companies were able to establish correspondingly high-quality contacts and initiate promising projects, as heard from Katharina Wolf, Assistant to the Management at Vapic GmbH: "Parts2clean 2019 went very well for us. Through our more creative booth design, we attracted the attention of many trade visitors, which led to interesting technical discussions and some new projects. We will exhibit again in 2020 because it is important for us to be present at parts2clean." It is also certain that Raffaela Tessari, Sales and Customer Care at the Italian plant manufacturer Novatec s.r.l., will participate again next year: "Compared to another trade fair we attended in September, parts2clean was significantly better. We had visitors from medical technology, precision parts manufacturing, and PVD coating, so we could establish good new contacts. Existing customers also visited us here, which is also important for us."

Company representatives from various industries attended parts2clean. With 39 percent, the automotive and vehicle industry still represented the largest visitor group. However, the proportion of visitors from machinery and plant engineering increased by nine percent compared to the previous year to 32 percent. Other important visitor industries include metal processing, surface technology and finishing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and process engineering, as well as electronics and electrical engineering. This cross-industry focus helped counteract the slightly decreased share of visitors from the automotive sector. This was noted by Peter Ruoff, Head of Marketing & Sales at MAFAC – E. Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG: "This year, we had the same number of visitors at our booth as in 2018, although the automotive sector, especially OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, was less represented. However, this was offset by visitors from other industries such as watchmaking, medical and food technology, and other industrial sectors. They came to us with some interesting tasks, and I am confident that we will generate some orders from these contacts." Stephen Playdon, Regional Business Manager at MicroCare Europe BVBA, shares this view: "The quality of visitors at parts2clean is very good. We had in-depth conversations, which will likely lead to some business. Additionally, we have discovered new potential markets." For Michael Wickell, CEO of Viverk AB from Sweden, his first participation in parts2clean was also a positive experience: "There may not have been as many visitors here, but they were exactly the right ones. The conversations were very concrete, and we have many contacts with whom we will discuss projects in detail in the coming weeks." Bernd Menke, Sales Manager at BvL Oberflächentechnik GmbH, reports: "Parts2clean offers a good opportunity in a condensed form to present current innovations. For example, we showcased our innovation Libelle Product Control at this year's industry-leading trade fair. The intensive discussions with existing customers and interested parties showed us anew that personal contact cannot be replaced but can only be complemented by all forms of communication in digital and printed form. Moreover, parts2clean is a good opportunity to keep an eye on current market developments."

Albert R. Maurer, Managing Partner of the Swiss company Maurer Magnetic AG, was enthusiastic about his trade fair appearance this year: "The economy has changed, and there is a lot of upheaval. This has led us to have a significantly better, even sensational, fair than in previous years. We were able to conduct many very good technical discussions with representatives from the automotive and vehicle industry, large-scale manufacturing, and aerospace, from various countries." Dominik Schiller, Technical Marketing Spectroscopy at LTB Lasertechnik Berlin GmbH, also reports exceeding expectations: "We introduced a new product for technical cleanliness at parts2clean and were positively surprised by the quality of contacts." For Edwin Zeng, Sales Manager at Hitachi High-Technologies Pte. Ltd., Singapore, his trade fair debut was also worthwhile: "parts2clean proved to be very valuable for us. The visitors here are very focused, so we received some very good leads from Germany and other European countries. A good start for entering the European market." Tobias Jessberger found the participation even more successful: "We have been exhibiting at parts2clean for over ten years. We appreciate the high quality of trade visitors and the interesting conversations. On the last day of the fair, we received concrete orders directly at our booth. Our annual growth in sales, even during a declining economic period, is based, among other factors, on participating in such trade fairs."

The importance of component cleaning continues to increase

Regardless of whether traditional tasks or new applications, such as in additive manufacturing, electromobility, or through developments in semiconductor technology, the importance of component cleanliness as a product feature and quality factor will continue to rise. It will become a criterion in more and more industries or for an increasing number of components. This is also the view of visitors to the international leading trade fair, where it is a global trend. Accordingly, nine out of ten visitors plan to attend again.

The next parts2clean will be held from October 27 to 29, 2020, at the Stuttgart exhibition grounds.