Where is the electronics manufacturing industry headed? Productronica, held at the Munich Trade Fair Centre from November 14–17, 2017, provided answers to that question. 1,200 exhibitors from 42 countries presented innovations in the fields of electronic product manufacturing and development. The focus was on topics such as the Internet of Things, as well as Big Data and miniaturization. Among other things, the special exhibition "Smart Data-Future Manufacturing" and "Hardware Data Mining," organized by VDMA and Fraunhofer IZM, showcased various scenarios: from the impact of sensors on production machinery to the use of large amounts of data for new business models.
Falk Senger, CEO of Messe München, can recall four successful days: "productronica has demonstrated its position as the world's leading trade fair and global innovation platform this year. With a huge increase in visitor numbers, as well as a strong rise in international presence, productronica 2017 showed that Munich is the global hotspot for electronics manufacturing.".
Rainer Kurtz, chairman of the technical advisory board of productronica and CEO of kurtz ersa, endorsed that view: "productronica confirmed the positive growth forecast for the industry. The strong interest in smart technologies shows that digitalization has finally arrived in the electronics manufacturing industry. Now we need to maintain this momentum.".
Thilo Brückner, Managing Director of VDMA EMINT, also expressed his great satisfaction: "Productronica was once again a very successful trade fair for VDMA and its members. Exhibitors made many promising, high-quality contacts and confirmed the positive underlying sentiment in the industry.".
According to a survey by the Gelszus market research institute, visitor satisfaction increased again this year: 97 percent of visitors rated the product as good to excellent. Furthermore, 96 percent of respondents said that the product met their expectations regarding innovations.
44,000 visitors from 85 countries arrived in Munich, an increase of almost 20 percent over the previous event.
The largest increase in attendance was in the number of visitors from Taiwan and the United States, as well as from France and the Netherlands. After Germany, the countries with the highest number of visitors were (in this order): Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, and Great Britain.
SEMICON Europa
celebrated its debut at the Munich Trade Fair Centre this year. Alongside productronica, it presented solutions and products for the semiconductor manufacturing sector in Hall B1. Ajit Manocha, CEO and President of the industry association SEMI, concluded positively: "A year ago, we made the decision to co-locate SEMICON Europa with productronica in Munich, and the expected results have been quite positive. These results have been validated by positive feedback from exhibitors and high satisfaction among conference attendees, and we now look forward to next year's co-location with electronics in 2018. I am also very pleased with the numerous registrations for next year." SEMICON Europa will now be held annually as part of productronica and electronics in Munich.
IT2Industry
was held for the second time as part of productronica. The final report can be found at www.it2industry.de . IT2Industry will be part of automatica 2018 next year.
The productronica and electronica trade fairs alternate years, making Munich the premier meeting place for the electronics industry. The next electronica will take place from November 13–16, 2018, and the next productronica will be held in Munich from November 12–15, 2019.
