Nürnberg once again the world’s biggest gathering of the powder and bulk solids community

- 15,235 trade visitors travelled from 78 countries
- High-tech “live” from 930 exhibitors from 30 countries
- Starting 2016: TechnoPharm merges with POWTECH

Nürnberg was host to the world again from 30 September to 2 October 2014, when specific solutions for handling powder and granules and current pharmaceutical production issues were discussed at POWTECH and TechnoPharm. Over one-third of the exhibitors and visitors came from abroad. With altogether 930 exhibitors from 30 countries and 15,235 trade visitors , this is the world’s largest and most important event for new trends in processing and handling bulk solids and for innovative technologies for the manufacture of solid and liquid drugs.

“We have experienced three successful days of exhibiting,” sums up Willy Viethen, Director Exhibitions POWTECH and TechnoPharm at NürnbergMesse. “Nowhere else in the world is such a comprehensive but compact overview of powder technology to be found. So for process engineers from many industries Nürnberg is the undisputed number 1 among the powder and bulk solids events.”

The mood in the exhibition halls was exceptionally good. The exhibitors were very pleased with the great interest shown by the visitors from abroad – they accounted for more than a third of all visitors (35 per cent) and travelled to Nürnberg from 78 countries and six continents. Nine out of ten visitors came from Europe (including Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and Turkey). The top visiting countries after Germany included Austria, Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

The two trade fairs are firmly established in all European industries. An analysis shows a very balanced distribution of visitors to sectors: Almost every fourth visitor comes from the chemical industry, closely followed by the pharmaceutical industry and the plant and machinery manufacturers (approx. 20 per cent each). The fourth position is shared by the food industry and mineral source materials processing and handling (approx. ten per cent each).

POWTECH: the mecca for powder and bulk solids experts

The bulk solids community meets at its world-leading exhibition in Nürnberg every 18 months. This year’s POWTECH also offered a 360-degree view of current processing, analysis and handling of powder and bulk solids from all over the world. 711 exhibitors from 28 countries presented cutting-edge mixers, mills & co. this year. Over 3,500 machines and plants could be experienced live and in action on the stands. According to their own information, three out of four exhibitors showed a new or improved product on their stand.

The exhibitors particularly emphasize that the experts they meet at POWTECH are excellently informed about bulk solids technology. Dr. Stephan Röthele, Managing Partner at Sympatec, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and has exhibited at POWTECH for just as long, summarizes: “This trade fair with its focus on powder technology is the best event in Germany for us. The visitors have become increasingly international over the past years and especially the quality of the visitors on our stand has continuously improved.”

Jasmin Frei, Process Engineer at Bühler, agrees with him: “We particularly appreciated the creative, informative and highly professional exchange of views with business partners from a wide range of sectors at this year’s event.”

The exhibitors also very much appreciate the cross-sector concept of the trade fair. “Our firm operates in over 300 application areas, so POWTECH’s cross-sector orientation makes it the perfect platform for us,” reports Hans-Jörg Walter, Sales Director at Maschinenfabrik Gustav Eirich.

Broad spectrum of products for the pharmaceutical industry in Nürnberg

This year’s exhibitions once again made it very clear how broad-based the pharmaceutical sector is presented in Nürnberg. This year the 219 TechnoPharm exhibitors from 16 countries and more than half the 711 exhibitors at POWTECH offered solutions relevant to pharmaceuticals and showed that they can meet the high demands of the pharmaceutical manufacturers. A variety of technologies for containment production of highly active ingredients as well as many single-use components were presented. The spectrum of products for single use not only included hoses and valves, but complete pumps too. Technologies for standard in-process controls are also increasingly offered for improving product quality.

Eight out of ten exhibitors at POWTECH and TechnoPharm were satisfied to very satisfied with the professional quality of the visitors. Just as many are planning to be there again in 2016. There are high expectations of the next event. Bernd Haidt, Sales Director Germany at GEMÜ: “We’ve not missed a single POWTECH or TechnoPharm so far. We hope the integration of TechnoPharm into POWTECH will help us to reach even more qualified visitors from the pharmaceutical sector – and perhaps gain more customers.”

Starting 2016: TechnoPharm will be integrated into POWTECH

TechnoPharm will be integrated into POWTECH at the next event, which takes place in Nürnberg from 19–21 April 2016.

“More than half the POWTECH exhibitors offer solutions relevant to pharmaceuticals. There were also many firms at TechnoPharm that do not produce exclusively for the pharmaceutical industry. With the integration we are meeting a longstanding request of the exhibitors and visitors to no longer physically separate the two exhibitions,” says Willy Viethen, justifying the decision. The entire pharmaceutical process chain for solid, semi-solid and liquid drugs will still be reflected in Nürnberg and promoted with the existing claim “Pharma.Manufacturing.Excellence”. This also has the advantage that the visitors can find their way around better. Exhibitors concentrating on pharmaceutical products can present them more easily to the visiting international professionals from the other application areas. Pharmaceutical is one of six industry clusters explicitly promoted for POWTECH by the organizer NürnbergMesse. The other clusters are chemistry, processing, pit & quarry, ceramic & glass and food & feed.

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Pharmazeutische Verfahrenstechnik (APV – International Association for Pharmaceutical Technology) and VDI-Gesellschaft Verfahrenstechnik und Chemieingenieurwesen (VDI-GVC– Association of German Engineers – Association of Process and Chemical Engineering) will support POWTECH as honorary sponsors in the future. Prof. Jörg Breitkreutz, President of APV, welcomes the new exhibition concept: “In future pharma will be at the centre of activity and not just present. The exhibition in Nürnberg will continue to be a top-quality and specialist platform for experts from the pharmaceutical industry to meet and discuss the latest issues. APV as honorary sponsor will make a major contribution to this.”

“Exhibitors and visitors profit from the integration,” says Dr. Ljuba Woppowa, General Manager of VDI-GVC. “Nowhere else in the world can process engineers obtain such a breadth and depth of information on processing and handling powder and bulk solids – and all in one place. The focus on pharma adds a totally new dimension to the 360-degree view that visitors get in Nürnberg.”

Powder & Bulk Network: network globally, meet locally

POWTECH is part of a worldwide alliance of international exhibitions and conferences on processing technology and bulk solids handling. The Powder & Bulk Network as it is called covers all the industry’s major world markets − Europe, Brazil, India and China − and so creates a specialist, high-quality platform for entering new local powder & bulk markets. More information at: www.powderbulknetwork.com