5
PRO INSTALLER MAY 2014
PRO NEWS
@proinstaller1
Fensterbau
Frontale 2014 FIT on steroids!
Clearview directors Steve Sidebottom and Robert
Exley were among the many UK visitors to this year’s
Fensterbau Frontale in Nuremberg. Here, Steve outlines
his impressions of this major, international event where
the array of products exhibited is matched only by the
incredible and lavish hospitality throughout the show.
This was my second
visit to Nuremberg, but
this year, both myself
and my business partner, Rob Exley, decided
to go along – partly to
check out product innovations for the Clearview Group, but partly
also because we are
planning our first-ever
Exhibition at the NEC in
September 2016, and
as this will be our first
venture into the Exhibition arena, we wanted
to absorb some of the
ideas behind these
well-established and
successful events.
Admittedly, our first Exhibition – Lockex 2016 based
around our successful publication, The Locksmith Journal, will not be on the grand
scale of Fensterbau, but we
found it very useful.
Fensterbau Frontale announced increased overall
numbers [108,000] and
increased visitors from the
UK, clearly showing that
even when the major UK
industry event, The FIT
Show at Telford in June, and
Fensterbau Frontale, were
scheduled for the same year
(for this time only) they are
still very successful.
The major exhibitors at
Nuremberg seemed to stick
to the ‘tried and tested’ approach of wall to wall hospitality, with the Bitburger
freely flowing. There were,
however, many examples of
innovative products – if you
looked hard enough.
So back to the hospitality,
after-show parties were in
full swing: we were only
there for two days, but we
managed to fit in the VEKA,
REHAU, and UK network-
ing events hosted by Vision
publications, GGF and The
Building Centre. The consensus of opinion seemed
to be that it was definitely
worthwhile making the
effort to attend, even in the
face of difficult travel and
access to Nuremburg from
the UK - and sky-high hotel
prices.
Andrew Scott of Purplex Marketing, a regular
Clearview contributor
and a first time visitor to
Nuremberg commented,
“The ROTO traditional
German evening, which
they run for three nights
for 450 invited guests
each night in a nearby
restaurant marquee was a
great night, thanks must
go to our generous German hosts.
“The products on show
were both interesting and
different with the emphasis
clearly on the EU market,
and not particularly the
UK. But then that’s what
the FIT Show is for - and
we are certainly looking
forward to being at Telford
in June.”
“I was particularly interested in the NEW Rehau
GENEO Inovent, marketed as the first ‘breathable
window’ - a self-ventilating and intelligent heat
recovery window designed
for complete comfort. Most
impressive.”