As of early February 2017, reservations for the year’s formnext powered by tct exhibition had early clearly surpassed the already high level received by the same time in 2016. “Our current registration rate shows that formnext 2017 will be significantly larger in terms of both space and exhibitors,” affirms Sascha F. Wenzler, Head of Division for formnext at event organizer Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH. “As a result, we’re planning to expand from hall level 3.1 into level 3.0.”
Global players
At formnext powered by tct, leading innovative companies from across the globe showcase technologies all along the process chains of cutting-edge industrial manufacturing. World-renowned firms like Additive Industries, Alphacam, Arburg, Arcam, BigRep, Concept Laser, EOS, FIT, Materialise, OR Laser, Prodways, SLM, Voxeljet, and XJET represent a considerable portion of the global elite in additive manufacturing that have already confirmed their plans to exhibit at formnext 2017. This year’s edition will also be welcoming in Sodick, a key international player in the mechanical engineering industry. Until 10 March 2017, other interested companies can still take advantage of an early-bird discount to present their expertise among an audience of global market leaders.
Further areas set for expansion along the process chain
Meanwhile, formnext 2017 will be expanding its portfolio to include additional areas of the process chain, such as software, basic materials, pre- and post-processing, and quality assurance. Along with international market leaders like Heraeus, MachineWorks, Nikon, and Oerlikon, an array of other highly specialized companies will be showing off their innovative solutions for intelligent production.
A huge influence on investments
Thanks to the very high share of executives and decision-makers on hand, formnext powered by tct 2016 demonstrated the enormous significance it has with regard to future investments throughout the industry. High-level managers accounted for around a third of last year’s visitors, and nearly three in every four attendees were involved in investment decisions at their company.
formnext’s strong focus on industrial applications is also clearly apparent in the breakdown of its visitors: While those from the mechanical and plant engineering sector (25% of all attendees) led the pack, the event significantly increased its share of experts from the automotive industry (to 19%). Medical technology, aerospace, and electrical engineering were some other important areas of industry well-represented by last year’s attendees.