It was a very special trade fair for Anca: the Australian CNC machine manufacturer celebrated its 50th anniversary in style this year in Stuttgart. H. Pat Boland, one of the founders of the company, said the following: “GrindingHub has very quickly become the world’s leading trade fair for the tool grinding industry and is the perfect place to meet exhibitors and customers from all over the world.”

Industry trade fair was a magnet for visitors

In the visitor survey, 42 percent of respondents stated that they had traveled from abroad, from 75 countries. The majority came from Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Turkey and France. One in ten trade fair visitors traveled to Stuttgart from Asia in order to experience the innovations in grinding technology: “Visiting GrindingHub is worthwhile, as a lot of global players are exhibitors here and the latest technologies are presented,” said K. Raghavendra Rao, Managing Director of the Indian company G P Net India. Martin Storr, Managing Partner at lubricant manufacturer Oelheld from Stuttgart, was delighted to welcome guests from all over the world: “We are thrilled about the growing internationality that was clearly evident at this year’s event.”

Compared with the première of GrindingHub in 2022, the quality of the visitors improved once again: around 90 per cent said that they were involved in purchasing and procurement decisions in their company. Over 80 per cent of decision-makers came to the trade fair with firm investment intentions. 42 per cent of them were already planning to make investments in the next six months. “This should encourage manufacturers for the rest of the year, especially in light of the current economic situation,” said Heering.

Increasing importance of the trade fair

Just like at the debut of GrindingHub two years ago, visitors to the trade fair generally rated it as very positive by awarding the mark 1.8. 88 percent said they would recommend the visit to others. Visitors are of the opinion that the GrindingHub will become even more important in the future. Holger Allmendinger, Managing Director of Alku-Diamantwerkzeuge, a family-run company in Baden-Württemberg, also concurred: “I met tool manufacturers here, as well as manufacturers of cooling agents and grinding machines – everything relating to the topic of grinding was represented here. No other trade fair is as compact as GrindingHub.”

Around 500 exhibitors from 31 countries presented their latest solutions, products and technologies for the entire grinding process chain at GrindingHub for the first time in four exhibition halls. They unreservedly regard GrindingHub as their trade fair. Andreas Böhm, Managing Director of the Vollmer Group, confirmed: “With its second edition, GrindingHub has already established itself as one of the leading meeting points for the grinding technology industry. We met precisely our target groups in Stuttgart thanks to the clear thematic focus: they included tool manufacturers, suppliers of sharpening services, and the wood and metal processing industries. Our booth was well-attended right from the very first minute.” According to the visitor survey, 36 per cent of visitors came from the mechanical engineering and plant construction industry, around one fifth each from the tool construction/mold making industry and the cutting tool mechanic trade, and 16 per cent from the automotive and motor vehicle construction industry.

The trade fair provided every exhibitor with outstanding opportunities to acquire new customers – from global players through to start-ups. “We can also see in our results to date the positive atmosphere that we experienced at the trade fair. We are certain that GrindingHub will give us a considerable boost,” asserted H. Pat Boland from Anca. Dr. Arne Mücke, Managing Director of Tetralytix GmbH from Hanover, added: “GrindingHub represents an attractive opportunity to present our simulation software specifically to potential customers. Stuttgart is also conveniently situated for personal contact with existing customers from the southern region.” He exhibited with his company for the first time at GrindingHub and was part of the Startup Hub, a special booth for young, innovative companies.

Heering summarized: „We succeeded with the second edition in establishing GrindingHub as the international meeting point for the grinding technology industry. The heart of the industry beats in Stuttgart.”

The next GrindingHub will be held in Stuttgart from May 5 to 8, 2026.

Author: Tobias Beckmann, consultant, VDW