Hannover, Germany. Boasting a clear increase in the rate of international participation and showcasing more than 4,000 innovations from 1,025 exhibiting firms (58 per cent of them from outside Germany), CeMAT drew to a successful close on May 23, 2014. Dr Andreas Gruchow, member of the managing board at Deutsche Messe in charge of CeMAT, said, "Staged under the slogan of 'Smart - Integrated - Efficient', this year's CeMAT demonstrated that high-tech logistics is essential for virtually any business which wants to remain viable and competitive. CeMAT's status as the world's flagship intralogistics fair was impressively underscored by live displays of complete logistics solutions and products in our halls and on the open-air site. Exhibitors came to Hannover with high expectations for generating international leads, and those expectations were met. CeMAT represents a booming industrial sector and this year yielded 1.7 million business leads. That is a significant increase compared to 2011. Our exhibitors are very satisfied and have closed deals worth millions of euros."

Drawing some 53,000 visitors from 65 nations, this year's CeMAT made a perfect three-point landing: 33 per cent of attendees came from abroad, with Europe taking a 70 per cent share, followed by Asia with 13 per cent, the Americas with 9 per cent, Africa with 5 per cent and Australia with 3 per cent. The top 15 visitor nations were the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, France, the United States, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, South Africa, and China. There was a strong increase in attendance from the United Kingdom, Poland, the United States and Russia. Compared with the 2011 event, this year's CeMAT attracted twice as many exhibitors and visitors from the US, one of the world's leading intralogistics nations. "Impressive attendance figures for Russia and Brazil clearly demonstrate that our CeMAT events abroad, in this case CeMAT RUSSIA and CeMAT SOUTH AMERICA, had a positive influence on attendance here at CeMAT in Hannover," added Gruchow.

Eighty per cent of visitors were decision-makers with purchasing authority who traveled to Hannover with concrete projects and investment plans. Visitors from abroad represented approximately twice the investment potential of their German counterparts. Almost one out of every two visitors came from top management echelons. "I estimate that orders worth more than ten billion euros were initiated here - a new CeMAT record," said Gruchow.

Sascha Schmel, President of the Materials Handling and Logistics Systems Sector Association within the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), remarked, "Internationalization is one of the key drivers of the intralogistics industry, particularly here in Germany. Our intralogistics suppliers have a world export share of 19 per cent, almost 5 percent higher than China, and over 8 percent more than the United States. In 2013, Germany posted total export earnings of around 13 billion euros for intralogistics." Schmel sized up the role of CeMAT as follows: "CeMAT is where the German intralogistics sector meets its international clients, and that is the event's unique selling point. The feedback we received during the week has been positive across the board, with big numbers of high-caliber leads and requests for project quotes pointing to a highly successful CeMAT. As the VDMA materials handling and logistics industry association and as a CeMAT partner, we are delighted at the success of our members, which is also a success for the entire industry and of course for the event's organizers at Deutsche Messe."

"The intralogistics sector is a prime driver of innovation, spawning growth in other industries. Without intralogistics, the automotive industry, the wholesale and retail businesses, eCommerce and even mechanical engineering would be unthinkable," declared Dr Christoph Beumer, Managing Director and Chairman of BEUMER Group GmbH & Co KG and President of the CeMAT Executive Committee. He continued: "The CeMAT motto of 'Smart - Integrated - Efficient' was right on the mark, underscoring the need to apply the sector's vast know-how in order to arrive at holistic, streamlined solutions for every link of the intralogistics chain. This motto reflects the fact that Industry 4.0 is already a tangible reality, and that we are in a position to pass its benefits on to our customers. For Germany's intralogistics suppliers, CeMAT represents a major opportunity to get in early and generate valuable leads across other markets. For a great many of these companies, targeting international customers is the only promising way to achieve real growth. For example, countries like Russia, India, China and Brazil offer incredible potential for the future."

The new thematic landscape at CeMAT went over well with attendees. In the Move & Lift, Store & Load, Pick & Pack, Logistics IT and Manage & Service display categories, exhibitors presented their offerings on total display space of 120,000 sq.m. The Industry 4.0 theme featured prominently throughout the show. The focus was on achieving flexible, dynamic material flows and seamless communication across all systems. In the industrial image processing category, exhibitors showcased the state of the art in packaging, production and container management. Another hot topic: demographic changes leading to a rising need for ergonomic warehouse and load picking workstations. Among the new products unveiled at this year's fair were data glasses capable of optimizing warehouse and load picking work processes, and tablet-based approaches to managing entire warehouses and their logistics processes.

The next CeMAT will run for four days and be held in two years, from Tuesday, 31 May, to Friday, 3 June 2016 - once again in Hannover.