Filip Geerts, director general, CECIMO talks on The EMTE-EASTPO Machine Tool Exhibition that is all set to make its debut in Shanghai | interviewed BY Indira Rao |
CECIMO is recognised as the worldwide representative of the common interests and values of the European machine tool industry. How do you see the European machine tool market? What is the current status?
The European economy’s uncertainty has until now considerably depressed investments in capital goods and the domestic machine tool consumption. Therefore, CECIMO forecasts a small contraction in the production in 2013. Nevertheless, taking into account the gradual improvement of the European economy, we expect the trend to turn for the better this year. About 66% of European machine tool builders estimate the production to increase in 2014 and 42% of respondents expect their exports to grow in the near future, according to the recent CECIMO Business Climate Barometer survey.
The GDP growth in the EU turned positive in the second quarter of 2014 and is increasingly driven by domestic demand. Both domestic consumption and investment expanded, reducing the dependency of the recovery on the external sector. While our optimism is strongly flavoured with caution, we forecast the European machine tool consumption to grow 4.6% this year, which is even more than several emerging markets in Asia like Taiwan or China. Our optimistic outlook is supported by increases in the domestic order intake by 8% and 16% on quarterly and yearly basis respectively.
What is your opinion on the Asian machine tool market, primarily India?
Today, Asia consumes almost 64% of all machine tools in the world. Even if we do not foresee further substantial growth in that ratio, Asia remains an important market for European machine tool producers. Recent financial turmoil on the region’s markets has curbed the already fragile business sentiment in India. This makes companies cancel or at least postpone their investment in new production capacity. Tighter monetary policy will cause higher funding costs for banks, which will restrict their ability to lend, constraining spending and investment. Therefore, the Indian government’ reform efforts are crucial for the economy. The success of those reforms greatly determines the economic growth and, therefore, the European machine tool builders’ outlook. The economic slowdown caused a considerable drop in Indian machine tool consumption, on average of over 24% in the last two years. Despite the concerns about monetary policies, competitive rupee rates, increase in export potential we expect the Indian machine tool consumption to see growth during the next five years.
Tell us about the EMTE-EASTPO Machine Tool Exhibition and how it stands apart from the rest
The EMTE-EASTPO Machine Tool Exhibition will be held in Shanghai at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre from July 14-17, 2014. It is expected to be a high quality showcase of innovative technology and practical solutions presented by leading names from around the world. EMTE-EASTPO is a strategic partnership of two major machine tool show owners from Europe and China. CECIMO – the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries is the owner of the world’s largest machine tool fair, EMO, while EASTPO Culture Development is the owner of the Shanghai International Machine Tool Fair (EASTPO).
The exhibition has the support of CECIMO and its 15 member associations, and the exhibition steering committee is under the leadership of VDW (Germany), UCIMU (Italy) and SWISSMEM (Switzerland). Following the strong tradition of major exhibitions in Europe, EMTE-EASTPO has in place strict exhibitor admission rules. We will also ensure that the intellectual property rights of manufacturers are not infringed, and there will be live demonstrations of products presented according to their sector.
To complement this display of the latest manufacturing technologies, a one-day CEO Summit will be held on the theme “Profitable growth through state-of-the-art manufacturing”. Topics covered at the summit will include Machine Tools & Automation: 21st Century Global Trends and China’s Rising Issues; The Voice of Customers: Perspective from Producers and Suppliers and Keys to Success for Effective Production and Maximising Operational Excellence. This event will bring together some 200 leading machine tool makers and their buyers from China and the rest of Asia.
The exhibition will also serve as a platform for several networking opportunities. We have also put in place a dedicated marketing and publicity campaign to attract buyers from the supply and value chain of the manufacturing industry. We are looking at bringing buyers from China, Southeast Asia, India and Russia. We are also working closely with industry associations across the region. To ensure this machine tool exhibition will respond to European quality standards for exhibitors and visitors, a CECIMO-EMTE organising team composed of experienced people has been created.
As this initiative is founded and driven by the associations representing the machine tool builders in Europe, they have a perfect understanding of the market needs. However, this expertise must be complemented by good local partners and CECIMO had the great opportunity to partner with MP and EASTPO Culture and Development to jointly organise a large-scale machine tool trade show in Shanghai for the Asian market.
Would there be pavilions dedicated to different countries at the show?
Next to the biggest European machine tool producer Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, South Korea, Spain, France and Switzerland will have their national pavilions at EMTE-EASTPO. Shortly, most of the main machine tool producing countries have their national pavilions. The national initiatives help smaller producers to increase their visibility at the exhibition and decrease their costs. National associations will also organise special events to promote the national industry.