Hannover Messe has it all A preview of this year’s show

HANNOVER MESSE HAS IT ALL

Encompassing seven international trade fairs under one roof, HANNOVER MESSE is the world’s leading industrial trade show covering a wider range of themes and exhibits than any other event. Furthermore, the show will highlight this year’s official Partner Country, Poland, and the many ways in which it stands out in terms of both innovation and growth.

Last year’s HANNOVER MESSE attracted over 190,000 visitors and the 2017 edition of the event is shaping up to be just as successful. With a wide range of themes including R&D, industrial automation and IT, industrial supply, production engineering and services as well as energy and environmental technology, visitors and exhibitors can take advantage of the opportunity to win new sales leads in other sectors and gain unique access to new products and technologies from all over the world.

The line-up for HANNOVER MESSE 2017 falls into seven separate events, each a leading event in its own right. They are: Industrial Automation; Motion, Drive & Automation; Digital Factory; Energy; ComVac; Industrial Supply and Research & Technology. Highlighting the benefits of ‘Industrie 4.0’

One of the key messages at HANNOVER MESSE 2016 was the increasingly mainstream importance of integrated industry and the show therefore featured over 400 application examples of fully digitalised processes for the manufacturing and energy industries.

‘Integrated Industry – Creating Value’ is the official lead theme for HANNOVER MESSE 2017. “Widespread uptake of digitalisation in the manufacturing and energy industries will only happen if integrated technology providers make a strong case for the associated benefits,” said Deutsche Messe managing board member Dr Jochen Köckler. “Manufacturers and energy companies need to fully understand the direct, long-term benefits they stand to gain from

digitalisation. They need to recognize that digitalisation adds value – and not just in terms of new and better machines. Value is also created by the ability that digitalisation gives companies to update or completely reinvent their business models and improve the working lives of individual employees.”

HANNOVER MESSE 2017 will seek to demonstrate how even companies with limited resources can pinpoint and harness the power of digitalisation. The show will provide guidance to visitors from the manufacturing industries looking to leverage the benefits of digitalisation and transform their plants into Industrie 4.0 factories.

According to Köckler: “Industrie 4.0 is not about replacing all manufacturing plant all at once; it is a gradual process. For example, companies can begin by fitting sophisticated sensors to existing plant to capture and evaluate data that will help them make improvements to their production processes or develop new business models.”

Digital Factory continues to grow

Digital Factory, one of the seven main shows taking place at HANNOVER MESSE, incorporates many of the above themes. Since the initial edition in 2004, Digital Factory has grown continuously and is now one of the leading trade shows for integrated processes and IT solutions. 2016 was a record year for the show, with over 350 exhibitors and 86,500 trade visitors.

Arno Reich, manager of Digital Factory, explains what he believes to be the reason behind this growing interest: “Incorporated into HANNOVER MESSE, and the only event that reflects the entire industrial value chain, Digital Factory is the perfect platform to present IT solutions and processes for the industrial sector.”

Exhibits now range from traditional CAD systems to AI and cloud services. “The supporting forums and conferences, especially the Industrie 4.0 Forum in Hall 8, have become major events and increase the attractiveness of Digital Factory,” continues Reich. In 2016, the Industrie 4.0 Forum attracted over 8200 visitors.

The layout for Digital Factory 2017 has more room for exhibitors and visitors: CAx and PLM can be found in Hall 6 – with major exhibitors like Dassault Systemes, EPLAN Software&Service, Siemens Software, Autodesk and IGE-XAO. New to Hall 6 is the Additive Manufacturing cluster represented, among others, by Arburg, HP, Stratasys and EOS. Also new to Hall 6 this year are BITKOM and Accenture. The CAE Forum can be found once again in Hall 6 as well.

“Overall 2017 will be even more international – and even better integrated with other exhibition areas,” states Arno Reich. As a part of HANNOVER MESSE, Digital Factory provides the IT sector with numerous intersections to other industries such as machine engineering, drive systems and components, and the energy sector. One example of this is its proximity to Industrial Supply, which can result in “major synergy potential in the area of lightweight construction.”

Motion, Drive & Automation

MDA (Motion, Drive & Automation) is the number one trade show for the power transmission and control industry, staged as part of HANNOVER MESSE on alternate years. Among other things, this year’s edition will feature innovative, efficiency-enabling mechatronic and CPS systems. The strength of the show’s international reach can be seen from the fact that it draws about two thirds of its exhibitors from abroad. The big-name exhibitors at this year’s MDA include Aventics, Bosch Rexroth, Camozzi, Hansa-Flex, Hydac, KTR, Metal Work, NTN-SNR, Parker Hannifin, Schaeffler, Trelleborg, ZF Friedrichshafen, Desch and Argo-Hytos.

“MDA is the most important trade fair for the power transmission and control industry. Exhibitors from this industry benefit enormously from MDA’s synergies with other trade shows at HANNOVER MESSE. They also benefit from dialogue with the high-level business and political leaders who are naturally drawn to HANNOVER MESSE as the world’s leading trade fair for industrial technology,” commented Dr Jochen Köckler, a member of the managing board of HANNOVER MESSE organiser Deutsche Messe.

As Industry 4.0 is about interconnectedness, this year’s MDA show will feature a special “Predictive Maintenance” display and adjoining forum in Hall 19, where visitors will be able learn about the latest technologies for pinpointing impending outages before they occur, speeding up overhaul processes and avoiding production outages.

Energy Efficiency First

In the summer of 2016 the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) reactivated the debate regarding its energy efficiency policy’s long-term strategic direction with its Energy Efficiency Green Paper and circulated the motto ‘Energy Efficiency First’. In a study for the BMWi, the consulting institute adelphi, dena and other partners are identifying which innovations can make concrete contributions to increasing energy efficiency in industry. They are examining both the technical and economic potential of energy efficient innovations as well as the obstacles that have so far been hampering their penetration of the market.

Those innovations can be found at HANNOVER MESSE 2017. The special display Digital Energy in Hall 12 is presenting intelligent solutions for energy management in the industrial sector. Exhibitors will include the energy technology provider Restore, which specialises in automated demand response solutions (load management). IngSoft is showcasing special software, especially its web-based application IngSoft InterWatt at Digital Energy. “Experience shows that 10 to 15 per cent of energy costs can be saved with no significant investment using systematic energy controlling,” the company claims.

Various exhibitors at HANNOVER MESSE 2017 recently joined together in the ‘360° Energy Efficiency’ project, including Janitza electronics, a manufacturer of energy measuring devices; Glen Dimplex Deutschland, a specialist for cooling and heating technology; and Kaeser Kompressoren, a compressor system provider. At Industrial Automation Janitza electronics is presenting its new system for efficiently using power, measuring energy, and saving costs. At Energy in Hall 27 Glen Dimplex is presenting its highly efficient heat pumps and systems to combine heat, cooling, and heat recovery. Kaeser Kompressoren is also showcasing its customised energy efficient compressed air solutions for the first time in Hall 27. New online guide at Industrial Supply

Owing to the huge number of innovations showcased annually at HANNOVER MESSE, the Industrial Supply trade fair has come up with a novel idea for this year’s edition: Under the name of Hightlights@Industrial Supply, an online guide is now being produced to help introduce professional attendees to the most outstanding solutions in halls 4 through 6.

How critical is the technological sophistication of a new innovation? And how economical will it be in industrial application? What about its eco-friendliness and social relevance? Those are the kind of issues the jury had to apply when adjudicating subcontractor entries. The entries with the best answers can be found in the online ‘Highlights@Industrial Supply’ guide, including product descriptions and the relevant hall and stand location per product.

According to Olaf Daebler, manager of the Industrial Supply showcase at HANNOVER MESSE: “The entire industrial subcontracting field, which now also includes surface technology, has an incredibly diverse range of companies here in Hannover – giving our visitors the best possible opportunity to compare the various offerings. But this also requires us, as the organisers, to develop new formats, like this online guide, to ensure the best possible orientation for our visitors.”

Poland: Partner Country for 2017

Each year, one country is put under the spotlight at HANNOVER MESSE as the official Partner Country, and this year the honour falls to Poland. Of all the countries that joined the Union at the start of the century, Poland has registered the strongest growth rates with a gross domestic product that rose 3.6 per cent over the previous year. Furthermore the EU Commission, World Bank and Polish National Bank estimate Poland’s economic growth at 3.5 to 4 per cent between now and 2018.

The country’s development plans centre on reindustrialisation, the promotion of innovative enterprises and expansion onto foreign markets. Poland will showcase its entire technological spectrum at Hannover, with a special emphasis on IT and energy.

At Research & Technology 2017, Poland will demonstrate its continuing power of innovation and gain new R&D customers. For years, the country has been among the top five visitor nations at Research & Technology. This year’s HANNOVER MESSE Partner Country is planning to continue the success it enjoyed in 2016, when around 80 Polish companies presented innovative solutions in the industrial and research sectors.

“Thanks to the excellent progress last year, we are looking forward to 2017. Not only because Germany is Poland’s largest trade partner but also because HANNOVER MESSE is so international,” says Embassy Counselor Danuta Dominiak-Wozniak. “It’s an honour for Poland to present itself as the Partner Country to such a diverse audience. We want to showcase our latest technologies, whereby IT and energy technology will surely be our main focus.”

Supporting programme

Alongside the impressive main line-up is a strong supporting programme that includes, among other events, Global Business & Markets; Young Tech Enterprises; WoMenPower and Tec2You.

Global Business & Markets is Europe’s leading forum for international trade, and this year over 5000 decision makers will be attending the event in Hall 3 to discuss new global market opportunities. The line-up includes high-level conferences, quality advice from expert advisors and a multidisciplinary Investment Lounge within a central networking area.

The WoMenPower careers conference is Germany’s most successful event for women in the business world. At this event, core business themes will be addressed in the accompanying workshops: work 4.0, career, leadership and stress prevention. Visitors will have the opportunity to engage in discussions on work and career issues, industry associations, networks, organisations and coaches in the adjacent exhibition area.

Meanwhile HANNOVER MESSE’s dedicated showcase for startups, Young Tech Enterprises, is the ideal place for young entrepreneurs. The event aims to support budding young businesses that need the right supporters – whether that is investors, partners or accelerators – to move their company to the next level.

For those young people interested in a career in the technical professions, the Tec2You initiative brings high school students in their final year and college students to the world’s largest trade show on organised excursions during which they will experience innovations first-hand and make contacts with employers in all the high-tech industries.

Awards and competitions

Each year HANNOVER MESSE likes to recognise those have made the biggest contribution to the development of innovative solutions and concepts. This year there will be three main awards up for grabs to the most trailblazing, forward-thinking individuals: the Robotics Award; the Hermes Award and the Engineer Powerwoman Award.

The Robotics Award recognises technological innovations that make a contribution towards robot-assisted solutions in the field of industrial automation or towards the development of mobile robots and autonomous systems.

In order to qualify, entries for the award must be on show to the public for the first time at HANNOVER MESSE or otherwise constitute a significant further development of an already existing product or system. In addition, the expert jury wants to see solutions that are at least market-ready or, preferably, have been tested in an industrial environment. Another criterion is that the automation solutions must be seen as particularly progressive in both a technological and economic sense, and also should make an important contribution to fulfilling the needs of industry or society.

The coveted Hermes Award will also be presented at Deutsche Messe for the 14th consecutive year. This international technology prize is awarded to outstanding products, innovations and solutions that are displayed for the first time at HANNOVER MESSE 2017.

Finally, for the fifth time ever, an expert jury will be adjudicating the innovative work of women in technical professions during HANNOVER MESSE. The winner of the Engineer Powerwoman award will be the one to win over the jury on the basis of her technical prowess and commitment. The prerequisite for the female candidates is to have made an innovative mark in an engineering-related field at their companies. The winner will be announced on 28 April, within the framework of the WoMenPower conference. n