Why there’s something to celebrate at this year’s Fakuma
Fakuma takes place on 17-21 October in Friedrichshafen. As always the event offers plenty to excite any plastics processor.
The Fakuma international trade fair for plastics processing celebrates its 25th birthday this year with a fully booked event. Previously unused floor space reserves will be occupied this year in order to cater for established and new exhibitors and to hopefully reduce the waiting list of hopeful aspirants.
More than 915,000 square feet of overall exhibition floor space will be occupied this year by roughly 1700 exhibitors from 35 countries (including Germany) – and the proportion of manufacturers and distributors from outside of Germany has exceeded 35%, highlighting the international flour of the show.
The organiser of Fakuma believes that the reason why so many exhibitors return to the event – which is held in the technology region on Lake Constance where Germany, Austria and Switzerland meet – year after year can be explained by the fact that large segments of the plastics processing industry are changing – or are being forced to change – through the use of new materials, technologies and processes.
Industry 4.0
3D/4D printing technologies, as well as techniques and solutions for highly efficient processing of hybrid, composite and sandwich materials are examples. And a key feature of the event will of course be new machines, adapted moulds and mould standards, integrated quality assurance systems and controllable hydraulic/pneumo-hydraulic/electric drives, as well as network-compatible and communication-capable controllers plus software ie. Industry 4.0!
Medical manufacture
Plastics processing at Fakuma include injection moulding, extruding, thermoforming and 3D printing, as well as processing. Visitors will be able to see integrated module assembly and sterile packaging under cleanroom conditions, for technical medical component manufacture and assembly.
Fakuma also includes first-class presentations held at the exhibitor forum which is booked out every year. Experts present new technologies, enhanced processes, product innovations and new solutions for improved economic efficiency in the production of plastic parts at the forum and will be available for an in-depth exchange of views.
Fakuma is, says the organiser, the place where ‘plastics meet business’, and as the international trade fair for plastics processing, it is an ‘innovation engine’ for the plastics industry.