Rapid.Tech goes METAV

Messe Erfurt and VDW agree a strategic partnership

Frankfurt am Main, 19 September 2013. – The VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association), Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the trade fair organisers Messe Erfurt GmbH are entering into a long-term partnership in the field of generative production. This was finalised by the VDW’s Executive Director Dr. Wilfried Schäfer and Erfurt’s Trade Fair Director Wieland Kniffka in a joint memorandum, agreeing a strategic alliance aimed at intermeshing step by step the trade fair projects of the two partners involved, METAV (VDW) plus Rapid.Tech and FabCon 3.D (Erfurt). The background here is the adoption of generative manufacturing technologies in mass production operations. What began as rapid prototyping has developed in several stages of evolution into what is today called “additive manufacturing”, abbreviated to AM. In Germany, the Congress Trade Fair Rapid.Tech in Erfurt has been comprehensively addressing this issue for more than ten years now, accumulating know-how that as from 2014 will be available for the exhibitors of the METAV in Düsseldorf.

As from March 2014, the partners will be establishing alternating event formats at both venues. The collaboration will begin with medical technology, which is a major focus in Erfurt. The alliance will also be addressing the most recent development in the shape of Messe Erfurt’s FabCon 3.D, which in May 2013 was the first German trade fair to deal professionally with the growing consumer market for the trendy 3D printing segment.

To quote Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director of the VDW: “As a leading industrial association, our task is to prepare our companies to optimum effect for coping with new developments. The alliance between the VDW and the trade fair organisers Messe Erfurt in the field of generative production is ideally suited for progressing this thrust. Within the framework of our collaboration, we aim to mutually strengthen the METAV and Rapid.Tech/FabCon 3.D trade fair projects, and develop them still further. With the new competences in the field of generative production, we’re adding a piece of the future to the METAV.”

Wieland Kniffka, Managing Director of Messe Erfurt GmbH, adds: “Messe Erfurt is the only trade fair venue that both reflects the industrial utilisation of additive manufacturing and is also aimed specifically at private users and anyone interested in 3D printing. We can contribute this capability in our partnership with the VDW.”

The new trade fair alliance will already be celebrating its premiere at METAV 2014. Under the motto of “Rapid.Tech goes METAV”, Messe Erfurt will be showcasing the field of medical technology with a special exhibition and an extensive programme of presentations at the event in Düsseldorf from 11 to 15 March 2014. In 2015, the VDW will be supporting Messe Erfurt at the Rapid.Tech by hosting a special show on the subject of medical technology in Erfurt. As from 2016, in a biennial rhythm, Rapid.Tech and FabCon 3.D will be integrated into the METAV as autonomous brands with an exhibition, a specialists’ convention and a user conference.

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