RubberTech, Reifen roll-on planned

ERJ staff report (PR)

London – Organisers say they expect RubberTech Europe to return at the next biennial Reifen tire trade show, following its initial staging at this year’s event in Essen, Germany.

Introduced by Messe Essen GmbH in partnership with China United Rubber Corp. (CURC), RubberTech Europe enabled the German show to cover all aspects of the tire life-cycle - from the preliminary stages of production, manufacturing and trade to retreading and recycling.

A total of 53 RubberTech Europe exhibitors presented offerings at Reifen 2014, held 27-30 May. These related to the upstream production of a tire – from rubber machines, rubber chemicals and rubber raw materials down to the relevant technology.

The introduction built on a partnership between the two events companies. CURC is organiser of RubberTech China 2014, which is co-located with Messe Essen’s Reifen China 2014 event in Shanghai 3-5 December.

The success of Reifen China and the growth of RubberTech Europe offers a high-level, international business platform for tire manufacturing experts, according to a spokeswoman for CURC.

“While it is still early to talk about detailed future targets, Messe Essen and CURC both hope to explore more markets in the near future,” she added in a written statement to ERJ.

“We are very satisfied with the premiere of the RubberTech Europe at Reifen 2014,” said Oliver Kuhrt, chairman of Messe Essen GmbH. “The roughly 20,000 visitors from 130 countries were able to obtain information on the exhibitors' innovations.”

With regard to Reifen 2016 in Essen, Kuhrt said exhibitors and visitors still had to decide if RubberTech would be part of the event, but that the feedback was “very positive”.

A survey of the trade visitors found that 65% viewed the event as a “sensible extension” of the Reifen show.

“We are, therefore, still assuming that the RubberTech Europe will also be part of the Reifen trade fair in the future,” said Kuhrt.

Meanwhile, Reifen’s new partnership with automotive aftermarket trade show Automechanika is expected to offer opportunities for both Reifen and RubberTech.

“With this cooperation, we want to achieve cross-border synergies in sales and marketing, for example through attractive package solutions for exhibitors,” said Kuhrt. “RubberTech will also benefit from this.”