Wednesday evening - in the run-up to the TechniShow and ESEF - the very first Evening of the Making Industry took place. In a packed hall, several awards were presented, several special innovations came along and the strength of the Dutch manufacturing industry was highlighted.
The so-called Mediaplaza in the Jaarbeurs on Wednesday 7 March was packed from around 16:30 with all kinds of stakeholders from the Dutch and Belgian manufacturing industry. There was obviously a lot of interest in the first edition of this Evening of the Manufacturing Industry, organised by the Jaarbeurs, FPT-VIMAG and Koninklijke Metaalunie. The evening is also a warm-up for the TechniShow and the ESEF, the trade fairs that start on 20 March.
The evening was opened by presenter Vivienne van den Assem, who then asked Marloes van den Berg of the Jaarbeurs, Fried Kaanen of the Metaalunie and André Gaalman of FTP-VIMAG to take the stage. Van de Berg: "The manufacturing industry is definitely a spearhead for us. We think it's important to keep connecting the market, hence this evening in the run-up to ESEF." Kaanen adds: "The manufacturing industry is a very deep chain, which we need to organise together but also get to celebrate together."
"The manufacturing industry is inextricably linked to innovations at home and abroad," says Gaalman. "These innovations should be given a stage, and this is a good iniative for that." "It is also definitely our intention that it will not stop at this one time. We want to start nerating this annually and keep paying attention to it."
14,000th metal member
Fried Kaanen of the KMU also announced at the start that on the same day the Evening of the Make Industry took place, the 14,000th member of the Metaalunie was welcomed. It is AW Machinerie in Emmeloord.
The winners of the evening:
TechniShow Awards
Each of the Technishow Awards were presented by Ineke Dezentjé Hamming, president of technology trade association FME. "It's great to be here," she told attendees. "The manufacturing industry is back from never being gone, I cannot tell you often enough. In the last century, the government still thought we had to make our money from services and banks. And now look at it. So many beautiful manufacturing companies in the Netherlands, they are the backbone of the country. In addition, the industry has many family businesses. Precisely these companies helped the Netherlands through the crisis. Because you did not let the crisis hold you back, but gave priority to continuity."
New to the Dutch market Award
BMO Automation - Xenon PM software
Commercial Innovation Award
Kuunders Technoworks - Kuma
Made in Benelux Award
Style CNC Machines - SMESH 2-step Gear (SS2-sG)
Audience Award
Trumpf - TruMatic 1000 fibre
Metaalunie Award
The theme of this year's Metaalunie Award was Smart Manufacturing, or smart manufacturing.
The winner: Aebi Schmidt
NRK Award
Consumer product
Kras Recycling - Eco-flowerbag
The jury: "The first requirement is to solve the consumer's problem. This has certainly succeeded in this case. It is original, innovative and well developed. A simple but good solution."
Construction & Infrastructure
Lankhorst Engineered Products - KLP® RapidRetain shore protection system
The jury: "What struck us here was its circularity and optimum tolerance in construction. It is easy to apply, lightweight and people-friendly. In a water-rich country like the Netherlands, there is a big market for this product."
Business to Business
Cumapol polyester - rPET carpet tile
The jury: "This product represents a number of unique elements. There is solid recycling technology behind it.
The complexity of change
The evening was further enlivened by a performance by comedian/philosopher Paul Smit. In it - using many recognisable and funny examples - he delved deeper into the workings of the human brain and human behaviour in general. "Our brain does not always find it easy to innovate. We often want to stick to routine and patterns. So the trick is to look at something existing differently. Only then will you start to see the possibilities." A great message for the future!
By: Kelly Bakker
