Stuttgart/Düsseldorf. It lived up to its promise and once again showed even faster growth: exhibitor numbers up 20 percent, stand area up 20 percent, visitor numbers up ten percent. With this result COMPOSITES EUROPE in Stuttgart set new records. 350 exhibitors (previous event: 294) from Europe, North America and Asia showcased lightweight construction concepts, materials trends and state-of-the-art production solutions for the composites industry. A total of 7,121 visitors (previous event: 6,451) came to Stuttgart.

"COMPOSITES EUROPE has meanwhile become the German composites trade fair with the highest international significance and thus one of the most successful European industry fairs to have been launched in the past five years. This is also emphasised by the new partnership with VDMA which both sides hope will provide yet another boost for the industry and the fair", says Hans-Joachim Erbel, CEO with the organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH. Since the initial event in 2006 the number of exhibitors has doubled, the stand area has tripled and the number of visitors has more than doubled.

In the raw materials, machine building and plant construction, and finishing technology segments in particular, many global players were present at the sixth edition of COMPOSITES EUROPE. With Toho Tenax, the SGL Group, Zoltek and Mitsubishi Rayon the four major CFRP suppliers were also represented in Stuttgart. The machine building and automation segment was strongly represented with KraussMaffei Technologies, Dieffenbacher and, for the first time, McClean Anderson from the USA and MAKA Systems. In addition to the partners EuCIA and AVK the organisers had also enlisted the support of the world's largest industry association, the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), for the first time this year.

Composites market shows moderate growth and good prospects

The mood at COMPOSITES EUROPE demonstrated: the sales markets for composite materials continue to grow. The issues of sustainability of composites products, automation and mass production, and hybrid construction are currently the most powerful drivers of market development. This is documented in the latest market report published by AVK - Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e.V., which was presented at this year's International AVK Convention in time for the fair. "The lightweight construction hype in the automotive sector that we currently see will only result in a leap in market development if we succeed in manufacturing the new high-performance materials both economically and in the required serial quantities", says AVK Managing Director Dr. Elmar Witten. In the field of glass-fibre reinforced plastics (GRP) the presently still rising demand in the vehicle and electronics production will result in further growth in duroplast SMC and BMC parts. The AVK market report also sees good growth prospects for other processes in the GRP market (such as spray lay-up, RTM, continuous processes). In future it will also be important to include the perspective on the large short-fibre thermoplastics market segment and to incorporate it in the work of the association, in addition to the long-fibre thermoplasts which continue to show positive development.

The Carbon Composites e.V. excellence network expects a marked boost in the CFRP market as well, which may achieve growth rates in the two-digit percentage range in the next few years. The aviation industry, wind power station construction and automotive construction in particular are considered growth areas.

The industry barometer points up - propensity to invest noticeably increased
A markedly brighter mood in the industry is also demonstrated by the industry barometer which is recorded annually for COMPOSITES EUROPE in a representative survey. 20 percent of companies surveyed expect a strong increase in demand and another 41 percent at least an increase; only eleven percent of the industry expect the market to slow down. In the past two years, this figure had still been close to 30 percent.

In the aerospace and automotive segments, expectations are above the average: in both segments 70 percent of supplier companies for this market expect a strong growth in sales.

Against this background, high order volumes were characteristic of business at this year's COMPOSITES EUROPE. Almost 60 percent of the companies came to Stuttgart with specific investment projects. A third of these currently plan orders with a value exceeding 500,000 euro, almost half plan to invest more than three million euro.

Automotive and aerospace especially strongly represented
Visitors came from all sectors of composite applications, with automotive and aerospace taking the lead and together accounting for close to 60 percent of the visitors; followed by machine building, wind power and the sports and leisure industry. The importance of COMPOSITES EUROPE for the car industry, for instance, is evident from a glance at the 2011 visitor list: whether from Audi or BWM, Daimler, Iveco, KTM or Lamborghini, whether from Magna, MAN, Mitsubishi, Opel, Porsche or Volkswagen and Volvo - designers and developers took advantage of the fair to find innovative solutions.

The Product Demonstration Area and the lecture programme at the COMPOSITES Forum were also very popular. Besides the RTM demonstrations, the "Lamborghini Day" and the adhesives workshop drew large crowds.

VDMA becomes institutional patron of COMPOSITES EUROPE
In the VDMA Forum Composite Technology, COMPOSITES EUROPE won another partner and institutional patron. "Composites offer solutions for the future. Lightweight construction is increasingly in demand and offers a bright perspective with high growth also for machine building and plant construction", says Thorsten Kühmann, Managing Director of the VDMA Forum Composite Technology. COMPOSITES EUROPE expects the partnership with the VDMA Forum to further boost the development of the industry.

COMPOSITES EUROPE in 2012 in Düsseldorf

In line with its alternating schedule, COMPOSITES EUROPE will again take place next to the ALUMINIUM trade fair in even-numbered years. A novelty, however, will be the Düsseldorf location, after the previous Essen location had reached the limits of capacity due to the dynamic growth of the two events. "Backed by the results of this year's COMPOSITES EUROPE we will move a strengthened COMPOSITES EUROPE to the new location which offers new perspectives and growth opportunities for us", says Markus Jessberger, Event Director of COMPOSITES EUROPE.

The dates of the next COMPOSITES EUROPE are 9 to 11 October 2012. More than 65 percent of available stand space is already booked. In 2013 COMPOSITES EUROPE will then take place in Stuttgart again.

Comments on COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011:

"What has been built up here over the last six years is a fine achievement by actively cooperating partners. [...] Sustainability increasingly turns out to be the key issue for the industry."
Volker Fritz, President EuCIA

"The basis for the result of this year's CE is an excellent and successful cooperation between AVK and Reed Exhibitions."
Dr. Michael Effing, Chairman AVK - Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e.V.

"Composites offer solutions for the future. Lightweight construction is increasingly in demand and offers a bright perspective with high growth also for machine building and plant construction."
Thorsten Kühmann, Managing Director VDMA Forum Composite Technology

"The members of Carbon Composites e.V. are very satisfied with the trade fair and the large number of high-quality discussions."
Jochen Bieger, Spokesman Carbon Composites e.V.

"COMPOSITES EUROPE is a working fair with extremely good contacts in the important German market which is leading internationally. COMPOSITES EUROPE is at the pulse of the times."
Erich Fries, Area Sales Manager, KraussMaffei Technologies

"We encountered technically very well-versed visitors from all sectors of the composites industry, in particular from the automotive and aviation industry."
Roland Gößl, Gößl & Pfaff GmbH

"We have been very happy to see such a big participation and interest in our presentation. We are glad to have been part of an event that since the first edition has been continuously growing."
Enrico Maffeo, Commercial Manager Lamborghini

"COMPOSITES EUROPE has developed into a fixed institution. We had only very high-quality discussions with customers here, who are interested in technical solutions. The exhibitor quality is also very high; this results in significant synergies for us."
Charlos Schmidt, General Sales Manager and Authorised Officer, Weiss Chemie, Sandwich Components Division

"We were very satisfied with COMPOSITES EUROPE, and so were our customers. We are pleased that the RTM process met with such great interest here."
Heike Wolfangel, Wolfangel GmbH

"We had some very interesting discussions especially in the segment of regenerative energies; The follow-up business after the fair will show what will become of them."
Stefan Göldner, Verkaufsleiter, DG Kunststofftechnik GmbH and exhibitor in the "Young innovative companies" section supported by funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics

"We were here for the first time and must say: An attractive market and a good trade fair to present ourselves to this market. We had many contacts and are truly very satisfied. We have already made a booking for the next COMPOSITES EUROPE."
M. Bonassi, Product Manager, Orma Macchine

"The visitors at our stand showed extremely high technical competence. That was precisely the target group we had expected. So there was no time wasted since the discussions addressed concrete problems and solutions right away."
Dr. Sabina Crucitti, CEO, Saimex

"A really good trade fair with many good contacts with new and existing customers."
Alberto Sala, Inhaber, Italpresse

"A very good trade fair with many visitors, especially from the areas of technology and sourcing. We have already booked for 2012".
Gabrio Rossi, General Manager, Angeloni

"A good fair. We are already active in the German market and met the customers here that we wanted to meet."
M. Toschi, DELTA-PREG S.P.A.

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Contact to the press department

Dr. Mike Seidensticker
Press Spokesman
+49 (0) 211 90191-128
+49 (0) 211 90191-138
Mike.Seidensticker@reedexpo.de

Christian Reiss
Press Officer
+49 (0) 211 90191-221
+49 (0) 211 90191-138
Christian.Reiss@reedexpo.de