MACH-TECH – INDUSTRY DAYS 2019 – Record growth, record participation

The greatest industrial muster of the region grew with the same degree as the performance of the Hungarian industry over the last five years. This year, four pavilions hosted 562 exhibitors from 20 countries at the MACH-TECH – Industry Days 2019 collection of international industrial trade exhibitions at Hungexpo from 14-17 May. Over 18 thousand visitors attended the event.

In comparison to the Visegrád Countries and Romania, Hungary produced the most rapid growth of 30 percent in industrial performance since 2014, said the Ministry for Innovation and Technology’ s (ITM) Minister of State for Economic Strategy and Regulation Dr. László György at the exhibition’s opening ceremony. According to the Minister of State, the Hungarian economy is more stable and resistant than in 2010, yet the most important factor of growth is Hungarian creativity and diligence. The well-functioning investment-incentivizing system of the country played a key role in the spread of industry, along with the fact that Hungary has a developed infrastructure compared to the regional average.

In order to maintain the industry growth rate, the government and particularly, the ITM, has defined seven strategic trajectories which include the support of Hungarian micro, small and mid-size enterprises, vocational training and infrastructural development. Additionally, they are set to establish a university-level incubator ecosystem, providing opportunities for Hungarian SMEs to establish ties with corporations and international markets. Vocational training and adult learning will be shaped in a way that the training systems will respond to the challenges of the 21st century labour market, said the Minister of State.

At the opening event, CEO of Hungexpo Zrt. Gábor Ganczer said that the 32% increase in exhibitor numbers (compared to the event in 2017) – this year, 562 exhibitors from 20 countries attended the event in Budapest – is the joint success of the organizers and the industrial performance.

For years, both concerning its number of exhibitors and visitors, the MACH TECH Industry Days co-exhibitions has been the biggest industrial event and the most significant industrial business event of Hungary, featuring all the sectors involved in industrial digitalization and the spread of INDUSTRY 4.0: from designers of control system to robot manufacturers as well as electronics and logistics firms. The solutions offered by INDUSTRY 4.0 presented by the exhibitors again received exceptional attention, particularly the developmental trends of automation and industrial electronics, intelligent machines communicating with one another (M2M), self-adjusting manufacturing processes and highly effective mass production methods.

The breakdown of exhibitors changes year after year, yet theres a clear trend: there is a sharp increase in the share of companies presenting robot technologies and exhibitors presenting machine control, corporate governance and logistics software. This year, 562 exhibitors displayed 1,100 tons of machines in the four Hungexpo exhibition halls

Professional Events

The exhibition organizers again placed a great deal of emphasis on professional events. From the range of these attractions, the Ministry for Innovation and Technologys Industry 4.0 National Technology Platform Conference, focusing on the subject of artificial intelligence, received particular attention. The presenters included such prestigious experts as Professor John Montgomery of the Indiana University (USA) and Fazel Ansari, the Deputy Head of the Research Group of Smart and Knowledge-Based Maintenance, who talked about the “self-healing” processes of artificial intelligence-based machines.

There was a great deal of interest in the other conferences and round table discussions related to the exhibition, featuring themes such as 3D printing, workplace security, pressure equipment, the railway vehicle industry and anti-pollution solutions.

Two international delegations visited the collection of exhibitions, as organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba and the Czech-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce.

Features, Novelties

As customary, the Grand Prix awards for the most outstanding industrial innovations of the year were again presented at the event’s opening ceremony. The Grand Prix competition featured submissions from companies offering some form of novelty or innovation, including products, services, processes and technologies from their respective branches. The submissions were reviewed by a jury of professionals, who presented a total of 7 Grand Prix awards, 4 Special Awards and 9 Certificates amongst the participants.

The majority of Grand Prix developments were on display at the exhibition. Many visitors stopped to survey the heavy-duty fibre laser machine of EPL-TECH Kft., the five-axis simultaneous grinding centre of Optimum Hungária Kft., the LINDE welding machine, the modular manufacturing device of M+E Szerszámgép Kereskedelmi Kft., the “Smart Production Plant” of TRUMPF Hungary Kft., the metallic powder manufacturing simulation software of Varinex Zrt. or the unique electric screwdriver of the German Wiha company, yet perhaps the most successful was the six-axis KUKA Coaster of KUKA Hungária Kft. The next generation “roller-coaster” presented a new field of application for industrial robots.

Professional Competitions

The exhibition also featured the customary Techtogether-GTE-MACH-TECH event, the competition of higher education engineer students, which featured 15 teams this year, with a total of 60 students from the University of Debrecen, the ELTE Savaria University Centre, the John von Neumann University GAMF Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, the Óbuda University, the University of Pannonia, University of Pécs Faculty of Sciences, the Széchenyi István University and the University of Szeged. This year, the competition was won by the Arrabona Racing Team of Győr.  The BME Motorsport team won the second prize, whilst the third place was shared by the Pannon Rája Solar Boat Team and the Szombathely Gépész #1 team.

Another unique feature of the exhibition was 11th Forklift Cup competition hosted by Linde Anyagmozgatási Kft. Forklift operators from all over the country came to attend the competition, where they put their skill and knowledge to the test. Thanks to the positive feedback of recent years, over 220 applications were received for this year’s event. The winner was Balázs Bozsó (G-sis Integrations), with Imre Juhász (KUKA Hungária Kft.) taking second place and Attila Geleta (Alukönigstahl Kft.) in third place. They will collectively represent Hungary at the international Forklift Championship – hosted in September in Germany.

More information on the exhibition is available through the http://iparnapjai.hu/en website.

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact communication adviser Péter Kövesdi at the sajto1@hungexpo.hu e-mail address.