DeburringEXPO 2023: Where Precision Meets Success in Karlsruhe

Neuffen, Germany – DeburringEXPO in Karlsruhe, held from October 10-12, 2023, saw over 1,200 expert visitors arriving with specific tasks and a strong demand for information. For the majority of the 107 exhibiting companies from 13 countries, this resulted in excellent contacts and new projects with good prospects for post-event business. With more than 500 participants, the bilingual expert forum also lived up to its reputation as a coveted source of knowledge.

Deburring and the production of precision surface finishes are just one aspect of surface treatment technology. But due to quality and cost considerations, manufacturing companies are focusing on them to an ever greater extent. This is confirmed impressively by the current challenges and projects brought along to this year’s Deburring EXPO by the 1,214 visitors (roughly 10 percent more than in 2021) during October 10-12. 20 percent of the event’s visitors came from outside of Germany, and 18 countries were represented. The largest percentage of visitors came from Germany, followed by Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Slovenia. “The fact that participation at the trade fair paid off for the exhibiting companies is more important than the figures themselves,” notes Hartmut Herdin, Managing Director, fairXperts GmbH & Co KG, a private trade fair promoter and the organizers of the event.

Good post-event business

And this appears to be the case, as is evident from the following comments from Steffen Hedrich, Managing Director, Kempf GmbH: “Practically every visitor at Deburring EXPO comes to the trade fair with an ongoing problem for which they require a solution. As a result, discussions go into great depth very quickly. We also presented the world’s first deburring task, which places stringent demands on chamfer quality, and it generated significantly better feedback than I expected beforehand. For us, it’s already clear that we’ll exhibit again in 2025.”

The fact that there was so much tangible action at Deburring EXPO was due to the very high proportion of expert visitors. The most prominently represented sectors include machinery and systems manufacturing, metalworking and metal processing, medical and pharmaceutical technology, tool and mold making, precision engineering and optics, the automotive industry, as well as aviation and aerospace technology. Roughly 92 percent of all visitors are involved in company investment decisions. The quality of the contacts and RFQs is correspondingly good, which were fielded at the event by a majority of the 107 exhibitors from 13 countries.

“We took over the business from another company that exhibited at the trade fair on a regular basis and were thus also on hand this year. We were surprised by the highly specific tasks and RFQs and by the resulting quality of our leads. I think we’ll exhibit again at the next Deburring EXPO,” reports Shigeru Kajisaki, Managing Director, Yamazen Europe GmbH.

Dieter Münz, Managing Director, Ultratec Innovation GmbH, is also very satisfied with the way things went at the trade fair: “Deburring EXPO is our most important trade fair. You don’t have as many visitors as you do at the big metalworking events, but they all come with a specific task in mind. As a result, the success rate for good post-event business is significantly higher here than at other trade fairs. This is why we will definitely be back in 2025.”

David Bartels, Laboratory Manager - Process Engineering Sales, Höckh Metall-Reinigungsanlagen GmbH, who exhibited together with SGM srl (a manufacturer of thermal deburring systems), also drew a positive balance: “Deburring is one of the major topics at the Deburring EXPO, and cleaning is an upstream or downstream production step. The joint trade fair presentation with SGM has resulted in synergies that have enabled us to generate more interesting leads than at previous events, including numerous new contacts.”

Patrick Taschek, Sales and Project Engineer, Rösler Oberflächentechnik GmbH, recalls very detailed discussions and RFQs: “During the three days at the trade fair, we were visited by existing customers with whom we were able to discuss new projects. On the other hand, we were also able to establish good new contacts. Our meetings frequently focused on reducing the number of manual processes as well as simplifying and automating processing operations.”

Jan-Niklas Merkel, Technical Sales, SHL AG, also discovered that the trend towards more automation, which is not least of all due to the shortage of qualified personnel, was a dominant theme at this year’s Deburring EXPO: “The visitors came from various metalworking sectors with different tasks for deburring and the production of precision surface finishes. We observed that the requirements for automation solutions are becoming more demanding and that greater degrees of automation are required.”

High levels of visitor satisfaction

The fact that the leading trade fair for deburring technologies and precision surface finishing lived up to the expectations of the visitors as well is made apparent by the evaluation of the visitor survey. Roughly 95 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the trade fair offerings. Without a doubt, the numerous new and further developments presented by the exhibitors contributed to the high levels of satisfaction. Further evidence of visitor satisfaction is the recommendation rate: more than 75 percent would recommend a visit to the leading trade fair as an information and procurement platform to colleagues and business partners.

Coveted source of knowledge

Right from its very first edition, the bilingual expert forum at Deburring EXPO has established itself as a coveted source of knowledge. 505 participants took advantage of the simultaneously interpreted presentations (German <> English) at this year’s event in order to deepen their knowledge of deburring technologies and the production of precision surface finishes. For more than 30 percent of the visitors, the programme schedule for the expert forum was the decisive factor in selecting the day on which they visited the trade fair. The next Deburring EXPO will be held at the Karlsruhe Exhibition Centre from October 14-16, 2025.

Image Source: fairXperts GmbH & Co KG