Wood & Panel

Christian Pfeiffer

Christian Pfeiffer

Christian Pfeiffer, Deutsche Messe’s Global Director LIGNA & Woodworking Events briefs on the highlights of this edition of MEM industrial 2020 in a face to face interview with Apratim Ghoshal, editor-in-chief, Wood & Panel and speaks on various topics like new partnership, European participation, Mexican market and lot more. Excerpts.

woodandpaneleurope Deutsche Messe is solely organizing MEM these years. What new updates do we have in this edition?
 

Christian Pfeiffer: We are now the organizers for the fourth year and we have introduced many new things. We started with the complete new structure so we built up new clusters especially in the machinery section- we have a great section of machinery ranging from Biesse to SCM, Stiles, Felder and Holzher-Weinig is also a part of it. That’s the one part of the Hall. And there is the second part of the Hall, where we have all the furniture accessories from the distributors of Blum to Hettich and all the large brands can be experienced. That’s very important and beautiful because we have the one stop shop- that’s really making it very enjoyable and effective for the visitors. And on top of that, we have more than twenty slots with discussions and panels. We gave ourselves three topics this year- new technology and machineries, design and sustainability. What’s the most important is that, we created very good cooperation with new associations like CANAINMA, AFAMJAL- they are also holding a regional show in Guadalajara, which will show more machinery part and of course CONAFOR the forestry association. So we broadened our spectrum of potential visitors, and we have very clear structure which is now very easy to access live running machines on the one hand, tools and the German pavilions which will increase again this year. We also have the design oriented materials, accessories and segments on the other hand. It was our goal to be the largest and most important show in the Latin America and with this edition we have reached that!

woodandpaneleurope How has the response to Made in Europe technologies and machineries changed over the years in this region? Can you tell us about the European companies’ participation in this edition?
Christian Pfeiffer: My perception is that the Mexican market is adapting it very good. We have increasing square meter demand from companies coming from Europe showing their technology and this holds true for both individual participation as well as for the German pavilion.

We have here some of the exhibitors who are here for the first or second time so they are on the outlook for distributors or for partners over here- that’s the stage where they usually do not bring any machinery with them. And if they already have partners here in the country already it’s a good possibility to also demonstrate machinery. When I look into the exhibitors who demonstrate machinery, I can see that the large cooperation in the most important brands that they demonstrate. There is Wood-mizer presenting mobile saw mills from the primary forestry sector upto SCM and Biesse- they have very complex machineries here and they demonstrated. Of course, if they choose to not demonstrate but the most sophisticated companies are here to demonstrate- so that’s what makes this marketplace a great opportunity to showcase and enlarge your business.

woodandpaneleurope How has the partnership with AMPIMM (Mexican Association of Suppliers of the Wood and Furniture Industry) helped in structuring the show?
Christian Pfeiffer: It’s very important for us because we have the good situation to have both segments on board. We have a very clear market situation right now because we can offer the brand of products for the furniture industry. Their role is, of course, to represent their members here on the show as well, and together we are bringing in the exhibitors and the visitors.
woodandpaneleurope Congrats for the new partnership with Tecnomueble. How would this association benefit the Mexican market?
Christian Pfeiffer: AFAMJAL is the largest manufacturers association in Mexico, they have their own furniture show and in that furniture show there is a small portion of machineries as well. What is most important for us, is that we are working together with this large entity of the furniture industry specially in regards of visitor marketing. Because the membership of AFAMJAL is very important for our customers and now we can offer markets, exhibitors and the visitors a show in Mexico city and also regional show in Guadalajara.

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