News

The BIEMH, Spanish Machine-Tool Biennial, which will hold its 26th edition next year, was presented at the Milan Fair, the main sector fair in the world (EMO). It will be held from May 31st to June 5th at the BEC and its firm objective will be to offer companies key support in their development and a highly effective tool to create an international impact.

The BIEMH will bring together key countries in the machine-tool sector (Italy, Germany, Switzerland…), as well as new emerging markets with great potential (Taiwan, China, Czech Republic, India, Russia…). All in all, an international showcase for high level technology, where innovations and developments from all sub-sectors related with the machine-tool industry will be put on display.

Today, at the Milan Fair, where the main world fair of this sector (EMO) is being held, José Miguel Corres, Chief Executive of the Bilbao Exhibition Center, and Koldo Arandia, President of the Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association of Spain, AFM, have presented the next edition of BIEMH, the Spanish Machine-Tool Biennial, which will be held from 31 May to 5 June at the BEC. The international media and representatives from the companies that are attending the said fair were present.

The BIEMH, the Spanish Machine-Tool Biennial will hold its 26th edition next year with a firm objective: to offer companies key support in their development and a highly effective tool to create an international impact.

Consequently, the firms and professionals that will be taking part in the fair, to be held from 31 May to 5 June at the Bilbao Exhibition Center, will find a highly competitive, perfectly adapted environment for their commercial needs, where they will be able to optimise their business opportunities.

Without doubt, this is one of the main strategic lines that will define the next BIEMH in 2010 that the Bilbao Exhibition Center has presented at the EMO in Milan, the world leading machine-tool fair.

José Miguel Corres, Chief Executive of the Bilbao Exhibition Center, and Koldo Arandia, President of the Machine-Tool Manufacturers'' Association of Spain, the co-organisers of the event, presented the Fair at a press conference before an international audience comprising professionals from companies, associations and the specialised media.

On the other hand, the situation the Spanish machine-tool sector is going through at present was also mentioned at the event, where data collected by the AFM was made public. The Bilbao Exhibition Center is actively co-operating with the AFM, with which it has attended the fair in this Italian city together with a large number of Basque companies.

Catering for each company''s needs

The BIEMH commercial team has been working intensively, since before the summer, in order to guarantee the successful and profitable participation of exhibitors at the fair; exhibitors with which the BIEMH co-operates closely from an open commercial point of view: "tell us what you need and we shall implement it".

With this in view, the BIEMH has placed its entire resources at the disposal of the companies, offering customised treatment in relation to service and commercial issues, studying and specifying each company''s requirements and finding the ideal way to satisfy them.

Some of the measures adopted in the current campaign are an excellent example of the economic and commercial support that the fair provides. First of all, the price of exhibition space contracted has not changed from the last edition and, in turn, a number of additional benefits have been introduced based on the volume of space contracted. Furthermore, there will be other benefits concerning preferential booking for specific registration periods, easy payment terms and special stand decoration "packs".

Regarding promotion, a number of initiatives are being developed to provide the widest dissemination of the activities of the exhibiting companies (products, news, values…). An example of this is the design and delivery of exclusive communiqués promoting the presence of exhibitors and their products at the fair; the inclusion of company names in official BEC communiqués, stating their activities and a link to their web sites; an on-line catalogue - a new service; handling invitations to VIP buyers on request of the companies... although there are many more.

Values

Beyond these specific points, the BIEMH also represents other values that have been acquired over time and that endorse it as one of the most important events in Europe in this line. Its extensive history, which started in 1961, its constant development and the internationalisation of its offer have provided it with the prestige it enjoys today. Recognition by CECIMO, the European Committee for Cooperation among Machine-Tool Industries, is part of this scenario.

Thanks to this situation, the BIEMH brings together key countries in the machine-tool sector (Italy, Germany, Switzerland…), as well as new emerging markets with great potential (Taiwan, China, Czech Republic, India, Russia…) and leading brands. Support from the sector - headed by AFM, together with AMT- offered by associations, such as AWEX, GAIA, AER, ASCAD, AEFTOP, Chamber of Commerce of Taiwan…… is crucial in successfully bringing together this international high-level technological showcase, where innovations and developments from all machine-tool related sub-sectors are put on display.

The 2008 edition provided an excellent example of this appeal: while the event was visited by a total of 50,712 people, the increase of foreign visitors, from 66 countries, by 10.4 percent, strengthened its international scope. This was the response from the professionals to an event that offered one of the most complete exhibitions in its history: a total of 1,761 firms from 36 countries occupying 788 stands, 57% of which came from outside of Spain. The quality of the BIEMH as a business centre for major manufacturers and buyers worldwide was unquestionable.

Exhibitor gaining campaign

The campaign to attract exhibitors for BIEMH 2010, the key elements of which have already been described, began in June.

The scope of this task covers a total of 46 markets worldwide, of which the priority targets on this occasion are Germany, Korea, Denmark, United States, France. Italy, Japan, Portugal, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Taiwan and Turkey.

The sectors that will make up the next edition will be, once again, the machine-tool sector (cutting and shaping), other machines (welding, oxygen cutting and surface treatment), tools for machine-tools, parts, components and accessories, production process automation, metrology, quality control and services. The first deadline for the preferential allocation of space will end on 30th November.

The BIEMH, in the agenda of professionals from five continents

Every two years, the BIEMH opens its doors to thousands of professional visitors from the most representative sectors of the international machine-tool industry. We can stress the presence of foreign trade delegations comprising buyers from all over the world - mainly company general managers, owners or purchase managers - people of great strategic value for the event that increase the possibility of "doing business" during the Fair. The program is coordinated by the commercial offices of the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), the network of agents of the Office for the Promotion and Industrial Restructuring (SPRI), dependent on the Basque Government, and the our own agents from the Bilbao Exhibition Center abroad.

All this effort is part of a campaign targeting professional visitors which has begun this October and will use an initial list of potential customers with 70,000 national and international addresses.

For 2010, the strategic countries in this section will be India, China, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Algeria, Libya and Arab Emirates, besides European countries, but many more will be involved.

On the other hand, the Fair''s commercial team will travel to countries in Asia and Latin America at the beginning of next year to launch specific promotion campaigns.