The Blechexpo/Schweisstec 2025 family celebration has begun!

On Tuesday, October 21, 2025, a total of 1,190 exhibitors gathered in nine halls at the Stuttgart Exhibition Center for the Blechexpo/Schweisstec industry event. With 43 percent of exhibitors coming from abroad, the proven trade fair duo for sheet metal working and joining technology has once again demonstrated its high international significance.

The 17th Blechexpo, the international trade fair for sheet metal working, has successfully started together with the 10th Schweisstec, the international trade fair for joining technology. In nine halls, international experts are showcasing the latest developments in sheet metal working and joining technology. The 1,190 exhibitors come from a total of 41 countries – 747 exhibitors come from the DACH region, 145 from Italy, 28 from Spain, 20 from France, 53 from Turkey, 87 from China and 37 exhibitors from the Benelux countries. The trade fair organizer thus reports a foreign share of 43 percent. “We warmly welcome all exhibitors – to the place of the best!” said Georg Knauer, project manager at the trade fair company P. E. Schall, at the opening. “Here at Blechexpo, all players combine the presentation of the latest technologies with knowledge transfer and business networking. That’s why this trade fair is ‘the place to be’ when it comes to sheet metal, tube, and profile processing, cutting and joining technologies, forming technology, and welding technology.”

This year, the trade fair organizer has once again done everything in its power to create an optimal communication platform for all participants, emphasized Managing Director Bettina Schall. “This trade fair will provide all participating companies with valuable guidance on what the path to an economically successful future might look like.” The trade fair director referred to the current difficult conditions: “The economy and society must withstand extraordinary turbulence. Sustainable and reliable business practices have never been so difficult – and are therefore more important than ever,” said Bettina Schall. She assured that Blechexpo/Schweisstec 2025 will make a significant contribution to ensuring that all stakeholders can discuss their pressing questions and answers in person and on an equal footing.

The invited speakers at the opening press conference generated both enthusiasm for the trade fair theme and excitement. “Blechexpo/Schweisstec is like a family celebration and a special event for us,” said Wolfgang Wiedenmann, Deputy Sales Manager at Andritz Kaiser. He spoke about “AI in press construction” and emphasized that artificial intelligence is by no means a substitute for human intelligence, but rather supports people in tedious work. However, according to Wiedenmann, excellent results can only be expected if optimally prepared data is entered into the system. He illustrated that thanks to AI, knowledge is brought together “from different corners” and shadow data is eliminated. “The idea is old, but now in the present, its feasibility is only possible thanks to modern computing capacities,” said Wiedenmann. Andritz uses AI, for example, to preconfigure press components and then finalize the machine according to requirements.

AI has also become strategically important for Trumpf, according to Marcella Montelatici, Managing Director of Sales and Services at Trumpf. “We see humans and AI as a team,” she said, emphasizing that the responsible handling of data is a top priority at Trumpf. She also highlighted the enormous efficiency potential resulting from automation in sheet metal bending and invited all trade fair visitors to the Trumpf booth to try their hand at automated sheet metal bending and interact with the machine.

The presentation by Dr. Jürgen Johann Schramm, Head of Sales Engineering Automotive at Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, focused on “Reducing complexity in lightweight automotive construction through component integration with steel.” “Germany can still do it!” stated the speaker, optimistically reporting on considerable investments in Germany. Schramm also provided information about the company’s activities with regard to even greater sustainability, such as hydrogen-compatible direct reduction and the increased use of recycled raw materials. The company is also active in the field of AI, especially in the area of high-quality data processing.

An Irish trade delegation led by Irish Minister Niamh Smyth is currently visiting southern Germany “to strengthen economic relations between Ireland and Germany and open up new opportunities for Irish companies in the German market,” according to reports. Blechexpo/Schweisstec was therefore the perfect opportunity to visit the Irish company Combilift and congratulate it on its 100,000th forklift truck. The Combi-CBE multi-path forklift truck with a load capacity of 3,000 kilograms was recently on display at exhibitions in Birmingham, Italy, and most recently in Denmark, and will now be on display in Hall 5 of the Stuttgart Exhibition Center until Friday. There, Combilift is offering the chance to win the exclusive anniversary model via a raffle.

There are three days left of the trade fair – Blechexpo/Schweisstec 2025 ends on Friday. There will be another highlight on the last day of the trade fair – on October 24, 2025, “Career Friday” will take place under the motto “Shape your dreams, metal your future,” where schoolchildren, students, teachers, university representatives, and young professionals can get an idea of the technologies and future opportunities in the sheet metal processing industry and redesign their personal career paths.

To the websites:
www.blechexpo-messe.de
www.schweisstec-messe.de

Technical information on the trade fair and the industry:
www.blechexpo-messe/en/news-stories
www.schweisstec-messe.de/en/news-stories

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Schall has developed successful business platforms with internationally recognised trade fairs for quality assurance (Control), optical technologies, components and systems (Optatec), stamping technology (Stanztec), automation in production and assembly (Motek), bonding technology (Bondexpo), plastics processing (Fakuma), sheet metal working (Blechexpo) and joining technology (Schweisstec). This has given rise to completely new markets in various sectors, whose protagonists are characterised by a high level of innovative strength, comprehensive system competence and practical application solutions.