Exhibitor Statements 2009

What exhibitors had to say about LIGNA HANNOVER 2009

HOMAG Holzbearbei­tungssysteme AG, Schopfloch, Germany
Alexander Prokisch, Marketing Director Wood Crafts: "LIGNA is the world's leading trade fair for the woodworking machinery sector. All the latest innovations are on display at this show. We also present all our innovations here, including complete model ranges. What really counts is the international audience on the one hand, since we cooperate with sales partners worldwide, but also the German carpenters and joiners on the other. It is the small machines, of the type used in the woodworking skilled trades, that sell especially well at LIGNA. People use this trade fair as an information source and then come to a decision afterwards. The mood here has been positive. Everyone is glad we can look positively to the future here at LIGNA."

Wilhelm Altendorf GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenbau, Minden, Germany
Simone Bergmann, Corporate Communication: "We already ran an energetic invitation campaign during the run-up to LIGNA - and the response was enormous. Our guests were extremely interested to find out about our complete range of machines. LIGNA is among the key trade fairs for our sector, in part also because we can maintain and deepen our contacts with retailers there. Key themes included energy efficiency and machine safety."

MICHAEL WEINIG AG, Tauberbischofsheim, Germany
Klaus Müller, Communications Director: "LIGNA has always been a good tradeshow and will remain so, because it is the world's only flagship show for our sector. We get to demonstrate our machines live here, which is exactly what makes this fair so special. Wood is an emotional industrial material, and visitors want to understand our machines, which is what makes our live demonstrations so popular. Customers don't want to see just an image, but rather experience the machines for themselves. LIGNA is always a source of new ideas and fresh momentum as far as we are concerned."

Leitz GmbH & Co. KG, Oberkochen, Germany
Franz Greisinger, Marketing Director: "Our company appeared at LIGNA under the slogan of 'Driving the Upturn with Greater Efficiency'. We used concrete examples from the field to show how our customers can deploy their tools more effectively and save energy and resources in the process. LIGNA is the world's leading trade fair because it covers the entire customer spectrum from around the world."

MAFELL AG, Oberndorf a. N., Germany
Ralf Kohler, Director of Sales and Marketing: "LIGNA is the platform for our industry in Germany. Once again in 2009, it offered the chance to address innovative topics - and innovations are always popular. It is important that visitors can see the machines for themselves. Our tradeshow appearance thrives on showing people how to work with our machines. This is the only way to make concepts concrete. Our visitors always expect something new from us - and we want to communicate this to them in graphic fashion."

TTS Tooltechnic Systems, Festool GmbH, Wendlingen, Germany
Horst Geiger, Speaker of the Board: This year our company relied again on the industry's key exhibition and took advantage of the opportunity for important talks, networking with the skilled trades and direct customer contact. We exhibited new products, our standard range and numerous system components for the woodworking trades. Along with short workweeks and job security, which is part of our program to safeguard our enterprise, our appearance at this tradeshow represented an active contribution to overcoming the current crisis."

Hans Hundegger Maschinenbau GmbH, Hawangen, Germany
Hans Schillmeier, Managing Director, Engineering: "Our company exports machines to over 40 nations worldwide. This is why the international scope of LIGNA is crucial for us. Two years ago we closed out our participation at the show with great success. In 2009 our expectations were rather reserved, because we already had experienced a 30 percent drop in orders. But this year's LIGNA can send a message and show that we all have confidence in the industry. We are certain the crisis will be followed by a boom phase. We are entering the future armed with innovations."

Osmo Holz & Color GmbH & Co. KG, Warendorf, Germany
Antonius Tuschen, Managing Director: "In times of economic downturn it is more important then ever to show your colors. LIGNA offers us the opportunity to do this, and is a genuine 'must' for our industry. We are increasingly seeking contact with international visitors, but we also focus on making German visitors familiar with our system. Our enterprise is very export-oriented, delivering to 55 nations across the globe. Innovations involving facades are our main focus. The topic of environmental compatibility continues to be important and we devote much attention to the issue."

Association of German Master Carpenters (BDZ) within the German Construction Association (ZDB), Berlin, Germany
Rainer Kabelitz-Ciré, Managing Director: "LIGNA features the entire spectrum of modern and innovative timber construction and benefits from a broad audience: from production engineers to shop floor workers. Our association strives to bring the wood crafts together with planners, for example engineers and architects. In 2009 we awarded the German Home Construction Prize for the fourth time in a row, once again underscoring the significance of timber construction."

Ing.-Holzbau Cordes, Rotenburg/Wümme, Germany
Heinrich Cordes, Executive Management: "We are highly confident about the options we offer, and want to highlight these at LIGNA. Timber construction is basically suitable for any purpose, if people are simply open to it. This is the message we want to propagate at this exhibition and demonstrate what is possible. Architects and engineers in particular are a key target group. Our presentation proves how interesting timber construction can be for the planner, because there are scarcely any limitations in terms of new ideas. We are confident about the future - in part also because we had many first-rate conversations at LIGNA."

Karl Hoffmeister GmbH, Lamspringe, Germany / Association of Lower Saxon Carpenters, Hannover, Germany
Karl Hoffmeister, Managing Director: "LIGNA brings in an enormous number of qualified visitors. For example, we were also able to see what our competitors are currently producing as well as benefit from the concentrated information available at the show. Maintaining good customer contact remains a key task. As an association, we also wanted to send a message by being part of this international exhibition."

Unterreiner Forstgeräte GmbH, Stammhan/Inn, Germany
Jörg Schmidt, Sales/Field Service: "At LIGNA 2009 we received visits from our regional partners, especially from northern Germany - Lower Saxony in particular. We displayed the main parts of our product range and worked to enhance people's awareness of our company. But our regular customers also came out to the show, which is why our main focus is always on face-to-face networking."

SERRA Maschinenbau GmbH, Rimsting, Germany
Johann Fritz, Managing Director: "Our company is very international in scope. This has something to do with LIGNA as well, since this show has always enabled us to reach a broad, international audience. This is where we made our initial contacts and had a correspondingly great start. We also consider LIGNA to be our own 'in-house' exhibition. Our expectations are very high, even if the crisis naturally has made itself felt at our company. We plan to intensify our leads and create new ones. Needless to say, at the end of the day we are also expecting new business. Our catalog comes out every two years, timed to coincide with LIGNA, containing new products which our visitors then get hot off the press."

Wood-Mizer GmbH, Lemgo, Germany
Klaus Longmuss, Managing Director: "We are huge fans of the open-air site at LIGNA, because this lets us display much bigger machinery. LIGNA is a key event in the forestry sector, and the leading industry event worldwide."

Wahlers Forsttechnik GmbH, Stemmen, Germany
Michael Rathjen, Managing Director: "LIGNA is our in-house exhibition, since we are located nearby in Lower Saxony. In the past this show has always been highly successful for us. This year however our expectations are not all that high. The market has declined sharply and expensive machines in particular are not selling well. Just the same it is important to be represented even in times of downturn - that can spell new opportunities for the future. For this reason, it was never in doubt that we would participate at LIGNA 2009."

SCM GROUP SPA, Rimini, Italy
Dr. Renato Benelli, Director of Corporate Communications & CI: "The global economic crisis has also had an impact on LIGNA HANNOVER 2009. We cannot judge yet whether our appearance here has been a success. We can say however that it is easier for us to do business in Germany than in our home country of Italy. LIGNA is definitely one of the most important exhibitions for us. We will be back again for the next installment."

Gerhard Koch Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, Leopoldshöhe, Germany
Christina Kolbe, Assistant to Executive Management: "We are extremely satisfied with the run of LIGNA HANNOVER 2009. We generated a large number of high-caliber leads and met the customers we were hoping to meet. We did not experience the impact of the economic downturn at our stand. LIGNA continues to play a major role for us - we consider it to be the most important trade fair in the world. Needless to say, we will be back for the next LIGNA. We are more than satisfied with the way LIGNA is organized - everything is highly structured and easy to find."

Wemhöner Surface Technologies GmbH & Co. KG, Herford, Germany
Detlef Hanel, Product Manager: "Our topic at LIGNA HANNOVER 2009 has been digital printing. We showed a multi-pass system with a maximum printing width of 1.2 meters which uses water-based ink. We are quite satisfied with the run of LIGNA. It has been a little quieter than two years ago, but considering the overall economic situation, LIGNA has gone better for us than expected. One thing we noticed was the lower number of Chinese visitors compared with previous events. Taken on the whole, however, LIGNA remains the most important trade fair for us - it is the show at which we have our biggest exhibition stand and highest number of staff members."

Jowat AG, Detmold, Germany
Klaus Kullmann, Board of Management: "LIGNA HANNOVER is the world's most important exhibition for us - which was reconfirmed at this year's event. We will be back again for the coming LIGNA in two years. We see LIGNA not primarily as a sales exhibition, but rather as an opportunity to be seen and heard and maintain our existing contacts. That works very well here. And the mood is good - considering the current economic environment. There is certainly reason for cautious optimism and confidence about the future - for our company, at least."

IMA Klessmann GmbH Holzbearbeitungssysteme, Lübbecke, Germany
Rüdiger Schliekmann, Managing Director: "IMA launched an unparalleled technology and service initiative at LIGNA HANNOVER 2009. We took advantage of the outstanding opportunity here to present numerous innovations. Our cautious optimism during the run-up to LIGNA has been impressively confirmed. The first three days of the show have gone very well. The overall visitor response at LIGNA has far exceeded our expectations. Based on that, we are expecting brisk post-show business, not least due to the positive visitor reactions at our stand and our high-impact display of technology there. We have already received several new orders. The main highlights at the IMA stand included laser technology and 'Los 1'."

Ness Wärmetechnik GmbH, Remshalde, Germany
Dr. Andreas J. Ness, Managing Director: "LIGNA HANNOVER 2009 was a big success for us. We generated a much higher number of contacts than we expected, given the current state of the economy. We had roughly the same number of concrete project queries as in 2007, primarily from Europe and the United States. In addition, virtually all key customers and international partners were in attendance. For us, as a medium-sized enterprise, LIGNA represents a key forum for keeping up personal contact and ascertaining feedback from the marketplace."

Hymmen GmbH Maschinen- & Anlagenbau, Bielefeld, Germany
Andreas Lentner, Director of Sales & Marketing: "We are experiencing a visitor 'onslaught' like during the years of economic prosperity. The response to the world debut of our single-pass digital printing equipment 'Jupiter' has far exceeded our already high expectations. A refreshing willingness to invest and a demand for special machinery is tangible in virtually all market segments and product categories."

GreCon Greten GmbH & Co. KG, Alfeld, Germany
Ernst Greten, Managing Director: "LIGNA HANNOVER went much better than expected. But naturally not quite as good as two years ago. We are very satisfied however that there are still people who want to initiate new projects. The recession seems to have bottomed out. Our customers recognize that you need to improve existing plant and equipment to be able to cut costs over the long run. And we have exactly the systems that are right for that."

Sandvik Process Systems GmbH, Fellbach, Germany
Johan Sjögren, Sales and Marketing Manager: "We have been positively surprised by LIGNA HANNOVER 2009. Things went better than expected. The leads we were able to generate are valuable ones. We received many high-caliber queries. We were also able to meet the people whom we wanted to meet here at LIGNA. Based on that, we have drawn positive conclusions from the show."