CeMAT growing by leaps and bounds - attendance up over 20 percent

Over 60,000 trade visitors from around the world

Tremendous international drawing power

Stunning display of high-tech intralogistics innovations

High level of satisfaction among exhibitors and visitors

CeMAT growing by leaps and bounds - attendance up over 20 percent

Driven by globalization, the intralogistics sector is experiencing growth rates virtually unmatched by any other sector, and CeMAT - the world's leading intralogistics showcase - is growing just as fast. The five-day event comes to a close tomorrow.

Even at the outset of day four, some 50,000 trade visitors from around the world had already passed through the turnstiles, with attendance expected to top the 60,000 mark by the close of the event. Visitors from abroad accounted for over 40 percent of the total.

Sepp D. Heckmann, Chairman of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe, was delighted with the run of the fair through day four: "Intralogistics is an enormously dynamic sector, and a global industry. CeMAT gives our exhibitors exactly the platform they need to present their new products and innovations to an international audience. The huge turnout by visitors from abroad has been sensational - an outstanding validation of Hannover's status as a leading trade fair venue."

Satisfaction was running high among the show's more than 1,100 exhibitors from 35 different countries (up from 980 at the previous CeMAT staging in 2005). In the words of Klaus Tersteegen, member of the Board of Management at SSI Schäfer, Neunkirchen: "CeMAT 2008 has been a success for us on the whole, and we are very pleased with the results. There have been plenty of promising talks with customers, and our showcase came across as worthy of the market leaders, impressing customers, staff and journalists alike. We already have high expectations for the next CeMAT."

Christoph Hahn-Woernle, spokesman for the Intralogistics Forum in the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) and Managing Partner at viastore systems GmbH, Stuttgart, saw CeMAT 2008 as a clear reflection of the ongoing upswing in the intralogistics industry: "Intralogistics has notched up impressively since CeMAT 2005, growing by more than 25 percent to a volume of 18.5 billion euros. That is a solid performance by anyone's standards, and demonstrates the huge potential of our dynamic industry, particularly compared with the economy as a whole."

High percentages of exhibitors and visitors from abroad

Over 45 percent of CeMAT exhibitors were from outside Germany, with a third of these coming from other parts of Europe. The show's international appeal was further underscored by a huge visitor turnout from abroad, accounting for a full 40 percent of total attendance, 12 percent of which was from Asia. 9 percent of attendees came from the Americas and 75 percent from other European countries. The top ten visitor nations were the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Poland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, China and India.

Visitor satisfaction was very high, with 84 percent of attendees surveyed indicating they would be back for the next CeMAT. The survey also confirmed CeMAT's attractiveness to new industry target groups, with attendance by intralogistics service professionals soaring by as much as 150 percent.

The show's international appeal was clearly registered - and appreciated - by exhibitors: "We were delighted with the response. We generated many new leads, and there have been so many interesting people to talk to. The event was well designed and very professionally run. And most important of all for us as global players was the international profile of the visitors. This has to be one of the key benefits of CeMAT," remarked Dr. Remco Overwater, Managing Director at Vanderlande Industries GmbH, Mönchengladbach.

Complete spectrum represented at show

The entire intralogistics sector was on show at CeMAT 2008, including innovative, energy-saving industrial trucks, fully-automated integrated materials handling systems, rack and warehousing systems and the latest developments in IT, rounded off by cranes, lifting equipment and lift platforms. Hot topics in intralogistics today include auto-ID systems, robot logistics and packaging technology, all of which were presented live at this year's CeMAT.

For the first time ever, CeMAT featured logistics real estate and port transshipment technology. Over 200 exhibitors presented their innovative solutions in the port logistics area alone, welcoming the addition of this market segment to the show. "The introduction of the port transshipment and container handling theme suited us perfectly, given our specific focus on the 'big truck' sector, where we now possess a market share of over 20 percent in Germany and are continuing to expand," reported Jürgen Frank, Forklifts Division Manager at Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH, based in Munich. This topic was further explored at the International CeMAT Forum, where leading specialists from the industry discussed container and bulk goods transport as well as future avenues for cooperation among seaports and inland ports.

CeMAT - the innovations show

Over all five days of CeMAT, exhibitors presented a stunning range of innovations. Ongoing automation in the stock-picking sector, enhanced integration of logistics system modules and the growing importance of environment and safety issues were the key trends showcased this year. The spotlight is now on energy efficiency for forklift manufacturers and materials handling system suppliers. The key requirements for intralogistics solutions in the future will be to offer a high degree of flexibility and environmental friendliness, and manufacturers were already presenting alternative, energy-saving drive technologies at this year's show.

Robots are taking over more and more functions in intralogistics. They can now take perform loading and unloading as well as palletizing and depalletizing functions, and were among the highlights at CeMAT 2008.

Intralogistics Campus: Knowledge transfer between research and industry

Professors, business owners, researchers, students and top executives convened at the Intralogistics Campus in Hall 27. According to Christian Kolb, trade fair coordinator of the research association for technical logistics WGTL: "This event presented an opportunity for people from 15 leading logistics departments at German universities to network with their cooperation partners from the industry." The centerpiece of the Intralogistics Campus was the Campus Forum, which showcased the latest research findings and industrial innovations from participating universities.

Lively response to International CeMAT Forum and Warehousing Forum

In cooperation with its media partners, Hannover-based Deutsche Messe organized a series of lectures and panel discussions exploring a wide range of industrial logistics solutions in a dedicated forum sector at CeMAT. Visitor response was outstanding. Tuesday's program featured best-practice examples from leading chemical and pharmaceutical experts. On Wednesday the focus shifted to warehousing, and on Thursday, forum attendees heard presentations on port logistics and the logistics markets in Eastern Europe. On Friday the forum was the venue for the 6th Logistics Network Congress, devoted to this year's new CeMAT themes, including the requirements for successful real estate project development in the logistics sector as well as auto-ID for container transport. The best-practice lectures in the "Warehousing Forum" also met with strong visitor interest.