In a survey of VDMA member companies, 96 percent stated that both the quantity and the quality of visitors to their booths were good to very good. “Of the 53 exhibiting member companies which responded to the survey, 87 per cent evaluate the prospects for post exhibition business to be good to very good,” a press release from VDMA said. Regina Brückner, chairperson at VDMA Textile Machinery said, “We were very pleased with ITMA 2015 in general, especially with the great number of visitors.” “They were not only looking but were discussing real projects, of which some will be realised in the short term and some in the medium term.” According to VDMA, acquisition of new customers was the major target of their members in Milan and 89 per cent reached this goal. Three out of four German companies or 74 per cent were able to close contracts and negotiations already during the show time in Milan, which VDMA said, shows the high confidence in German technology. Roland Hampel, member of the board of VDMA Textile Machinery said, “The quality and the number of visitors and the new contacts being generated during the show exceeded our expectations by far.” Johann Philipp Dilo also a member of the board also said, “Numerous projects are very promising and we expect further contracts to be concluded in the short term and ITMA has been a great success.” “ITMA proved that sustainable textile production continues to be a major issue for the industry,” VDMA informed in the press release. The survey revealed that energy and material efficiency were the topics to which customers showed the highest interest. Asked about energy efficiency, 72 per cent of the responding VDMA members said that it was a topic of high to very high interest for the customers, with material efficiency ranking number two. “German machine builders again strengthened their positive image of producing sustainable machines which will help us to look forward to some very exciting years,” Regina Brückner observed. “The visitor structure reflects that customers are more globally distributed again and the dependence on individual markets is decreasing,” VDMA stated. “The exhibition by far exceeded our expectations and especially visitors from Bangladesh, India, Mexico, Pakistan and Turkey showed high demand,” said Heinrich Trützschler, member of the board of VDMA Textile Machinery. Arno Gärtner, CEO, Karl Mayer too added, “This year’s ITMA exceeded all expectations and we were very happy to welcome many international customers.”
