ia.cmm at CONTROL 2008
The International Trade Fair for Quality Assurance
22.04 - 25.04.2008
Stuttgart: Neue Messe (airport)
CONTROL, A CONSTANTLY GROWING SHOW
On May 10th, 2007 I walked out from the 21st CONTROL Show heading home; as I crossed the street, in front of the main entrance, I could not help to turn and catch a last glimpse of this exhibition area in which, year after year, I have witnessed the Sinsheim event growing constantly both in terms of size and importance. Started in 1988 with the determined, serious profile that characterises the successful projects, in a little more than 20 years CONTROL has very likely become the most important Quality Assurance fair in the world.
Having been involved for more than 30 years, as an exhibitor, in QA international shows, I very often asked myself what does really make the success of a given event; I could not find a single reason, therefore the answer I gave myself is composite. There are a number of factors to be considered, namely
- The geographical area where the event takes place. A heavy industrialised area in an industrialised country certainly helps. Companies have dramatically reduced the show visiting travelling budget of their personnel, therefore to have a qualified show in the range of a day trip means to remarkably reduce the cost for visiting it.
- Growing importance of QA: Besides the request for always tighter tolerances requested by advanced automation assembly, it has to be considered that large corporations, especially in automotive, have now facilities scattered in many continents, a part built in South America may have to fit to another built in Europe: mission impossible without a modern and efficient QA system.
- Organisational skills: Of course the way an event is organised plays a fundamental role in the success of the event itself.
Perhaps the mix of the above mentioned reasons can explain the success of a show with respect to another but, the case of CONTROL, is something special that deserves some more consideration. Let us briefly look at what happened at CONTROL in twenty years of activity:
- The show area passed from 8.500 m2 in 1988 to some 40.000 m2 in 2007. A factor of growth 4,7.
- In 1988 the exhibitors were 148, this year 792 companies decided to exhibit their products in Sinsheim. A factor of growth 5,3.
- The foreign exhibitors in the considered period passed from 13 to 178. A factor of growth 13,7.
A constant vertical growth that reveal the enormous amount of interest that both exhibitors and visitors have demonstrated to the fair in question
In the respect of German industry traditions, CONTROL has devoted a noticeable focus on emerging technologies and we can be sure that also in 2008, in the new Exhibition Area of Stuttgart, this event will represent a central point in Quality Assurance display of technologies.
Maurizio ERCOLE
ia.cmm
Chairman of the Board
