CastForge will be held for the second time from 16 to 18 June 2020. Through this still young event, Messe Stuttgart will provide buyers, designers and developers from many different industries with a central platform that will enable them to obtain an extensive overview of the market from national and international suppliers of castings and forgings, as well as from specialised processors. With its clear focus on the value-added chain extending from cast blanks or forged blanks and machine processing through to the final component, the trade fair concept impressed over 3,700 trade visitors and more than 150 exhibitors during the première of CastForge in 2018. Messe Stuttgart is expecting substantial growth in 2020.
"CastForge made an impressive début in 2018 and the increased interest in the trade fair in 2020 can be clearly felt," said Gunnar Mey, Department Director Industry at Messe Stuttgart. "We are currently receiving so many registrations that we have already reached more than 80 per cent of the number of exhibitors at the première and are well above the previous year's figures in terms of the amount of exhibition space," was Mey's delighted comment on the interim position.
In addition to the larger exhibition area featuring more suppliers, Mey announced a three-day forum programme for the first time in order to make attendance at the trade fair even more attractive.
Numerous comments by exhibitors validated the concept of the trade fair:
"With CastForge, Messe Stuttgart has succeeded for the first time in presenting the industry for castings and forgings in a highly concentrated form. This is a major advantage for purchasers, for example, because they can obtain a comprehensive overview of the range of raw materials with only one trip. Due to this extremely positive conclusion, we will also take part in the next CastForge," said Dirk Howe, Managing Director of Siempelkamp Giesserei GmbH.
"We will have the opportunity there to show a wide audience our range of services in ferrous and non-ferrous castings, mechanical processing and additive manufacturing," said Josef Ramthun, Managing Director of Franken Guss GmbH & Co. KG and Sachsen Guss GmbH. "Especially in a direct comparison with forgings, we are expecting an interesting presentation with many advantages," said Ramthun explaining the reason for participation in CastForge for the first time next year. The Managing Director added: "The complexity and the requirements relating to castings and forgings are increasing inexorably. With the new trade fair, the industry will present its innovative capacity for the motor vehicle construction, mechanical engineering and plant construction industries, and offer solutions to current challenges."
Siepmann-Werke GmbH & Co. KG will also exhibit in Stuttgart for the first time in 2020. "As an internationally operating development partner and a series manufacturer of complex drop forgings, direct contact with the technical and purchasing departments of our customers is extremely important for our company," said Wieland Zürner, Sales Director at Siepmann. According to Zürner, CastForge is highly suitable thanks to its clear focus: "Concentrated on just a few days and geared towards our industry, we can present our service portfolio here, cultivate current business relationships and, of course, primarily forge new contacts." The company initially gained an impression as a visitor to CastForge last year. "The extremely positive statements by our users induced us to attend the trade fair as an exhibitor in 2020. We want to strengthen the location of Stuttgart and the event itself, and are looking forward to many new development projects and interesting discussions during CastForge 2020," added Zürner.
Dr. Ylenio Cogo, joint owner of FeatGroup SpA, commented: "CastForge now offers us, as a forging enterprise, a focused technical platform for our products and services in one of the most important industrial regions in Europe. We will therefore also come back again in 2020."
The registration period for CastForge has not yet ended. Interested parties can find further information at www.castforge.de or can book a stand directly at www.castforge.de/anmeldung.