subscribe to news Interaction between machine tool industry and exhibition companies discussed at an international panel

An international panel on Development Prospects of the Machine Tool Industry: New Opportunities in Collaboration with Exhibition Companies and Industry Associations and Unions, organised by EXPOCENTRE AO with support of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, took place today. 

According to the panel moderator, First Deputy General Director of EXPOCENTRE AO Sergey Selivanov, the event was dedicated to the upcoming major machine tool exhibition of Russia, Metalloobrabotka 2021, which would take place at Expocentre Fairgrounds on May 24-28. He invited the panel participants to discuss issues relevant to the machine tool industry, such as the assistance in production localisation projects in Russia, support to the transfer of technologies, the use of digital instruments in the promotion of the machine tool industry, and new exhibition formats, both virtual and hybrid.

Despite the global economic downturn of 2020, enterprises of the industry still need new markets and contracts. From this angle, exhibitions remain one of the most effective tools of the economic recovery from Covid-19 and ways to bolster companies’ status on the global market, the moderator says.   

Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Mikhail Ivanov greeted the audience. He underlined the importance of the Metalloobrabotka exhibition for the machine tool industry and emphasised the participation of representatives of ten foreign industry associations in the panel by video link. The Minister said he was confident that the roundtable and the Metalloobrabotka 2021 exhibition would present new opportunities to discuss aspects of the development of the machine tool industry and cooperation with other countries. 

Director of Department for the Machine Tool and Heavy Machine Building Industries of the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Valery Piven said, for his part, that “the ministry will continue to support the exhibition and the participation of all foreign partners in this event.”

Head of Exhibition Operating Management of EXPOCENTRE AO Elena Guseva told the panel participants about the upcoming Metalloobrabotka 2021, the International Exhibition for Equipment, Instruments and Tools for the Metalworking Industry. About 600 industrial companies from 25 countries will take part in this year’s exhibition with the total area exceeding 30,000 square meters. There will be national pavilions of Germany and Switzerland (organised by Messe Düsseldorf with the support of VDW and Swissmem associations), as well as Czechia (which national pavilion will be organised by the SST association), and Belarus. There will also be collective stands of Italian companies. 

Nearly 70% of the exhibitors represent the metalworking industry, and 47% operate in the area of general machine building. The exhibition will present hardware and equipment for heavy, medium and precision engineering, instrument making and optics, defense industry, adjustment, maintenance and repair of machinery and equipment, 3D printing/additive technologies, precision engineering/radio engineering and electronic engineering, information technology, and petrochemicals. In all, over 20 industrial sectors will put their products on display at Metalloobrabotka 2021, Elena Guseva says. 

The Industry 4.0 section will be a new and long-awaited part of the exhibition, Guseva says, adding that a section conference will be held on May 26 to discuss trends in metalworking automation, modern hardware and software solutions, innovations, and the role of artificial intelligence in modern production processes.

The Additive Technologies section will open in Pavilion 8 (Hall 3). A four-day international conference on additive technologies and 3D solutions, Industry 3D, will supplement the exposition. The conference will have an unusual hybrid format and will include the Day of Association and Users of Additive Technologies, the Day of Technology, the Day of Engineering, and the Day of Science.

In addition, Elena Guseva drew the audience’s attention to the fact that EXPOCENTRE AO broadened the range of services for exhibitors in 2021. From now on, every company can take part in the exhibition in the virtual format, which includes a professional stand assistant and the Online Office service. Positive feedback has been received from exhibitors who used the Online Office, she says.

The hybrid panel was also attended by representatives of the Russian Export Center, industry associations of Russia, heads of the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries and related Manufacturing Technologies (CECIMO) and the associations of the machine tool and machine building industries from the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Italy, China, Taiwan, Turkey, Czechia and Switzerland. They shared their experience of the promotion of machine tools in new formats, using exhibition mechanisms, in particular, jointly with EXPOCENTRE AO.