AUTOMATICA and MAINTAIN 2014 Parallel for the First Time: Joint industry meeting for industrial production and maintenance

Munich. Topics complementing each other for users in the manufacturing industry and the increasing need for space of trade fairs were decisive factors for the latest decision of Messe München International; the competences of the trade fairs AUTOMATICA and MAINTAIN will be combined on a shared area starting from 2014. The trade fair for Automation and Mechatronics and trade fair for Industrial Maintenance will take place parallel from 20 to 23 May 2014 on the grounds of the Munich Trade Fair.

Advertisement

Norbert Bargmann, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Messe München International, announced: "We decided to represent the interests of the manufacturing industry more strongly in Munich. Both trade fairs complement each other optimally. Our trade fair offer is to become even more oriented to users thanks to the parallel "One Stop – Two Shops" solution. Whoever plans a new production plant today has to maintain it already tomorrow. Our visitors from the manufacturing industry will find the offers for maintenance and innovation on the same trade fair grounds. I am very pleased that the Advisory Board of AUTOMATICA and industry representatives also welcome the plans for the first parallel event in 2014."

The development of the business climate for expanding the industry get-together is good: The German Engineering Federation (VDMA) Robotics and Automation forecast at the end of September that robotics and automation will remain on a growth course. Record industry sales of 10.8 billion euros are expected in 2013.

AUTOMATICA 2012 solidified its significance as the international meeting place of the automation industry and the world's largest trade fair for robotics with 31,000 visitors from more than 100 countries. Half of the floor space at AUTOMATICA 2014 has already been booked, and all key players will again take part. The supporting program as well as special exhibitions and conferences will be dedicated to the challenges of efficient, clean production, robotics research and future topics of automation. A focal point of the four-day visitor forum will be the topic Industry 4.0. Other topics will be the collaboration between man and machine, energy efficiency and the continuation of the VDMA sustainability initiative BlueCompetence.

Combined industrial competence – expanded to six halls starting in 2014

The exhibition area of industrial service robotics will be considerably expanded at AUTOMATICA. Manufacturers and products in the area of service robotics will achieve increased commercial success in the future. The trade fair wants to deal with this trend at the trade fair at an early stage and support companies in this area even more strongly.

In addition, industrial maintenance will fill one hall with the trade fair MAINTAIN at Munich Trade Fair Center. The trade fair has been held since 2005, in which more than 200 exhibitors offer industry service, maintenance, servicing and after-sales service strategies for industrial facilities. One-quarter of the visitors come from mechanical engineering and another quarter from the chemical industry as well as metal working and processing. The increasing relevance of life cycle costs of production lines and other downstream needs make MAINTAIN very interesting for the majority of those at AUTOMATICA.

VDMA welcomes the parallel holding of the industry events. Hans-Dieter Baumtrog, Managing Director of sortimat Assembly Technology and new CEO of VDMA Robotic + Automation, stated: "Thanks to holding AUTOMATICA and MAINTAIN parallel, Messe München is making its offer in industrial production complete in May 2014. We believe that it is a good decision to supplement the complete value-added chain of AUTOMATICA by an important component: maintenance of production facilities. As a result, downstream needs in the manufacturing industry are also being covered. Visitors can obtain an overview of current offers in production automation with one trade fair visit. They also obtain information about the latest developments in maintenance, service and after-sales services."

Thilo Brodtmann, Managing Director of VDMA Robotics + Automation, is convinced: "AUTOMATICA has always profited from trade fairs taking place at the same time. MAINTAIN is appealing due to the fact that it deals with production in all industries as topic in the same way as AUTOMATICA. With its focus on industrial maintenance and important topics such as life cycle costs, MAINTAIN is an ideal supplement to AUTOMATICA and another component for increasing automation competence in Munich."

Contact person for the press:

AUTOMATICA

Claudia Huber – PR Manager, Messe München GmbH

Tel. (+49 89) 949 - 21471

Fax (+49 89) 949 - 9721471

E-mail: claudia.huber@messe-muenchen.de

VDMA Robotik + Automation

Thilo Brodtmann, Managing Director, VDMA Robotics + Automation

Tel. (+49 69) 6603 - 1590

Fax (+49 69) 6603 - 2590

E-mail: thilo.brodtmann@vdma.org

www.vdma.org/r+a