It has already been a year since drinktec 2005, but the success story continues. Many exhibitors are reporting transactions based on foundations that were laid at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre. Among other things, preparations for drinktec 2009 are already underway.

Exhibitors were already extremely optimistic about their post-fair business during drinktec in September 2005. 71% of them stated that they had established new business ties, and 78% said that they had been successful in preparing for follow-up business. Now, one year later, many exhibitors have profited from the contacts that they made at drinktec, as the following comments show:

AmbaFlex: "Drinktec 2005 has been an excellent opportunity for the Dutch Company AmbaFlex to show its innovation. After seeing our new SpiralVeyor® SVX-DL on the well visited booth at the drinktec in Munich, we carried out several worldwide orders. A well-known source water bottler from Belgium decided to buy a number of SpiralVeyor® SVX-DL systems after their visit to drinktec."

cph Group: "We had more than 1,000 visitors at our stand, so the fair more than met our expectations. The large, bright halls gave us first-rate surroundings for presenting the Group and the new products that we introduced in Munich, i.e. polyamide hotmelts for difficult adhesive bonds; Aqualink label adhesives that are extremely resistant to condensation; Arcticoll label adhesives that are ice-water resistant for more than 100 hours; Clearglue for labeling with the "no label" look. Clearglue in particular, which is a new, clear polymer dispersion, attracted a great deal of attention. This product makes it possible to glue plastic labels to normal glass bottles using conventional methods, i.e. existing labeling techniques. This eliminates the need for expensive labeling using self-adhesive labels, which also require a special labeling machine. Thanks to drinktec, two internationally active breweries have already tested this system with a great deal of success.
The cph Group, which is based in Germany and has production operations in the Ukraine, Russia, Chile and Portugal, was very satisfied with the number of visitors at the cph stand, who came from a total of 36 countries."

DEMO Design and Moulds: "As evidence of a continuous sales expansion and growing development prospects, DEMO will be exhibiting at all of the major exhibitions in the field and is looking forward to drinktec 2009.”

Helmut Falterbaum, FAMIX-Maschinenbau GmbH: "After some intense conversations at drinktec, we concluded transactions to deliver three new premium systems for producing non-alcoholic beverages to the Philippines and the Ukraine. Because experience has shown that exhibiting at drinktec can have an "after-effect", we expect other projects that we prepared at the fair to come to fruition in the near future."

Jörg Heidenreich, Jabitherm Rohrsysteme AG: "We made some very good contacts with international breweries such as Heineken and ImBev at drinktec. We were also able to improve our existing contacts with domestic breweries such as Augustiner, Erdinger and Paulaner and with dairies such as Müller-Milch, Bauer-Joghurt and Zott-Joghurt, which resulted in transactions after the exhibition. The food industry has developed into a permanent part of our company, not least of all due to the fair. We are already planning to exhibit again at drinktec 2009."

Kaiserdom Privatbrauerei Bamberg: "We did not have to wait long for success. Besides our many interesting contacts both here and abroad, we were particularly successful with one of our customers from Italy. Together with another exhibiting company, i.e. rastal, we noticed that our 1-liter can fits perfectly into Seidel's 1-liter glass stein, which makes them perfect for joint marketing. One customer from Italy was particularly enthusiastic. We then designed an outer carton and delivered 10,000 steins carrying the 1-liter Kaiserdom can to Italy."

KHS: "KHS received a number of orders at drinktec. They included a beer line for InBev in Magor/UK (capacity: 72,000 0.25-l bottles/h); an ACF bottling unit including processing engineering for Radlberger Getränke, Unterradlberg/Austria (capacity: 33,000 0.5-l bottles/h); a PET bottling unit for AB Abro Brygger, Vimmerby/Sweden; partial update of a bottling system for Licher Privatbrauerei (capacity: 55,000 0.5-l bottles/h), Lich/Germany. There is now no doubt at KHS that drinktec was also the foundation of the successful beginning of the year 2006. Special orders received during the 1st quarter of 2006 included two canning lines for the SABMiller brewery in Tychy/Poland with a capacity of 100,000 cans/hour and the fifth bottling line for Pepsi Cola in Al Khobar/Saudi Arabia (capacity: 90,000 cans/hour). And for the second time Coca Cola in Seville/Spain has put its money on the aseptic cold bottling unit with dry sterilization from KHS. Other important orders: a fifth system for bottling beer in 5-liter PET bottles for InBev in Omsk/Russia; a recyclable glass unit for Pepsi/Seven-Up in Lagos/Nigeria and a beer line for New Belgium/Colorado in the USA."

Volker Kronseder, CEO KRONES AG: "drinktec exceeded out expectations. We had considerably more transactions at the 2005 exhibition than we did the last time the fair was held four years ago. In fiscal year 2005 we had more than 180 million euros worth of orders, which was more than the year before, and drinktec 2005 appears to have triggered many of those orders."

Norit: "drinktec 2005 proved to be an outstanding success for Norit ‘leading in purification’. Next to the introduction of a large number of innovative products and solutions, Norit’s new corporate identity was introduced. Drinktec turned out to be an excellent platform to meet and greet our valued customers and business partners around the world. As one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-tech solutions in their specific areas of expertise, Norit is committed to innovative and future-oriented product development and is already thinking about the technologies to come.”

Schäfer Förderanlagen- und Maschinenbau GmbH: "All of our important customers and what could be a record number of potential customers were at the fair. Our MultiROB S palletizing system was and is one of the latest trends. As a result, we received follow-up orders from Coca Cola, S&N Kronenbourg, Heineken, Erdinger Brauerei and Altmühltaler Mineralbrunnen. We were particularly pleased about the direct order for a sorting system that we received from DAB."

Fabio Bertolini, Sidel Group Executive Sales Vice-President: "Two of the various Simonazzi lines sold at Munich are already being installed and fully operational. The lines in question are part of a major order placed by Les Eaux Minerales d’Oulmes, the leading mineral water producer in Morocco, which has recently also moved into the soft-drink sector. In this specific case the two lines are for PET bottles. The first is a soft-drink line packaging Pepsi in the company’s Casablanca facility. The second is for still water bearing the Sidi Ali brand. It will be operational in a facility at Terminate, a town set in the mountains near the border with Algeria.”

Skanbo: "We supply the industry with customized inflatable advertising media. As always, Skanbo's exhibit at drinktec 2005 was also inflated, and the company received new orders from satisfied customers including Schneider Weisse and Baumgartner. The newly developed "Highesk" bistro table that was on display at drinktec 05 was also a big hit. Benefits such as the ability to disassemble the table and printed tabletops convinced customers including Coca Cola and Almdudler."

Johann Angres and Martin Falkenstein, Managing Directors, Steinfurth Mess-Systeme GmbH: "Given the large number of orders received after the fair, drinktec 2005 met our high expectations completely. Demand for our CO2 measuring systems has never been higher. After the fair, the 5,000th CO2 measuring system that uses the vibration technique was delivered to Ramlösa, a Swedish producer of mineral water."

top-Fördertechnik GmbH: "top has had sensational sales and growth rates since the fair. And we have added several hundred first-rate addresses to our international sales organization."

The results of drinktec 2005 also give every reason to be optimistic with regard to drinktec 2009. Expanding the range of exhibits by adding a new sector for liquid food was a complete success, as indicated by the breakdown of visitors at last year's fair. According to the statistics, 7.3% of all visitors came from the dairy sector, compared to just 1% four years earlier. "Our objective for 2009 is to strengthen this sector even further," explains Exhibition Director Petra Westphal. "For us, liquid food does not just include milk products. It covers all liquid foods including oil, vinegar, ketchup, mustard and sauces. As a result, drinktec also depicts the process chain in companies that are at home in different sectors than the beverage industry."

When it comes to the number of visitors, drinktec 2009 is also hoping to pick up where the successful exhibition in September 2005 left off – a total of nearly 67,000 visitors from 161 countries registered for the 2005 fair. For the first time ever, the number of international visitors (34,166) was higher than the number of visitors from Germany (32,707), and all of the continents were very well represented: America: 3,799; Africa: 1,513; Australia/Pacific/Polynesia: 455; Europe: 55,154 (of which, 7,081 were from Central/Eastern Europe); Asia: 5,952 (of which, 867 were from Japan).

Even though the international share of visitors exceeded the 50-percent mark for the first time, drinktec is still extremely popular among German trade visitors. Representatives of all leading German and international companies in the beverage and liquid-food industry traveled to Munich for the fair.

Preparations for drinktec 2009 are in full swing. Even at this early stage, it appears that the next international trade fair for beverage and liquid-food technology will occupy an additional hall and have 11,000 m² of additional space. According to Petra Westphal, "The sector for aseptic systems, including those for packaging, will be even more important in 2009. Containers, especially in the PET sector, are also expected to continue growing."

drinktec moves into position …
… International trade fair for beverage and liquid-food technology
… Premiere platform for global innovations
… The only fair that focuses on the entire production chain including system solutions
… Showcases machines live and in operation
… Attracts decision-makers, experts, CEOs, COOs and investors around the world
… Market-oriented: it has a structured range of exhibits for a defined target group
… An exhibition for new markets and a place to meet future customers

This press release is also available online at www.drinktec.com

Contact for journalists covering drinktec 2009:
Johannes Manger and Andrea Hack
Tel. (+49 89) 949-20630, Fax (+49 89) 949-20639
E-mail: Johannes.Manger@messe-muenchen.de and
Andrea.Hack@messe-muenchen.de