The Stuttgart Exhibition Centre was once again dominated by Control international trade fair for quality assurance from the 14th through the 17th of May, 2013. With 864 exhibitors from 31 countries around the world and 590,000 square feet of exhibition floor space (an increase of roughly 3% for both figures in comparison with last year) the 27th Control was able to carry on with the excellent results obtained in the year 2012, which were unanimously rated as very good, despite difficulties such as being scheduled so close to the Pentecost holidays and other trade fairs dealing with process engineering and production technology. Because in the final analysis, the promoter and the exhibitors counted 24,595 expert visitors who journeyed to Stuttgart from 89 countries in order to shift their strategies for efficient and economical quality assurance from theory to practice. This took place against a backdrop of highly globalised manufacturing in factories which are expanding and branching out to an ever greater extent around the world.
Private trade fair promoters P.E. Schall GmbH & Co. KG, as well as the great majority of the event’s exhibitors, were very satisfied with the number, and above all the quality, of the expert visitors. Especially in light of the fact that today’s globe-spanning manufacturing network also results in a certain consolidation of the markets for QA technologies and associated products. This, in turn, leads to a situation in which alone the number of expert visitors allows for even less meaningful conclusions than before regarding the success of the exhibitors at Control, and in which the quality of the visitors at the “decision-making level” is decisive. The evaluation of the traditional visitor survey conducted at Control revealed that 91% of the expert visitors indicated that they have decision-making authority or are significantly involved in investment decisions. Seen in this light, and as emphatically substantiated by numerous statements issued by manufacturers and distributors, the 27th Control self-confidently embodies the business meeting of the year 2013, where primary emphasis is placed on “business” and not on “show”!
The outstanding quality of the Control international trade fair for quality assurance was not least of all underscored by an enormous number (roughly 200) of exhibited new products rated as “world’s firsts”. Further highlights in the form of a highly acclaimed, superlative supplementary programme organised by extremely capable collaboration partners (Fraunhofer Vision Alliance, Fraunhofer IPA, DGQ) breached the gap between research, theory and actual practice, and thus functioned so-to-speak as ambassadors for the transformation of ideas and innovations into industrial applications. The 6th presentation of the Baden-Württemberg Competence Award conferred by the TQU Group in cooperation with P. E. Schall GmbH & Co. KG is also noteworthy. The award winners for the year 2013 chosen on the first day of the trade fair at the opening press conference are: MEBA Metall-Bandsägemaschinen GmbH, tunnel-boring machine pioneer Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht, chairman of the board of Herrenknecht AG, and the Karlsruhe Information Technology Research Centre (FZI).
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