Electrex 2000 more than lived up to its promise as 'the Interkama of Africa' , exhibitors were unanimous in their opinion that it was a resounding success. The SAIMC-endorsed Electrex, Instrumentation & Control 2000, showcasing the process control and instrumentation industries, was held at Gallagher Estate in Midrand from 15-17 March.
'Virtually every exhibitor we spoke to said that they were very impressed at the quality of visitors attracted to the show,' said TML Reed General Manager Tom McCafferty. According to audited visitor statistics, of those who specified their job functions, about 76% either made or influenced their company's purchasing decisions. For 70% of them, their main area of interest was automation and instrumentation.
Visitors represented a wide spectrum of business sectors, with automation and control suppliers accounting for 15%, and manufacturing/engineering a further 19,47%. Significant numbers were drawn from other industries, including mining and minerals processing (11,28%); measurement and instrumentation suppliers (9,04%); consulting and project management (8,44%); the iron, steel and non-ferrous metals industry (8,19%); chemicals, plastics and fertiliser manufacturing (6,74%); power generation, transmission and distribution (6,35%); systems integration (6,1%); and the food and beverage producing sector (5,82%).
As was to be expected, most visitors were drawn from the Gauteng region (71,6%), with a further 17% hailing from the North West, Northern Province and Mpumalanga. However, visitors also travelled from all five of the other provinces, as well as 15 foreign lands including Botswana, Canada, England, Germany, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Commenting on the quality of visitors drawn to Electrex 2000, exhibitors were decidedly complimentary:
Rudy Rudolph of Endress + Hauser, said: "Both the quality and the quantity of visitors to our stand have been very good. In fact, we had people spending up to two hours here. We have had some solid leads. I think co-locating the show with other synergistic events will give visitors much better value. We will be back in 2002."
"We have seen a lot more visitors than at previous shows, and have some very good leads," said Gerrie Rossouw of Metropolis. "Many of those visitors were professionals who use the equipment on the shop floor, and will probably have a big influence on purchasing decisions."
Allan Sheridan of Varispeed, said: "A number of the visitors to our stand were from the shop floor and this is a development we welcome because they obviously have an influence on the decision-making process. Generally speaking, the quality of visitor has been very good. We are following up a number of new leads, and we have seen significant numbers of our existing clients."Tania Opperman of Liquid Automation Systems, said: "This has really been a very good show. More than half of the visitors to our stand have been decision-makers. Not only have we had a lot of leads, but we have sold a significant number of products. We will definitely be back in 2002."
Theo Van Burick of Adroit said: "We have had a very good flow of visitors; we have seen a lot more IT managers this year, where we expected predominantly production managers and engineers. This is the only show in the last three years where we feel we have achieved our objectives, and we would like to be back in 2002."
Tori Richards of Schneider Electric said, "For us this show was an opportunity to reinforce our corporate brand, with our new name and premises. I think we achieved this. The quality of visitors has been outstanding."
Kelvin Cloete of Moore Process Controls, said, "There has been a very good turnout at the show, particularly from our customer base, and it has certainly been worth our while. We have also seen a much broader visitor profile compared to previous years."
Graham Irwin of AGE Engineering, said, "The show has been an opportunity for us to make inroads into new sectors of the market. We have had a lot of interest from both users and decisions-makers in the field of instrumentation, software development and systems integration. This is a growing market for us."
Dave Howcroft of Instrotech, said, "The quality and quantity of visitors was top notch. Clearly the organisers targeted the right people. There was a huge take up from companies in outlying areas for the visitor transport service offered and I would strongly recommend that this be done again at future shows. I think the Factory of the Future was a very good drawcard for the show and was well positioned in the exhibition hall."
Gordon Potts of Danfoss, said, "We were very glad to reach our target market, both shopfloor staff and consultants and engineers. The show was very well timed with Interkama and we saw a lot of new products being launched. Co-locating Electrex with Fluidtrans, Airtech and Mech-H will certainly add to the impact of the show."
Rordon Cowley of Vepac Electronics, said, "We were very happy to see only serious buyers at the show. Co-locating shows with similar visitor profiles would enable exhibitors to reach a larger market, while visitors would see more."
Gareth Horton of Moeller Electric, said, "The show has been a good networking opportunity and we have had some excellent leads. We have had interest from consultants, technicians and other people of influence in the industry. I see a growing overlap with the IT industry and it's a good idea that the organisers are co-locating these shows."
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