Press Releases

ESSEN. The worldwide demand for aluminium and aluminium products has steadily risen over the past few years, with production figures for primary aluminium and semi-finished products showing a marked upward trend. This boom is also reflected at ALUMINIUM 2008, the biggest fair of the aluminium industry worldwide which will take place from 23 to 25 September in Essen.

840 companies from 41 countries will present themselves in the Essen exhibition halls – which means an increase of 19 percent compared to the previous event two years ago. ALUMINIUM thus once again tops all previous records in exhibitor numbers and exhibition area. This year the fair will occupy 55,000 sqm in eight halls.

Aluminium producers, aluminium processors, providers of technologies and equipment for aluminium production, processing and finishing will come together in Essen. All the international key players of the industry will be assembled here. More than half of the exhibitors will come from abroad, with 41 countries figuring on this year’s list. Thanks to the support of its patron, Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie e.V. (GDA), and of the European partner EAA European Aluminium Association, the fair has long been a central feature of the world of aluminium.

Increase generated by the Surface, Foundry and Extrusion Sectors
At ALUMINIUM 2008, technology providers as well as producers and processors will equally be represented. With currently 420 exhibitors, manufacturers of plant and equipment make up the largest group at the fair. There will be 226 exhibitors from the sector of raw materials/smelting and semi-finished products, 215 from the sector of aluminium products for specific fields of application, such as building and construction, design, transport, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and packaging, and 181 companies from the surface sector.

The marked increase in the number of exhibitors totalling 19 percent is generated primarily by the processing and finishing sector, particularly by the segments surface treatment and technology, aluminium casting and casting technology.

The international extrusion industry, which has returned to an upward path a few years ago is represented in larger numbers at ALUMINIUM 2008. SAPA, the world’s largest extrusion company presents itself in Essen, also supporting the trade fair as a Corporate Sponsor. Furthermore, the big industry players from the USA, Europe and the Middle East will be present. Among the exhibitors are, in addition to ALCAN, ALCOA, HYDRO, ALERIS and SMS, also PRESEZZI Extrusion, AMAG, TECALEX, Gartner Extrusion and Gulf Extrusions. At the fair, they will showcase sophisticated extrusion products and state-of-the-art production technologies.

New Theme Pavilions
In the past few years, ALUMINIUM added new highlights by introducing special shows and focussing on particular themes. Among these highlights are the theme pavilions which provide ideal presentation platforms for individual branches of the industry as well as easy points of contact for visitors.

One of the major innovations is the Primary Pavilion targeting providers of technologies and plant for aluminium production. Together with the World of Surface, Foundry and Welding Pavilions, it completes the ensemble of joint stands with which ALUMINIUM showcases all sectors, from primary production through all the processing stages to application. Some 100 suppliers to the primary industry have registered for ALUMINIUM, among them ALMEQ NORWAY AS, ECL SA, HMR, Kanthal and RHI, to name but a few.

Both the World of Surface and the Foundry Pavilion were already well accepted by exhibitors at previous trade fairs. These joint stands which are sponsored by VOA and. GDM respectively, have this year doubled in area compared to 2006 and have long been fully booked. All in all, 230 exhibitors will present the latest foundry know-how as well as melting, casting and thermal treatment techniques. Among them will be ALCOA, Wagstaff, HERTWICH, Honsel, Pyrotek, Hoesch, Otto Junker, Druckguss Westfalen and ae light metal casting. The range of products shown covers sand and mould casting, pressure casting, moulds and accessories, alloys, finishing, transport and handling technology as well as complete solutions.

At the Welding and Joining Pavilion, ALUMINIUM 2008 again provides a separate forum for the theme of technology and plant for aluminium welding. The range of products shown covers the segments plant, equipment, technologies, processes and auxiliary materials for joining, separating and coating of aluminium composites, welding fillers, welding gases as well as complete solutions and accessories. The Welding Pavilion celebrated its premiere in 2006 already. In addition to SAPA, other exhibitors at the joint stand will be Heinz Soyer Bolzenschweisssysteme, GKSS and Vermotec, to name only a few. Other companies, such as ESAB, Oerlikon, EJOT and Linde Gas will have their own stands at the fair. In total, 25 exhibitors from the joining technology sector have registered. The publishers DVS-Verlag, the sponsor of the Welding Pavilion, will be organising the section on the subject of joining and welding at the lecture forum.

ALUMINIUM Congress
Once again the ALUMINIUM Congress will complement this year’s trade fair. This accompanying congress is again organised by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde (DGM), which brings together speakers from companies and research institutions at the Congress Center West of the Essen Exhibition Centre. The topics should be of interest to the aluminium application sector and deal with aerospace, shipping, processing, automotive, alloy development and production. The ALUMINIUM Congress is part of the Aluminium Week of the ICAA Congress, which will be held in Aachen and also be organised by DGM. A shuttle service will link the two congresses.

New: the Lecture Forum
For the first time, ALUMINIUM 2008 will have a lecture forum of its own, independent of the Congress. In order to treat the subjects of casting, welding and primary production in more depth at the fair, the three partners of the respective theme pavilions, GDM, DVS-Verlag and GDMB – the German Society for Mining, Metallurgy, Raw Materials and Environmental Technology - are organising a series of lectures. The programme features a total of 23 lectures grouped under the overall headings of aluminium production, aluminium welding and joining and aluminium casting, each of which will be dealt with on a separate day. The day of lectures on casting is sponsored by ae light metal casting GmbH u. Co. KG, the welding theme day by Linde AG. The lecture forum is located in Hall 6, admission is free.

European Aluminium Award
For the sixth time already the European Aluminium Award “Industrial Design & Engineering“ willbe presented at the fair. The renowned prize is organised by the Aluminium Centrum (Netherlands) in cooperation with EAA European Aluminium Association, GDA Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie and ALUMINIUM. With the big industry players ALCAN, ALCOA, HYDRO and NOVELIS, the award once again enlisted high-calibre sponsors this year. The products nominated in the two categories “Industrial“ and “Consumer Products“ will be on display during the fair in the Galeria the award-giving ceremony will be held on 23 September during the ALUMINIUM evening gala event.

ALUMINIUM and COMPOSITES EUROPE – the perfect trade fair pair
Two years ago already when it was staged parallel to ALUMINIUM, COMPOSITES EUROPE, the international trade fair for composite materials celebrated its premiere in Essen. Both fairs will again complement each other this year. Together, ALUMINIUM and COMPOSITES EUROPE form the biggest platform for lightweight construction materials in Europe with well over 1000 exhibitors.

COMPOSITES EUROPE will include 270 exhibitors from 20 countries, the entire value creation chain of the composites industry, from raw materials to semi-finished products to intermediate and finished products to technologies and services, will be represented. With a large number of special forums such as workshops, live demonstrations and the accompanying international AVK Conference, COMPOSITES EUROPE succeeded in developing into Germany’s biggest B2B platform for composite materials after only two years.

The parallel staging of COMPOSITES EUROPE and ALUMINIUM will offer a wide range of synergy effects, from which especially the visitors from the automotive, aerospace, construction, design and development industries will benefit. The trade fair is organised in cooperation with the European Composites Industry Association EuCIA, with AVK – German Federation of Reinforced Plastics and with the international trade magazine Reinforced Plastics.

http://www.aluminium-messe.com/
http://www.composites-europe.com/