Strong Showing By Industry At BEC With Visitors From 65 Countries

By FERROFORMA , 2015-06-05 12:00:00

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“Highly satisfactory” is the rating given to the five industrial trade-shows –FERROFORMA, SUBCONTRATACIÓN, FITMAQ, PUMPS & VALVES andMAINTENANCE – held at the Bilbao Exhibition Centreon 26-29 May. More than 18,500 trade specialists from 65 countries and from almost all Spain’s autonomous regions attended the shows, making this the year’s biggest industrial trade event in southern Europe.
The countries from which most visitors came were Morocco, Algeria, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, India, Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy or Portugal, the UK and Turkey. Around 48% of the domestic trade visitors to the event came from outside the Basque Autonomous Community, mainly from Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia, the Community of Valencia, Cantabria, Galicia and Navarre. A total of 1439 people took part in the various seminars organised in the course of the week.

Close to 1200 exhibitors showed their products at this great industrial platform, including state-of-the-art services and technologies in processes and equipment for manufacturing, industrial supplies, hardware, DIY, used and bargain machinery, pumps and valves and maintenance.One of the main distinguishing features of the five concurrent trade-shows was the synergy between different sectors, with exhibitors at one show becoming customers at others.

Taking advantage of these five trade-shows, the Basque Government Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness held a press conference to present the results of its Industry Plan 2014, at which Basque Government Minister Arantxa Tapia reported that the plan had had a direct impact on 3627 industrial projects, had created 3490 new jobs in industry and had helped to maintain at least a further 16,121. Five projects had also been carried out with foreign direct investment to the tune of €44.5 million under the strategy “Invest in the Basque Country”.

At the end of day three Ms. Tapia, who apart from being the Basque Government Minister for Economic Development and Competitiveness is also the Chair of the Governing Board of the BEC, hosted an official reception at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for exhibitors, visitors and the international media attending the five industrial trade-shows. At the reception Xabier Basañez, General Manager of the BEC, outlined the key points of this “strategic move” and invited attendees to enjoy and take advantage of one of the main values of trade-shows nowadays: personal contact.

The dates have also been set for the 2017 edition of the platform: FERROFORMA, SUBCONTRATACIÓN and FITMAQ will take place on 23-26 May, while PUMPS&VALVES and MAINTENANCE will begin a day later.

FERROFORMA, International Hardware, DIY and Industrial Supplies Fair

With a new sectorised format featuring two distinct areas – “Industry” and “Home” – a total of 355 exhibitors from 25 countries showed their products at FERROFORMA. In the course of the week the trade-show was visited by purchasers from more than 40 countries including Ecuador, Tunisia, Cyprus, Mexico, Morocco, Colombia, Egypt, , Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Algeria, Israel, Turkey, Portugal, Sudan, Mauritius, Argentina, France, the USA, Brazil, Canada, Thailand, Chile, Kazakhstan and New Zealand. Two official receptions were held for guests. They featured addresses by Cristina Campo, Head of Visitors at the BEC, and by EleneCepeda, Head of Eskuin, the Hardware and Industrial Supplies Cluster, who provided practical information on the trade-show and facts and figures on the sector. The 31 member firms of the cluster invoiced a total of €318 million in 2014, and expect to increase their turnover by 5.12% this year.

For the first time, this year’s FERROFORMA programme included B2B meetings. A total of 1200 such meetings took place. The awards for the Second Innovation and Design Contest were also handed over to the winners: Industrial Precisión Tools, Villahestia, Urko Tools and SNA Europe Industries Iberia. The prize for the most innovative hardware product went toIndustrial Precision Tools’ fibre repair tape, while in DIY the winning product was Nanotextile& Leather by Villahestia, and industrial supplies it was the hydraulic tourniquet entered by Urko Tools. SNA Europe Industries Iberia won the award for best exhibitor at FERROFORMA 2015. The programme of side events included sessions on e-commerce and digital marketing, locksmithery and live demonstrations in the Home area.