Exhibitor Registrations for Xylexpo 2012 'Encouraging'

Exhibitor Registrations for Xylexpo 2012 'Encouraging'MILAN, ITALY -- Xylexpo 2012 will keep its promise”, said Paolo Zanibon, general manager of Xylexpo, the biennial international exhibition of woodworking technology and furniture industry supplies to be held Tuesday to Saturday, May 8-12, in the Milan Exhibition Center Fieramilano-Rho. “The global economic situation presents few signs of improvement and our industry can only reflect these difficulties," he added. But, in spite of this, exhibitor registrations for the next Xylexpo are encouraging and, so far, they suggest we might achieve an area of 45 thousand square meters, i.e. 15-20 percent more space than in the previous edition."

Zanibon said the next edition will be very concrete. "It will not fail to show our strong determination to 'guide' the market and to be its truthful interpreter. The wood and wood-based products industry is experiencing a season of great change: more substantiality is needed, we have to pay attention to the substance of things. It is time – and exhibitions in the past eighteen months have shown this - to provide exhibitors and visitors with an even more effective service, without chasing records or vain appearance," said Zanibon.

During the “German May” operators had a feeling that things were changing at last, but in the weeks after, they were once again confronted with a downturn of orders. The situation is full of ups and downs, with excellent results in the first six months of the year, followed by a new phase of slowdown, where everybody’s looking at the “Milan May” as a possible, tangible occasion to see the long-awaited (and hopefully final) trend reversal.

The next Xylexpo was introduced at a press conference in Valencia, during Fimma-Maderalia, where the organizers were represented by Zanibon, the Acimall President Ambrogio Delachi and the Marketing Manager of Xylexpo, Dario Corbetta.

Dario Corbetta was in charge of illustrating the contents of the next edition. Before that, as manager of the Acimall Studies Office, he presented a detailed review of the global woodworking technology market and furniture industry. The latest figures we have for international trade in the first half of the year," said Corbetta, "are very positive. Aggregated European export has grown by 34.1 percent compared to the same period of previous year. In detail, Italy and Germany, the leading European suppliers, have increased their foreign sales by 28 and 27 percent respectively. The overall result was also supported by Spain and the Czech Republic, with growth rates above 50 percent. And we can add that total industry figures are even better, if you consider the rebound we had in 2010. If the financial crisis that exploded last summer had not stopped the trend out of recession, at the end of the year we could have recorded consistent growth across the European and global industry of woodworking equipment and tools. We will have to wait for January-October figures to have a clearer view of the situation, but in any case, we can suppose that a positive result in 2011 is more than achievable, though maybe not so impressive," said Corbetta. 

Corbetta then drew the attention of attending journalists on the next Xylexpo, which “…as it always happens with top-level exhibitions, will inevitably be a mirror of the reference industry," he said. The twenty-third edition will be a key event in the international calendar of industry exhibitions, the most important show in even-numbered years, with its leadership confirmed by exhibitor applications with still seven months to go before the show.

"A few weeks ago, stand allocation has started, a particularly challenging task, especially in Halls 1 and 3, dedicated to secondary panel processing. Most stands have been already allocated “…and, only if registration levels are satisfying, we will consider to open also Halls 5 and 7 to panel machining," Corbetta added.

The password is “great substantiality," which also means best rationalization of exhibition areas: halls 1-3 will be dedicated to panel technology, the traditional “core” of Xylexpo. Solid wood machining will be featured in hall 2, where the trend of registrations is in line with 2010, and most areas have already been allocated. Hall 4 will include everything that fits into the definition of “first operation”. It’s 40 thousand square meters in total, one-third taken by international exhibitors, with organizers ready to open all the halls that will be necessary, as they have already been booked from FieraMilano.

Many “big brands” have already submitted their application form to Xylexpo 2012, including Artiglio, Barberan, Homag Group, Biele, Bongioanni, Primultini, Storti, Angelo Cremona, Corali, Centauro, Weinig Group, Ima, Stromab, Comec, Coral, Costa Levigatrici, Cursal, Essetre, Freud, Imal/Pal, Siempelkamp, Imas, Imeas, Incomac, Heeseman Leuco, Leitz, Metalworld, Solidea, Maurimacchine, Makor, Paoletti, Pneumax, Italpresse, Ormamacchine, Termolegno, Wintersteiger, Griggio, Vitap, Schelling, Process, Otto Martin, Albricci, Bacci, Holz-Her, Spanevello, Omgatech, Pade, Greda and many more.

We know very well the next few months might be vital for our show”, added Xylexpo manager  Zanibon. The trust of big German groups and many small, medium and large Italian and international businesses is proving that Xylexpo’s leadership is intact. That’s what our contacts say and the evidence from our strong daily marketing and promotion activity."

For several months now," said Corbetta,  "we have been working to spread the message that our exhibition will be the ideal place to meet the widest offer, to compare solutions and to understand what the global technology industry can provide. A strong message we are delivering to new and consolidated exhibitors first, but that we will start to spread also among visitors in a couple of weeks; visitors have always been a valuable resource for our exhibition, boasting very high rates of international attendance, around 50 percent."

Xylexpo 2012 will be held during Tew-Technology Exhibition Week, featuring the most important technology shows including Plast (the international exhibition for plastics and rubber industries), Fluidtrans Compomac (the biennial international exhibition for fluid power technology and mechatronics) and Mechanical Power Transmission & Motion Control (the international biennial exhibition for mechanical power transmissions, motion control and mechatronics that will end on May 11).

 

 

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