Successful in-person Formnext 2021 edition comes to a close

Now in its seventh year, Formnext 2021 once again gave a warm welcome to the international AM community and, following last year’s online-only event, built on the remarkable successes of previous years. Held in Frankfurt am Main from 16-19 November 2021, the exhibition featured a series of world premieres throughout the entire process chain, demonstrating the ever-expanding fields of application for additive manufacturing and its impressive potential for the future. Next year’s edition has been confirmed along a roadmap towards a new Formnext USA show in 2025.

Exhibitors and attendees also offered solutions to urgent and important future issues, such as decentralized production, secure process chains, efficiency, and sustainability. Over the four days of the event, Formnext 2021 once again turned Frankfurt am Main into an international center of innovation for global additive manufacturing and modern industrial production.

Formnext 2021 saw impressive exhibitor numbers, with more than 600 exhibitors from 36 countries. 17,859 specialists and executives from 76 nations had the opportunity to experience Formnext over three levels of the ultra-modern exhibition halls 11 and 12 of the Frankfurt exhibition grounds (11.0., 12.0. and 12.1), covering a total floor space of 30,000 square meters.

Attendance figures surpassed expectations “Formnext has once again shown itself to be the highlight of the year for the AM industry. After the significant challenges we faced last year, this year both the number of exhibitors and visitors in attendance surpassed our expectations,” commented Sascha F. Wenzler, Formnext Vice President at organizer Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH. “It has shown once again just how important Formnext and face-to-face meetings are for this innovative industry, which develops technologies at a rapid pace and is keen to share these with investors, partners, and customers. It was clear that Formnext had been eagerly awaited by the entire industry.”

On the day prior to Formnext more than 120 participants attended the premiere of the first ASTM Standards Forum, supported by the USCS, ISO and Formnext. This successful launch underlines the importance of trans-atlantic efforts to create joint standards. The Standards Forum will be back in 2022. Visitors were also impressed by Formnext’s development and the atmosphere in the exhibition hall.

“You can feel that everybody was waiting to meet again personally.“ states Andrea Buccelli, CEO at AMD Engineering. “It is really impressive to see how many new machines, materials and applications had been launched during the show.“

Also Shamil Hargovan, Managing Director of STS Capital Partners International Inc. drew a positive conclusion. “I think that was a particularly important und special Formnext because it felt like a big reunion. If you have an industry like ours which is growing rapidly, these personal contacts are very important.”

The visitor attendance exceeded the exhibitors’ expectations and the high quality of discussions: „We prepared our solution for two years. Formnext was the place to launch it.“ and we continously had visitors at our booth who came with a real purpose and application in mind. Formnext is the right to place to show and discuss technology and commercialize it.“ Pete Hansford, Business Development Director, Wayland Additive.

Alessio Lorusso, CEO & Founder of Roboze from Formnext’s partner country 2021 Italy, was also pleased with his company’s participation: “We had a great Formnext, more visitors than we expected, and the quality was definitely high, because whoever decided to come was really determined and straightforward. So, very qualified visitors. We are extremely satisfied with this edition”.

“Formnext 2021 was a great success for EOS and we very much welcome the opportunity to extend this important opportunity for industry exchange further through Formnext Digital Days. Formnext Digital Days give both us, the exhibitors, and visitors the opportunity to explore the content presented in greater depth and focus on additional areas.” Markus Glasser, SVP EMEA at EOS.

In addition to business matchmaking and a comprehensive directory of AM solution providers, international attendees can expect a full program including live keynotes, panel discussions, and interviews. Next year’s Formnext will take place in Frankfurt am Main from 15-18 November 2022. There will also be a number of other events in the Formnext family: Rosmould, 07-09 June 2022, Moscow, Russia Formnext + PM South China, 14-16 September 2022, Shenzhen, China Formnext Forum Tokyo, 27-28 September 2022, Tokyo, Japan

A new Formnext USA show is also now scheduled to launch in 2025 with an event planned for Spring. The new Formnext USA show will culminate a roadmap that will see a series of Formnext-driven conferences organized with partner AM Media, starting with AM2022 co-located at IMTS.

Mesago, the Frankfurt Messe company that organizes the Formnext trade shows around the world, looks set to implement a strategy similar to the one used in Europe, leveraging and expanding on previous experiences, and a key partner, to develop a state of the art show centered on the most exciting and vibrant industrial sector that exists: additive manufacturing.