Back from Fastener Tech Show
Man, there is a lot to talk about. This may get a little long so I will jump right in.
The best thing about the Fastener Tech Show?? "A Taste of Rosemont" that was held the night before the show. I have rarely been in a room with so many great restaurants serving samples of such outstanding food. I stuffed myself like a pig. If you missed it....your bad. That being said, the show was good too.
But seriously, the show was very good. Anyone who has read this blog before knows I am a huge fan of the trade shows. At every show I can find people to complain about lack of attendance or the proliferation of Asian vendors or something. It never fails. But I thought this was a very good regional show. And, at this point, it is basically a regional show. The Las Vegas Fastener Show seems to be the only one that can truthfully call itself a National Fastener Show. That being said, I thought the event was well attended and there were visitors there from many different states. I only attended the first day but I thought the traffic was constant and people had plenty of time to spend quality time with the show visitors. There were two other trade shows in the Rosemont Convention Center and I saw name badges from people that came to the fastener show from the other shows. Some cross breeding! I did not attend any of the educational or training seminars but I invite Nancy Rich of the MWFA to check in and tell us how those went.
Consistant with what I have been writing, most people say their business is down from 25% to 50% this year. Government (including military), power generation and medical devices seem to be the areas where there is still some decent business. I had many conversations with people who seem to think that distributor stock levels are really, really low and we all kind of wonder what will happen if several market sectors all pick up at the same time. We could be looking at some long lead times for certain products -- but again, we would need to see markets pick up. And, by all accounts, they have NOT done that in April and May. Lots of bad Aprils and Mays for a lot of people. There seems to have been increased activity in the last few weeks and lets all hope that continues.
Next - I just was copied on a news article that said that China Steel plans to hike up steel prices for the third quarter of 2009 by an average of 7%. This would come after prices had been cut by 22% in the first quarter of 2009. I do not know how or why they will be raising their prices, but I know it will be very interesting if they do. It would suggest to me that they expect increased demand in the coming months after many months of decreased demand. I'm no economist but I am sure this will cause many to wonder about possible upcoming inflation. Lots to sort out there and lots to keep track of during the upcoming months.
Finally, while in Chicago for the show I had an opportunity to catch up with an old friend who now lives in the area. My friend Helen is a professional journalist and is currently the Managing Editor of a group of local publications including the Wednesday Journal, Chicago Journal, Forest Park Review, Riverside-Brookfield Landmark, Austin Weekly News and Skyline. Keeps her very busy. Helen was the editor of our high school newspaper back...like 5 years ago..or 10 years ago...or 30...never mind. She was the editor back a time. So, I was very happy to share with her Fastener Talk. I wanted to show her I had not totally squandered all my journalistic studies from my high school days. She got online, looked it over and concluded it was a ragtag contribution to an un-interesting industry. No she didn't really. I think it amused her that after all these years we were still both using some skill set we developed in our youth. And, although I did not manage to catch a Cubs or Sox game when I was in town for the Fastener Tech Show, I guess catching up with an old friend rates up there pretty high as a good thing to come out of the show.
As I always say....the trade shows are pretty much what you make of them.
The best thing about the Fastener Tech Show?? "A Taste of Rosemont" that was held the night before the show. I have rarely been in a room with so many great restaurants serving samples of such outstanding food. I stuffed myself like a pig. If you missed it....your bad. That being said, the show was good too.
But seriously, the show was very good. Anyone who has read this blog before knows I am a huge fan of the trade shows. At every show I can find people to complain about lack of attendance or the proliferation of Asian vendors or something. It never fails. But I thought this was a very good regional show. And, at this point, it is basically a regional show. The Las Vegas Fastener Show seems to be the only one that can truthfully call itself a National Fastener Show. That being said, I thought the event was well attended and there were visitors there from many different states. I only attended the first day but I thought the traffic was constant and people had plenty of time to spend quality time with the show visitors. There were two other trade shows in the Rosemont Convention Center and I saw name badges from people that came to the fastener show from the other shows. Some cross breeding! I did not attend any of the educational or training seminars but I invite Nancy Rich of the MWFA to check in and tell us how those went.
Consistant with what I have been writing, most people say their business is down from 25% to 50% this year. Government (including military), power generation and medical devices seem to be the areas where there is still some decent business. I had many conversations with people who seem to think that distributor stock levels are really, really low and we all kind of wonder what will happen if several market sectors all pick up at the same time. We could be looking at some long lead times for certain products -- but again, we would need to see markets pick up. And, by all accounts, they have NOT done that in April and May. Lots of bad Aprils and Mays for a lot of people. There seems to have been increased activity in the last few weeks and lets all hope that continues.
Next - I just was copied on a news article that said that China Steel plans to hike up steel prices for the third quarter of 2009 by an average of 7%. This would come after prices had been cut by 22% in the first quarter of 2009. I do not know how or why they will be raising their prices, but I know it will be very interesting if they do. It would suggest to me that they expect increased demand in the coming months after many months of decreased demand. I'm no economist but I am sure this will cause many to wonder about possible upcoming inflation. Lots to sort out there and lots to keep track of during the upcoming months.
Finally, while in Chicago for the show I had an opportunity to catch up with an old friend who now lives in the area. My friend Helen is a professional journalist and is currently the Managing Editor of a group of local publications including the Wednesday Journal, Chicago Journal, Forest Park Review, Riverside-Brookfield Landmark, Austin Weekly News and Skyline. Keeps her very busy. Helen was the editor of our high school newspaper back...like 5 years ago..or 10 years ago...or 30...never mind. She was the editor back a time. So, I was very happy to share with her Fastener Talk. I wanted to show her I had not totally squandered all my journalistic studies from my high school days. She got online, looked it over and concluded it was a ragtag contribution to an un-interesting industry. No she didn't really. I think it amused her that after all these years we were still both using some skill set we developed in our youth. And, although I did not manage to catch a Cubs or Sox game when I was in town for the Fastener Tech Show, I guess catching up with an old friend rates up there pretty high as a good thing to come out of the show.
As I always say....the trade shows are pretty much what you make of them.
I didn't attend the Chicago Show, but our company had a booth there and we had several people working the booth each day. The report that we received back was that the show had decent traffic. The first day was better than the second day. We saw lots of customers and perspective customers.
Since our company is located in the Chicago area, this is a great show for us. No transportation expense, no hotel, no freight to send our booth to the convention center- just a really good trade show value.
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Richard Manno & Co. had a booth at the show and we were a little fearful going in as to whether we would see ANY traffic. As has been said, the attendance was decent, helped enormously by the robotics and motion sensors shows next door. It was a nice parlay for us, since the fastener industry, outside of the Chicagoland area, chose to sit this one out.
That was your bad, fellow manufacturers. Maybe you're waiting for some Chinese investor to come along and make an offer on your business. Don't worry, they'll be coming along shortly. Only, don't expect to be swept off your feet. It's a buyer's market here, just like everywhere else, and those buyers know exactly what your business is worth right now. You're all better off playing it straight and hammering away for whatever business is out there. Not many people are going to throw purchase orders down into your hidey-holes.
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I'm glad you enjoyed Fastener Tech '09. You asked about seminars. While we did have to cancel some seminars, due to limited sign ups, others went on. The Manufacturing Seminar and the Metal Finishing seminar were both successfully held. Show attendance was very steady both days which pleasantly surprised many. In the current economical turmoil, I believe people came in not knowing what to expect. The planners of this event did all they could to make worthwhile for both exhibitors and attendees. Due to this the feedback from this event has been very positive. We're already off and running with plans for Fastener Tech '11 with more improvements! More to come on that.
Another quick note, the Mid-West Fastener Association will be holding their 57th Annual Golf Outing on June 23rd at Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, IL. We have already exceeded our expectations for golf but are still accepting golf and dinner reservations.
Thank you to all who participated in Fastener Tech '09 creating another successful event!!
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I know you change your format from year to year. Any thoughts on next year's show?
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