EVENT REVIEW | FAKUMA 2023
Machinery groups reveal sales decline at Fakuma
The Fakuma 2023 exhibition was held in Friedrichshafen, Germany in October during what has been a tough year for the injection moulding industry. A global economic slowdown has accentuated the sluggish nature of some sectors, notably automotive, and injection moulding machinery suppliers announced poor sales figures at the exhibition due to reduced orders.
PE Schall, organiser of the Fakuma exhibition, nonethe- less delivered an upbeat verdict at the end of the 28th Fakuma event. “A full house, satisfied exhibitors, 39,343 enthusiastic expert visitors and forward-looking topics – the overall results are quite impressive,” said the company. There were 1,636 exhibitors this year, up by 10% from the 1,470 at Fakuma 2021, when the show last ran. The 2023 number was still some way short of the 1,993 exhibitors present at Fakuma 2018 before the Covid pandemic caused a two-year pause in live events in the plastics
industry worldwide.
PE Schall emphasised the continuing international profile of Fakuma. This year 44% of the exhibitors came from outside of Germany: 134 companies from Italy, 120 from China, 79 from Switzerland, 70 from Austria, 58 from Turkey and 55 from France.
First time The company reported Dr Micaela Lorenzi, CEO of Green Chemicals, as saying Fakuma was “a fantastic trade fair”. It said: “She and her team exhibited in Friedrichshafen for the first time this year – after two
Right: Gerhard Böhm, Managing Director Sales and After Sales at Arburg, speaking at the group’s Fakuma 2023 press conference
years, the Italian company finally got off the waiting list and into the exhibition hall.” The stands of major injection moulding machin- ery groups grew busy as the show went on. However, their sales have been hit hard this year following a slowdown in orders starting in the second half of 2022. Arburg reported a €125m decline in consoli- dated turnover from €875m in 2022 to a forecast €750m in 2023.
The company – one of only a few machinery groups that held press conferences at Fakuma this year – has experienced “a significant decline” in orders in 2023, said Jürgen Boll Managing Director Finance, Controlling and IT. “Unfortu- nately, no clear, short-term improvement of the situation is in sight yet,” said Gerhard Böhm, Managing Director Sales and After Sales.
IMAGE: MESSE FAKUMA Above: The show floor at Fakuma 2023 14 INJECTION WORLD | November/December 2023
Böhm said that consumer demand has fallen in 2023 after a post-pandemic rebound in 2021 and 2022. This, along with high energy prices, has deterred injection moulding compa- nies from making invest- ments in markets around the world. Germany is “particu- larly cautious” and the situation is similar in other countries in Europe, he said, with the exception of Italy, Poland and Turkey. The Asian market is also weak but the decline has been smaller in the US market where a “small recovery” is in sight, he said.
www.injectionworld.com
I
M
A
G
E
:
D
E
L
D
R I
D
G
E
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
