DeburringExpo 2023 Review

DeburringExpo 2023 for deburring technologies and precision surfaces impressed with its quality. More than 1200 trade visitors and 107 exhibitors came to the trade fair in Karlsruhe in October, and the quality of the visitors and the range of products on offer was high.

Almost all of the more than 1,200 trade visitors came to this year's DeburringExpo in Karlsruhe from October 10 to 12, 2023 with specific tasks and a high demand for information. For the majority of the 107 exhibiting companies from 13 countries, this resulted in excellent contacts and projects that promise good follow-up business. With over 500 participants, the bilingual specialist forum also lived up to its reputation as a sought-after source of knowledge.

Deburring and the production of precision surfaces are just one area of surface technology. For quality and cost reasons, however, this is increasingly becoming the focus of manufacturing companies. The current tasks and projects that the 1,214 visitors (around 10% more than in 2021) to this year's DeburringExpo from October 10 to 12 had in their luggage impressively confirm this. The proportion of international visitors was 20% and 18 countries were represented. The strongest visitor nations after Germany were Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Slovenia. "More important than the pure figures is that participating in the trade fair was worthwhile for the exhibiting companies," notes Hartmut Herdin, Managing Director of the private trade fair company fairXperts GmbH & Co.

And this seems to be the case, as can be seen from the comments of Steffen Hedrich, Managing Director at Kempf GmbH: "Practically every visitor to DeburringExpo comes to the trade fair with a current problem for which they are looking for a solution. That's why the discussions quickly become in-depth. We also presented a world first for deburring tasks where very high demands are placed on the chamfer quality and met with a much better response than I would have expected in advance. We are already certain that we will be exhibiting again in 2025." The fact that the DeburringExpo was so focused was due to the very high proportion of trade visitors. The most strongly represented sectors included mechanical and plant engineering, metalworking and metal processing, medical and pharmaceutical technology, tool and mold making, precision mechanics and optics, the automotive industry and aerospace technology. Around 92 percent of visitors are involved in operational investment decisions. The quality of the contacts and inquiries that the majority of the 107 exhibitors from 13 countries were able to generate here is correspondingly good. "We took over the business from another company that regularly exhibited at this trade fair, so we were there this year too. We were surprised by the very specific tasks and inquiries and the resulting quality of contacts. I think we will be exhibiting again at the next DeburringExpo," reports Shigeru Kajisaki, Managing Director, Yamazen Europe GmbH.

Dieter Münz, Managing Director of Ultratec Innovation GmbH, is also extremely satisfied with the trade fair: "DeburringExpo is the most important trade fair for us. Although there are fewer visitors here than at the major metalworking trade fairs, they all come with a specific task in mind. The success rate for good follow-up business is therefore significantly higher here than at other trade fairs. That's why we will definitely be back in 2025." David Bartels, Laboratory Manager, Process Engineering, Sales, Höckh Metall-Reinigungsanlagen GmbH, which exhibited together with the manufacturer of thermal deburring systems, SGM s.r.l., also drew a positive balance: "Deburring is one of the main topics at DeburringExpo and cleaning is an upstream or downstream production step. The joint trade fair appearance with SGM has resulted in synergies that have enabled us to make more interesting contacts than at previous events, including numerous new contacts." Patrick Taschek, Sales and Project Engineer at Rösler Oberflächentechnik GmbH, reports on very detailed discussions and inquiries: "During the three days of the trade fair, we were visited by existing customers with whom we were able to discuss new projects. On the other hand, we were able to generate good new contacts. The discussions were often about reducing manual processes, simplifying machining processes and automating them." Jan-Niklas Merkel from Technical Sales at SHL AG also found that the trend towards more automation, which has been reinforced not least by the shortage of skilled workers, was a dominant theme at this year's DeburringExpo: "The visitors came from various metalworking industries with different deburring tasks and the production of precision surfaces. We noticed that the requirements for automation solutions are increasing and the demands on the degree of automation are becoming ever higher."

The evaluation of the visitor survey shows that the leading trade fair for deburring technologies and precision surfaces also met visitors' expectations. Around 85 percent were very satisfied to satisfied with what was on offer. The numerous new and further developments presented by the exhibitors certainly played a part in the high level of satisfaction. Further evidence of visitor satisfaction is the recommendation rate: more than three quarters would recommend a visit to the leading trade fair to colleagues or business partners as an information and procurement platform.

The bilingual DeburringExpo specialist forum has established itself as a sought-after source of knowledge since the first event. At this year's event, 505 participants took advantage of the simultaneously translated (German <> English) presentations to deepen their knowledge of deburring technologies and the production of precision surfaces. For over 30 percent of visitors, the specialist forum program was the deciding factor for the day of their trade fair visit.

The next DeburringExpo will be held at the Karlsruhe Exhibition Center from October 14 to 16, 2025. (OM-11/23)