SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN: A Review

SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2023: A Review

Industrial trade fair on track for success: With 826 exhibitors and 40,000 trade visitors from 124 nations, SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN confirmed its position as the world's leading trade fair for joining, cutting and surfacing technology. For five stimulating days, everything revolved around innovations, investments, networking and knowledge transfer at Messe Essen.

"The atmosphere in our exhibition halls was excellent. After the pandemic-related break, it was obvious how much the industry appreciates this platform. Many exhibitors reported in-depth and successful sales talks; they also expect increased post-fair business", said Oliver P. Kuhrt, CEO of Messe Essen. "In addition to the high internationality, the trade visitors' procurement competencies were particularly impressive. This proves: SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN is the trade fair for investments."

83 percent of all trade visitors influence purchasing decisions in their companies. A particularly large number of experts from the steel, mechanical engineering and vehicle construction sectors, but also from wholesale, the service sector and the energy industry, visited SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN to find out about new solutions and to place orders on site. A third of all visitors used the trade fair to make or prepare investments, and the average order volume increased significantly compared to the previous event. Whether networked cutting systems, sustainable welding gases, high-quality protective equipment or efficient and resource-saving software – innovations from numerous areas were in demand. After all, the industry is the driving force for many other sectors of the economy, such as automotive or architecture. In 2022, the production value of German welding technology alone amounted to a total of 4.11 billion euros – a new record. Dr.-Ing. Roland Boecking, Managing Director of DVS – German Welding Society: "We are impressed by the success of SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2023 and our expectations were even exceeded. The trade fair offered a fantastic overview of innovations and trends in the industry. The exhibitor and visitor numbers also showed there is a demand for a large trade fair. Messe Essen offers the perfect forum and we are already looking forward to SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2025.“

Trade fair all about digitalisation

Once again, the industry performed ground-breaking presentations at SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN. As in hardly any other industry branch, digitalisation and networking play decisive forward-looking roles. Smart robot systems working hand in hand and jointly perform various efficient process steps were on display, as were systems creating digital twins and enable optimisations thanks to their real-time data.

Igor Mikulina, President of Board of Trustees of the IndustryFusion Foundation: ”Our industry is highly innovative: The trade audience was able to experience numerous digitalisation solutions live at the exhibitors' stands. The IndustryFusion Foundation also recorded a high number of visitors at its booth – our open source networking solution IndustryFusion-X interested end users as well as machine and plant manufacturers and software providers. We are already looking forward to the next SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN."

World premieres and innovative start-up ideas inspired the trade audience

Traditionally, SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN is the stage where companies present their innovations to the public. A world premiere was celebrated, for example, by oxyacetylene welding machines that are hydrogen powered and thus contributing to more climate protection, occupational safety and CO₂ reduction. International and German start-ups supported by the German government used SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2023 as a global platform to present their own ideas and solutions to the market. Among them was Steeldate, based in Bad Nauheim, Germany, which uses their resource-saving matchmaking tool for custom-fit solutions on order and material. MX3D showcased additive manufacturing from the 3D printer – a technology the Dutch start-up has already used to realise a pedestrian bridge in Amsterdam.

Overall, 66 percent of the exhibiting companies came from abroad. Numerous nations presented themselves jointly under their respective national flags, including China, France, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the USA. Lu Daming, Vice President of CMES – Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, draws a positive conclusion from the Chinese joint presentation: ”After six years, the welding industry was very much looking forward to SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2023. The fair showcased the latest technologies, the newest products and the latest processes of the global welding industry and is rightly regarded as the leading global trade fair. With almost 150 Chinese exhibitors, we occupied an area of 3,500 square metres. The fair is always worth a trip to exchange ideas with colleagues from all over the world.“

Supporting programme made underwater technology tangible

The supporting programme also impressed the professional audience. The accompanying DVS CONGRESS from Monday through Thursday attracted appr. 450 participants. It was a joint event of the ”Large Welding Conference“, which focused on current topics such as "Welding in Electromobility" or "Artificial Intelligence in Joining Technology", the DVS Campus, a forum for student final theses presentations, and, for the first time, the ”Underwater Technology Conference“, that dived into the challenging work under water. In addition, the trade visitors experienced practical application examples in a diving container and were able to observe an expert at work.

The young talents of the industry also showed their skills live on site. The best German welders were selected in the DVS national competition ”Jugend schweißt“ (”Young Welders“) and teams with young talents from eleven nations competed against each other in the Young Welders' Competitions.

(Source: Messe Essen Press Release)