Smaller CMM Reflects Industry

Published: April 30, 2005, By Yolanda Simonsis Associate Publisher/Editor

Editorial

The long-awaited CMM Show took place April 18–21 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. One can’t help noticing the show, which is staged every other year, is morphing into a different animal—a smaller one for the most part.

Certain things ought to be taken into consideration as one analyzes all the show venues offered to the converting industry. First, there are a lot of them. The proliferation of these shows has caused confusion on the part of suppliers/exhibitors. Oddly enough, there seems a consensus on suppliers believing there are "too many shows." But then everything goes up for grabs when they decide at which show(s) they should exhibit.

My belief has always been the market—meaning converters—will decide which shows will endure. But now I question whether this is possible with so many choices every year. What the industry may end up with is a bunch of smaller shows with fewer people in attendance at each.

Analogous to the shrinking show size is the consolidation of both suppliers and converting companies. Take, for example, Bobst Group. The corporation is comprised of so many once-independent companies that I’ve lost count. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing. But the facts are, at one time not so long ago, these individual companies each exhibited at CMM. Each had its own booth, taking up more floor space than they presently do. Now, one booth is home to a variety of equipment. (Some companies fitting this description had representation at the show in one booth but brought little or no equipment.) Certainly no one can blame Bobst for handling its exhibit space in this manner, but it’s one explanation for what’s happening to the industry in general. It’s shrinking, and maybe we just have to "get over it" and resign ourselves to this reality.

By the same token, one exhibitor complained he used to see 50 people from Bemis at CMM. This year he saw only four. Fortunately for this supplier, it took only two of those four people at this year’s CMM to make the decision to purchase a large piece of machinery. In hindsight, while the quantity of people at the show certainly has diminished over the years, converters still are walking the show floor to purchase new technology to remain competitive in an increasingly global market.

Other revelations at the show included a fairly pleased outlook on moving in 2007 to Rosemont, IL, just outside Chicago’s O’Hare Airport boundaries. Craig Sheppard, executive director of the Assn. of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators, said "Exhibitors are very positive over the switch because they’re simply tired of the McCormick Place attitude. Essentially they’re saying, ‘Bring it on!’"

Sheppard’s supplier members who participated in the AIMCAL pavilion were pleased overall with CMM. He felt attendees appreciated specific technologies together in one place. This helps the attendee compare information more easily. While Sheppard admits the organizing show company may not benefit monetarily as much from smaller 10x10-ft booths, the benefits to attendees and exhibitors alike may have established a popular trend for the future.

From convertingblog.com, the first in the converting industry, Stephanie Tuggle, director of marketing communications for Maxcess Intl., commented, "From an exhibitor’s perspective, Rosemont is much easier to deal with when setting up a show. The labor is customer-focused, the accommodations less expensive, and since our hotel and restaurant needs are within walking distance, we save a great deal on cab expenses." While she’s a little nervous about the multiple halls of the Stephens Convention Ctr., I think the individual halls could lend themselves to Craig Sheppard’s pavilion approach or the ability to capture individual technologies or processes grouped together in one place.

Fortunately, they don’t let editors run trade shows. We’ll see how everything pans out in the end. One thing CMM must focus on is more working equipment. My secret sources told me a focus group conducted at CMM revealed it was the one thing converters cumulatively agreed upon. As Séamus Lafferty, president of Stanford Products, said, "Hey, they can watch a video from home!"

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