CeMAT ASIA puts spotlight on automation trend

CeMAT ASIA opens on 27 October. It is Asia's biggest and most important intralogistics trade show and has been staged annually at the SNIEC exhibition center in Shanghai since its launch 16 years ago. This year, it will feature 460 exhibitors from all around the world and occupy some 47,000 square meters (506,000 sq. ft.) of exhibition space. In terms of themes, CeMAT ASIA 2015 is dedicated to the growing shift toward automation in intralogistics, a trend fueled by rising labor costs and a growing skills shortage, especially in China's fast-growing coastal regions.

The Chinese market remains an extremely attractive proposition for international providers of intralogistics technology. This is evident from the fact that last year, Germany's intralogistics manufacturers alone exported about 745.8 million euros worth of goods to China. What's more, Germany's exporters of intralogistics technology enjoyed further growth in Chinese demand in the first few months of the current year – despite China's general economic slowdown, which the Chinese government is endeavoring to counter with a program of major structural reforms.

The State Council of the People's Republic has adopted a strategy to transition the country from the offshoring capital of the world to a world manufacturing power within the space of the next ten years. This represents a move away from cheap mass-production and towards innovation, quality and efficiency.

"At the heart of the strategy is the ‘Made in China 2025' 10-year plan, which is aimed at radically modernizing the economy. The plan revolves around industrial automation and digitization. It is China's version of Germany's 'Industry 4.0' initiative. And it promises major opportunities for international providers,” said Wolfgang Pech, Deutsche Messe's Senior Vice President responsible for CeMAT events worldwide.

This year's CeMAT ASIA will feature the world's leading providers of materials handling technology. Among them will be Dematic, Egemin, Eisenmann, Kardex, Knapp, SSI Schäfer, Swisslog, Vanderlande, Vanriet and Vitronic. Other big-name international exhibitors include the forklift manufacturers Jungheinrich and Linde Material Handling, which will be leveraging the trade fair to market their product ranges and show the industrial world that intelligent, autonomous industrial trucks are already a reality. Linde Material Handling is the flagship brand of the KION Group. It has production facilities and a comprehensive sales and service network in China, where it has maintained a physical presence for over 20 years and where it ranks among the leading foreign providers of industrial trucks. Linde sees the ‘Made in China 2025' strategy as an opportunity to offer its own developments in integrated systems, digitization and automation on the Chinese market and so be part of China's initiative to boost intralogistics productivity and process efficiency through investment in new technology and innovation.

Of course, many of the technologies and innovations for China's 'Made in China 2025' strategy are themselves made in China. Which is why the growing strength and expertise of China's intralogistics manufacturers will feature prominently in Hall W3 at this year's CeMAT ASIA. There, big players like Kunming Shipbuilding Equipment Corporation (KSEC) and the Beijing Materials Research Institute will present turnkey intralogistics plant and systems and demonstrate the ins and outs of fully automated supply chains.

The CeMAT ASIA show will be complemented by a comprehensive program of conferences featuring best practice case studies from a range of user industries.

First held in 2000, CeMAT ASIA has gone from strength to strength and is now the Asia region's leading trade fair for intralogistics. Every year, it provides exporters of intralogistics technology with a highly professional marketing and business development platform that is further enhanced by major synergies with three co-staged events: PTC ASIA (power transmission and control technology), ComVac ASIA (compressed air and vacuum technology) and Industrial Supply ASIA (industrial subcontracting and lightweight solutions).