ALUMINIUM 2014 Blog

Christian Wellner, managing director of the GDA (german Aluminium association)

Reed Exhibitions (RX): Mr. Wellner, as a founding partner and as institutional patron of ALUMINIUM, the GDA has supervised and supported the event right from the outset. You have been managing director of the GDA for many years now and were amongst those who first developed the idea of an ALUMINIUM trade fair and presented it to the industry. Can you tell our readers something about your career. How did you get involved with aluminium and the GDA?

Christian Wellner (CW): I’ve been working in the aluminium industry and its different bodies for nearly 30 years now. I studied Economics and my first job afterwards was with an aluminium industry trade association. My father advised to gain some experience there and then to do something “with good prospects”. In the mid-1980s there was a major boom in demand for aluminium as a material and in the aluminium industry as a whole. I very quickly realised that I’d found an industry with a bright future and with plenty of scope for development. Which is basically why I’m still here, working for a material and an industry which still has outstanding potential – and indeed one “with good prospects”.

RX: What do you see as the main challenges facing the aluminium industry in 2012?

CW: Despite the national debt crisis, our sector is facing the coming year with a degree of cautious optimism.  German producers are strongly placed amongst the international competition and benefit from their high degree of specialisation. If the politicians can come up with answers to the urgent national debt questions in Europe which the markets find satisfactory, this will considerably boost business expectations for the current year. And this, in conjunction with the positive underlying trend in the key aluminium industry markets, would provide a solid foundation for further growth in 2012.

RX: The GDA organised the EAC – European Aluminium Congress – at the end of November. What indications emerged from this regarding future developments for the industry?

CW: The international congress gave the equipment and technology partners of the aluminium producers and processors a platform for presenting their latest developments. The speakers and the experts from the national and international aluminium industry who took part all agreed that the technology partners and equipment providers to the aluminium industry can expect to face increasing demands in the future. Besides machinery and equipment, our sector needs providers with a comprehensive understanding of the whole process and extensive systemic know-how at all stages of the aluminium value creation chain – from production and processing right through to the area of recycling, which is now growing in significance. Read Full Post

The European Aluminium Congress 2011 organized by GDA extends the deadline for the call for papers. Register until 18 March 2011!

Topic: Technologies for the Aluminium Industry

Date: 22-23 November 2011 Venue: MARITIM Hotel in Düsseldorf | Maritim-Platz 1 | D-40474 Düsseldorf | Germany

Participants: The EAC – European Aluminium Congress 2011 is aimed at representatives from primary smelters and remelters, semis producers, foundries, processing plants, metal traders and semis stockholders, and research facilities.

Laguage: The congress language is English

For more information please visit the official congress website http://www.aluminium-congress.de

“For us the crisis is over.” The experience of Frank Busenbecker, Managing Director with Erbslöh Aluminium GmbH, a medium-sized supplier for the automotive industry, is currently shared by many companies in the aluminium industry. After the sharp decline last year, the industry has started on a catch-up race which, with its tempo, surprises even industry insiders. “In the first half of 2010 alone, the production of rolled and extruded products increased by a remarkable 30.3 per cent to 1.2 million tons – an unprecedented increase”, says Christian Wellner, Managing Director of the German Aluminium Association (GDA,) at the start of this year’s ALUMINIUM which, with a total of 873 exhibitor companies from 47 countries, was even slightly larger than the 2008 event which had so far held the record.

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The world’s largest gathering of the aluminium industry, the ALUMINIUM 2010 trade fair, will be attracting some 18,000 trade visitors to Essen, Germany, this week. From 14-16 September 2010, aluminium producers, processors, suppliers of technology and plant for the production, processing and finishing of aluminium together with representatives of the user industries will be meeting to present the latest trends, innovative products, equipment and services.

The motto under which approximately 900 companies from about 45 different nations will be exhibiting is ‘Between Innovation and Environment’. More than half of the exhibitors are from abroad. Particularly noteworthy this year is the increase in the number of exhibitors from the Middle East. The organiser Reed Exhibitions and its partners Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie (GDA) and the European Aluminium Association (EAA) are expecting visitors from over 100 countries. The whole of the material’s value chain will be on view at ALUMINIUM 2010, from the raw material via semi-finished products through to finished products for all areas of application of aluminium. Plant manufacturers and equipment suppliers are the largest exhibitor group this year, followed by companies engaged in the manufacture of semi-finished products, casting and surface finishing.

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After its crisis year in 2009 the German aluminium industry is now looking more confidently to the future. Compared with the first six months of the previous year, overall German primary aluminium smelters and semis plants experienced a marked recovery in production in the first half of 2010. Ahead of the ALUMINIUM 2010 trade fair, GDA -Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie e.V., Düsseldorf, has announced that German aluminium companies remain optimistic that they will be able to maintain this good level during the second half of 2010. Domestic demand has stabilised and demand from abroad is also becoming firmer.

The improved situation is being driven by the economic recovery in vehicle manufacturing and the manufacture of industrial machinery. The booming solar industry has also helped improve the sector’s capacity utilisation. The German aluminium industry is expecting the sector’s leading exhibition, the ALUMINIUM 2010 trade fair, which is being held from 14-16. September in Essen, to further stimulate business.

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The internationally recognised and copyrighted Aluminium Logo is now available for use in eight different colours for a nominal charge. In addition, a short line of text in English or German for each of the eight coloured logos emphasises the light metal’s positive properties with respect to the environment, the economy, ecology or conservation of resources.

The logo, which was created back in 1983 by the Düsseldorf-based designer Bernard Langerock working in close co-operation with GDA Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie e.V., is in use worldwide and symbolises the quality and good recyclability of aluminium. Companies wishing to use the logo officially for their corporate communications must obtain a licence for unlimited simple rights to use the logo. Licence fees are graduated according to company size and type of organisation. Existing licence holders can upgrade their licence.
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For the seventh time, the industry’s most innovative and creative solutions will receive the EUROPEAN ALUMINIUM AWARD this year. A total of six prizes will be awarded in the two categories “Industrial Products” and “Consumer Products”. For the first time, students and designers under 30 years of age will be awarded the “Young Designers” prize for their creative ideas. A special jury award will distinguish the best entry in terms of “Ecology, Sustainability and Energy Efficiency”.

The competition has found prominent supporters in Alcoa, Aleris, Hydro and Rio Tinto Alcan: the four big players of the industry are the main sponsors of the internationally well-known prize awarded on the initiative of the Netherlands Aluminium Centre in cooperation with EAA, GDA and trade fair organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH. All nominated products and projects will be on display at the fair, the presentation ceremony will be held on 14 September during the “ALUMINIUM Night” gala.

Further information: http://www.aluminium-award.eu

For the first time the German aluminium industry association GDA as the institutional patron of the ALUMINIUM 2010 trade fair will organise the accompanying conference under the motto “Aluminium – Material of the Future”. Five different sessions are planned for the three days of the fair on the application-related themes of processes, transport, automotive, surface and aluminium markets. The conference language is English.

The full programme is available online: http://www.aluminium-conference.de/program.html

The production of and demand for aluminium is again growing worldwide. After the decline during the financial and economic crisis, global production will already exceed pre-crisis levels this year. In many branches of industry the lightweight and sustainable material is the first choice.

The material’s potential has not been exhausted by far as will be demonstrated in September at ALUMINIUM 2010 in Essen. From 14 bis 16 September the world’s biggest meeting place for the industry will bring together aluminium producers, processors, providers of technologies and equipment for the production, further processing and finishing of aluminium, as well as the representatives of the application industries. „Between Innovation and Environment“ is the motto under which 890 companies from 45 countries will present themselves this year. More than half of the exhibitors come from abroad. The number of exhibitors from the Middle East, in particular, has grown this year. The organisers Reed Exhibitions and their partners GDA Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie and European Aluminium Association (EAA) expect visitors from more than 100 countries.

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ALUMINIUM, one of Europe’s most successful industrial fairs, moves from the Ruhr to the Rhine. Starting in 2012, the world’s leading trade fair of the aluminium industry will be held at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre. A contract to this effect was signed by trade fair organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland and Messe Düsseldorf.

The period of the contract extends until the year 2024. Up to now, ALUMINIUM, which is held every two years, was domiciled in Essen. It will beheld here for the last time for now from 14 to 16 September 2010. Since the first edition of ALUMINIUM in 1997, the number of exhibitors has risen to almost 900 companies occupying a total area of app. 65,000 m².

Another 13,000 m² are taken up by the 350 exhibitors of COMPOSITES EUROPE which is held concurrently and has also taken an extremely dynamic development since its premiere in 2006. Up to now, COMPOSITES EUROPE alternated between Essen and Stuttgart every year, after 2010 it will be staged alternately in Stuttgart (2011) and Düsseldorf (2012).

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