The 15th Vitrum International trade fair, Oct. 3-6 in Milan, saw the biggest turnout Oct. 6, the show press office in Milan reported: of the 6,136 visitors, 3,288 were Italian and 2,848 from outside Italy.
Some exhibitors said they had their best show ever, while others reported slow traffic. Bottero Glass Technologies, with U.S. headquarters in Florence, Ky., is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and had a 2,000-square-meter booth. “This is the best show we’ve had in a long time,” said Gary L. Bricker, vice president. “We’ve sold at least eight to 10 machines.” Bottero introduced three machines at Vitrum: the 780 DMW double drilling machine, the Titan double edgers, and the Pratica GLP three-axis CNC processings. In all, there were 15 machines on the floor.

Lisec, Austria, had a satisfying show as well. “For a long time we haven’t had such a good show,” said Manfred Lesiak, marketing event manager. The company introduced a laminated glass line, Lisec C.M.I., which can laminate two small sized panels side by side for increased output; and a vertical water jet cutting and edge working line, WSL/D, specifically designed to do glass doors. “It can finish a typical glass door, 2 meters by 1 meter, in 90 seconds,” he said. “It has two towers for quicker production.”

Intermac of Italy, part of Biesse S.p.A., had “an interesting show,” said Carlo Strappa, marketing. The company’s 1,100-square-meter stall exhibited two lines, one cutting table, four CNC work centers, a single machine for pencil edge and a drill. It introduced the cutting table with new laser device for coating removal. “We signed 10 to 15 contracts,” Strappa said.

Nancy Mammaro, representative of Mappi International S.r.l., Italy, described their booth as busy. Mappi introduced its Touch System software for tempering lines that allows for better control and checking of the production line. “It’s unusual for us to get orders at a show, but we already have two orders,” she said.

Peter Nischwitz, corporate communications manager, Bystronic Glass, Germany, also reported a “busy show.” The company introduced a new compact sealer for IG units. “It’s a value added program for our customers,” he said. “It can be installed in one to two days; it’s fast due to its compact design; it’s reliable and guaranteed for 24 months with a replacement package and one-day training.” The company sold two machines at the show and made many contacts, he said.

Forvet of Italy had a good show, said Sebastiano Bisotto, project and automation manager. The company introduced an increased capability Chiara 2500 MTP, an automatic, numerically controlled grinding machine that grinds and polishes all four sides of the glass, simultaneously, and showed four machines in all. “We’ve had about 400 visitors,” Bisotto said.
Thomas Oberndorfer, head of sales, Glass Processing Machinery, reported positive news for Benteler Maschinenbau, Germany. The company introduced the Multi CNC Processing Center and sold five grinding-drilling lines. “We’ve also had visitors for automotive glass and photovoltaic products,” Oberndorfer said.

Uniglass Engineering Oy of Finland did not introduce any products but showed development of existing lines, said Kaj Vallikari, area sales manager. “We’ve had mostly European customers, few American prospects,” he said. “We’re not trying to get into the Chinese market; we’re busy as is.”

Edgetech Europe GmBH, Germany, made sales and saw potential clients, said Christoph Rubel, operations manager. “We sold a couple of vertical line washing machines, a platen press, and got about 150 leads,” he said.

CMS of Italy sold six machines and made many contacts, said Steve Paul, area sales manager, Eastern U.S. The company showed an arising, grinding and drilling line, the Compact Drill drilling/milling machine and a washing machine.

Ricardo Davila Montero, sales manager, Prodim International BV, The Netherlands, reported a lot of traffic at the show. The company introduced the Unfold software that can measure curved glass in two dimensions for CNC machines. It sold 10 machines over four days.

Roberto Benecchi, export and intragroup sales manager brand MAB, Assa-Abloy, Italy, said he experienced a “slower show than the previous time.” The company introduced the Stremler sliding gear system in which the hardware and the clamps are integrated in the system itself, and the stainless-steel Cilindric Swing Doors.
Harald Kappele, marketing communications, Albat + Wirsam, Germany, had “a quiet show.”

Randy W. Croson, director of sales, Glasstech Inc., Perrysburg, Ohio, echoed Kappele. “It’s been a little quiet,” he said. Glasstech introduced AutoGlassInspector, which quantifies the optical quality of backlites and windshields by numerically evaluating the transmitted optical distortion in a just-formed glass part.

Giardina of Italy had a better show this year than in 2005, said Nicoletta Campaci, area sales manager. The company introduced its Edge-Line Roller and Dekoroller printing machine. The Dekoroller got a lot of attention, she said.

The “show was no good” for Suntech Machinery Co., China, said Rimmon Chen, vice manager of sales. “We have had about 20 visitors, and our stand is only 18 square meters,” he said. “At glasstec, our stand was 108 square meters.”

Mingte Glass Technology Co. of China had a similar experience. “We haven’t sold anything and haven’t had many visitors,” said Jenny Guo, company representative. “We have handed out only about 300 catalogs in four days.”

Landglass of China came to Vitrum to introduce itself, said Zhou Hui, company representative. “We are six years old; we have made no sale and had only about a 100 visitors in four days.”
Vitrum will be back Oct. 28-31, 2009.

—By Sahely Mukerji, managing editor, Glass Magazine, AutoGlass magazine

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