Exhibitors Very Satisfied with Achema 2012

Achema 2012 closed its doors on Friday, 22 June. The exhibitor and visitor numbers remained stable. For five days, 167,000 participants found out about the ranges of the 3,773 exhibitors, which they presented on 136,400 m² of exhibition area. From laboratory equipment to components, and plant-building to packaging lines, one could see products for chemistry, process technology and bio-technology requirements. For the first time, the exhibition group ‘Pumps, Compressors, Valves and Fittings’ on its own comprised more than 1,000 exhibitors. In all fields, particular attention was devoted to the major themes of energy and bio-economics.

"We are especially happy that the new layout of the halls was so well-received," said Dr Thomas Scheuring, CEO of Dechema Ausstellungs-GmbH, at the end of the event. Hall 11, which was available for the first time, was very popular with exhibitors and visitors of the group ‘Instrumentation, Control and Automation Techniques’. But ‘Laboratory and Analytical Techniques’ and ‘Thermal and Mechanical Processes’ also drew a strong flow of visitors. The group ‘Pharmaceutical, Packaging and Storage Techniques’, which now occupied the whole of Hall 3, also benefited from the new layout. With the proportion of foreign exhibitors being almost 50%, coming from a total of 56 countries, Achema was also more international than ever before. "This shows that precisely in our strongly globalised industries Achema is and will continue to be the leading event.

"Achema's influence is undiminished," said Dr Michael Thiemann, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH and President of the Achema Committee, at the interim press conference on Wednesday. According to the results of the visitor survey, more than 83% of the visitors in turn judged the quality of the Achema as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

The congress, with 900 talks and numerous guest and partner events gave a look at the subjects that will be occupying the industry in the short and medium term future. The front runners among these included talks on energy generation and storage and on biomass processing. But series of talks on materials science, bionics and chemistry parks also met with a great response.