25 Years of Process Expertise in the Field of Plastics Processing

The Fakuma international trade fair for plastics processing is preparing for its anniversary event in 2017 with concentrated power! It’s already becoming apparent that the globally esteemed technical event will occupy all of the exhibition floor space available at the Friedrichshafen Exhibition Centre – including the foyers in the East and West entrance areas. Fakuma project manager Annemarie Schur has the following to say in this respect: “Returning exhibitors, as well as numerous new exhibitors, had already decided to participate at Fakuma at a very early stage, and we were able to reckon with strong bookings during the planning phase. Despite the fact that Fakuma was not held in 2016 – in accordance with its regular schedule – the halls are once again nearly full in the meantime and, in order to prevent the waiting list from getting too long, we’ve now decided to integrate foyer floor space at the East and West entrance areas. In doing so we hope to provide one or another newcomer, as well as return exhibitors, with better chances for presenting themselves to the market in 2017. Because not least of all the hype surrounding 3D printing technology is causing more and more new suppliers to appear on the scene, who appropriately supplement Fakuma’s portfolio with interesting solutions at the trade fair for plastics processing.”

Fakuma 2017 with Four Groups of Primary Issues

With its current subdivision into four main areas, namely injection moulding, extrusion, thermoforming and 3D printing, Fakuma provides a complete presentation platform where plastics processing is concerned. Beginning with product development, tooling and production equipment, right on up to industrial production of a great variety of components and modules made of various materials, Fakuma presents the entire range of plastics – and above all their economically efficient processing. More than 1500 exhibitors from 35 countries, who will occupy 915,000 square feet of overall exhibition floor space, have already registered for Fakuma’s anniversary session which will take place as usual at the Friedrichshafen Exhibition Centre on Lake Constance from the 17th through the 21st of October, 2017. Where the number of participating manufacturers and distributors is concerned, as well as with regard to exhibition floor space and the trade fair’s focal issues, Fakuma takes second place in worldwide rankings after K in Düsseldorf. Furthermore, if the large number of manufacturers of tooling, machines and peripherals in the form of both hardware and software are viewed as a yardstick, Fakuma is entitled to claim the title of “leading trade fair for plastics processing”.

Process Sequence Expertise from the Concept to the (plastic) Product

With 45,721 expert visitors from 120 countries, Fakuma is obviously of great significance amongst the experts. On the one hand this can be attributed to the event’s clear-cut positioning as a trade fair for plastics processing and, on the other hand, to its consistently practice-oriented alignment to the process sequence for industrial plastics processing. Above all Fakuma adopts highly promising new topics again and again in good time, without diluting or even abandoning its core areas of interest. Consequently, Fakuma has also been keeping an eye on generative manufacturing processes for some time now and is providing them, as well as variants developed on their basis, with adequate space for market presence. In this spirit, the incorporation of 3D printing technology is a logical step, especially in light of the fact that in many respects it will impact future plastics processing (technologies, tooling, materials, quality assurance, automation by means of digitalisation etc.).