Driving home his viewpoint about the grand success of the forthcoming event bauma 2013, he explained that "defying flight ban for few days because of volcano ash that engulfed European skylines during the last edition of bauma, the show attracted 3,256 exhibitors from 53 countries and over 420,000 visitors from 200 nations. So, this time we are expecting a record-breaking gathering which has already been testified by the surging number of exhibitors in the waiting list. In fact, the feedback is exceeding our expectation as the demand for exhibition space is going up at a great pace. In view of this, we had to increase the exhibition space area by 15,000 sqm; with all these efforts, there are still large numbers of exhibitors in the waiting list."
Giving an overview of the growing popularity of the show he reiterated that bauma is the peak of excellence as it is not just exceeding in terms of the quantity, but also the quality of participants who are decision maker level. The show gives opportunities to visitors to experience the presentation of various innovative and new developments that are going to be introduced in the show for the first time. In fact, the show is an engine, driving innovation in the industry wherein no other trade fair has ever amazed the world with newer developments. Besides, it provides a unique atmosphere to participants to cultivate and strengthen their business ties by inking new contacts thereby pushing their business to newer heights.
Dwelling in details on the amazing array of arrangements made for the benefit of visitors in the mega show, he stated that bauma presents an absolutely comprehensive range of exhibition space wherein each individual product group is represented clearly by the structured four theme-oriented sectors including Construction Sites, Mining, Extraction and Processing of Raw Materials, Production of Building Materials, and Components and Service Suppliers and they serve as bauma’s foundation.
Elaborating further he stated that for the benefits of the industry, the organizers arrange a forum, i.e. an international communication platform where exhibitors, trade associations and business partners can present the latest product developments, trends and a comprehensive overview of the current market scenario. Tackling the ongoing shortage of engineers in the industry, he added, "we are starting a new forum THINK BIG with an objective to generate interest in the coming generation to shape up their future by joining the construction machinery and building-materials machines industry. In the trade show, young people can come and personally experience high-tech machines at work and witness teams of technicians and mechanics in action."
Surmising his interim assessment he claimed that despite the downturn, growth in individual sectors of the construction equipment and building material machinery industry varies in intensity. Earthmoving and road building machinery had its peak in early 2012, growth within the industry this year is going to be for machines for building construction, like concrete machines.
On selecting Indonesia as a partner country, Mr. Schmid stated: "We started considering partnership with the country four years in advance and always opts for the market where there is an economic stability. Secondly, we see that the country is not only focused on construction but also in mining as bauma is a focused show on mining where over 600 exhibitors from 31 countries and 100,000 visitors are participating from this sector only. And last but not the least, we also take into consideration that country should be of interest to our bauma participants and as Indonesia is an emerging market with a population of 238 million and also one of the 20th largest economies in the world where the building industry is booming, that apart, in the raw materials sector, too, major investment is scheduled for the midterm in the country – hence it will offer exciting opportunities to the international bauma participants to enter into the booming market where up till now only China and Japan have made their presence. In view of these reasons, bauma has chosen Indonesia as a partner country."
Strongly favoring bauma as the mining show, he said that "if we see the figures of past few years, the sector for mining, the extraction of raw materials and processing has experienced an impressive growth in every sphere." In 2004, 504 companies represented themselves and their solutions at the fair. By 2010, that number had increased to 605 companies from 31 countries. The share of international exhibitors was approximately 50 per cent, showing an encouraging trend. Hence, in short, bauma has become an important business platform for the mining industry where the mining sector features a growing number of exhibitors and an increasingly international range of exhibits and simultaneously provided outstanding opportunities for networking and boosting business prospects.
On organizing regional bauma shows Mr. Egetenmeir said: "The main purpose of spreading the bauma brand regionally is to reach and tap the targeted potential customers. We find that there are many customers from potential regions like India, South Africa or China, who want to visit Munich to attend bauma. However, not everybody can afford high travelling and lodging costs for a trip from other continents to the show in Germany. Considering this, we made the studies on the markets which have good demand for equipment and machinery and the results revealed that bauma China, bauma Africa and bC India are now in existence."
Going further, he said that "we have witnessed that since 2005-06 the production and sales of construction equipment unit is shifting from West to East. Off-highway researches show that China alone currently per year is producing and selling around 500,000 units of earthmoving and road construction equipment, hence this market is quite good and alongside also tapping neighboring markets."
"Because of these regional shows, we have also noted an increase in the number of exhibitors. "For example in bauma 2007, only 17 exhibitors from India made their presence. This number could be increased to 35 in 2010. Similarly, China experienced an upward of 300 exhibitors in 2010 from eight in 2001." Seeing positive response, Mr. Egetenmeir expressed his unfailing quest to strengthen all the regional shows globally like bauma Germany.
