16/10/2019
10th International congress of spring industry in Hamburg
From September 26th to 28th 2019, the international spring industry as well as representatives of the supplier industry met at a conference in Hamburg. This was arranged by the European Spring Federation (ESF) and organised by the association of the German spring industry (VDFI).
© ESF/VDFI
© ESF/VDFI
The 160 participants came from 24 countries from around the globe. 15 exhibitors used the opportunity to enter into a discussion with participants. Tomi Parmasuo, President of the ESF, moderated a tight program of more than 20 talks. As the key speaker, Tomas Hedenborg, President of Orgalim, spoke about EU industry politics 2030. Challenges are global geopolitical and economic developments, such as, for example, global power shifts – China will be the largest economic power in the world by 2050 – and poor trade and low investments because of protectionism. Further challenges are economic and technological development – when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), the EU is strongly behind – and social and societal developments such as, for example, an aging society – in the year 2030 Europe will be the oldest region of the world – and the lack of qualified employees. Last but not least, naturally also climate and environmental threats belong among the greatest challenges. Goals would be foreseeable here, as well as stable legal framework conditions, in order to lead the European industry to a climate-neutral economy by 2050.
Following this were short talks from the countries of China, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, from the northern European countries of Denmark, Finland and Sweden, from Poland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK and the USA on their respective economic situation in the spring industry.
In the afternoon Shigeo Aiba, President of Togo Seisakusyo Corp., reported on the international standardisation activities of the ISO/TC 227 “Springs”. Ulf Kletzin, Technical University Ilmenau, presented for the VDFI research projects that have been implemented on the topic of creep and relaxation behaviour of spring steel wires in coil springs. Uwe-Peter Weigmann, Wafios AG, reported on the industry 4.0 uses in the wire and spring industry. Pablo Capellán presented the metal additive manufacture (3D printing) of optimus3D. Alexander Busse, research association on automotive engineering, presented on the topics “E-mobility – Quo vadis? Perspectives of future drive systems”. The talks are ready to download on the homepage of the ESF.
The joint dinner in the building of the town hall, a part of the Hanseatic tradition in the inner city of Hamburg, presented the opportunity to exchange ideas. The conference ended successfully and with a good mood on Saturday after a harbour tour and lunch in the Elbe Philharmonic Hall.
The next international conference of the spring industry will take place from October 7th to 9th in 2021 in Barcelona/Spain.
European Spring Federation (ESF)
Goldene Pforte 1, 58093 Hagen
Tel.: +49 2331 958851
Verband der Deutschen Federnindustrie e.V.
Goldene Pforte 1, 58093 Hagen
Tel.: +49 2331 9588 52
