The ninth edition of Techtextil North America, now incorporating ATME-I, took place April 24-26, 2012 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. The show was co-located with Texprocess Americas which resulted in a dynamic synergy creating the largest and best technical textiles, nonwovens, textile machinery, sewn products and equipment trade show in the Americas, according to organizers.

The 2012 Techtextil North America event hosted 314 exhibitors from 22 countries including international pavilions from Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Italy and Portugal with a total co-location attendance of 6,800 from 62 countries and 475 exhibitors from 26 countries.

Michael Jaenecke, director brand management, Technical Textiles/Techtextil comments, “It was already the ninth Techtextil North America and yet I can not remember such a busy show—from the very first minute of the first day. The feedback from the busy floor was very positive regarding quality and quantity of the business talks. The reasons are various, amongst others the recovery of the U.S. economy, the combination with the premiere of Texprocess Americas and the support of the associations ATMA and SPESA. Due to their success at this show, some companies and country pavilions gave options for Techtextil North America 2013 in Anaheim, California.”

John Gallagher, president of Messe Frankfurt USA, on the conclusion of the 2012 edition comments,  “I am extremely pleased with the results of Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas. Our attendees experienced three days of informative symposiums and a busy exhibit floor with business being conducted. The positive comments I heard bode well for the industry. We look forward to these events continuing to be the meeting place for these industries.”

ATME-I Incorporation

2012 saw the first edition of Techtextil North America with the incorporation of American Textile Machinery Exhibition–International (ATME-I). The American Textile Machinery Association (ATMA) and Messe Frankfurt USA have agreed on the inclusion of ATME-I with Techtextil North America every even year starting in 2012. Clay Tyeryar, president and assistant treasurer for ATMA, comments, “I was very pleased with the incorporation of ATME-I into Techtextil North America. The quality and quantity of attendees was the best we have seen in over a decade in North America. We are looking forward to the continuing cooperation in 2014.”

Symposium 2012

Held concurrently with the exhibition and developed by industry experts, the symposium contained 12 sessions with more than 48 presentations in a variety of formats that covered a wide range of topics, from high performance nonwovens, sustainable materials, military developments and research to medical textiles.

Those who attended the symposium felt the sessions were informational and the speakers extremely knowledgable. One in particular, Connie Chiueh, material innovation team leader—footwear, with Reebok International Ltd, USA, states, “The symposium gives a nice cross section of new material developments occurring in many different industries, which is beneficial for any material specialist looking for new innovations.”

Other attendees, such as Jim Kaufman with TEAM, felt that “the speakers were engaging and the content was in line with the direction of our business today. There were good questions from the audience and afterwards, there were still attendees talking with the speakers. It was nice to attend sessions that were directly relevant to our business interests and future.”

What Attendees Had to Say…

Jeremy Litchfield, president and CEO, Atayne USA: “Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas is a must go to show for anyone whose business is connected to the textile industry. Having the opportunity to see the latest in materials and manufacturing equipment all under one roof is a great time and travel expense savings. The quality of companies exhibiting was outstanding. In just a day and a half, I made many new connections that will help to drive our business forward and help us compete in the global marketplace as a U.S.-based manufacturer.”

Henry Ardiff, principal scientist, specialty materials, advance fibers & composites,  Honeywell International: “Attending Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas is a great way for an industry newcomer to start building their base. An informative symposium, live demonstrations with real materials on real equipment, and high energy presenters result in a rich experience.”

Blaine Kessler, global nonwovens research & engineering development, lab mechanical engineering support, USA, Kimberly-Clark: “This was my first visit to Techtextil North America and I was impressed with how many different companies were represented. Even though my expertise is in the nonwovens arena, we were able to develop a list of four or five potential vendors to follow-up with to further discuss our equipment needs on an upcoming project. With my technical background, I truly enjoyed chatting with the various manufacturers. My colleague and I came away with some cool ideas that will enable us to be a bit more creative on future projects.”

What Exhibitors Had to Say…

Li Lingshen, chairman, China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association Ph.D., Beijing, China: “Techtextil North America as part of the Messe Frankfurt Techtextil Brand is the perfect platform for Chinese companies in the technical textile field to engage in foreign markets. Not only are they doing business at events like these, but they are also able to learn a lot.”

Bill Christmann, vice president of sales, USA, Gehring Textiles: “Overall, I would say one of the best shows in the past few years—based on quality of attendees; feasibility and viability of their needs and expectation of real and probable new business opportunities germinated over these three days … Honestly, I have never been a part of a show with so few  ‘tire kickers.’”

Kim Thompson, CEO, Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc.: “Techtextil North America was an ideal venue for us to debut our products and technology to the technical textile industry. We found it to be unmatched in terms of providing us with networking probabilities and connections to potential customers and corporate partners.”

Jeff Dixon, senior director, international sales, Navis TubeTex: “We feel the Techtextil North America was beneficial to assisting Navis TubeTex to continue expanding into the technical and industrial markets.”

Mike Allen, senior director of marketing, USA for TenCate Protective Fabrics: “Techtextil North America has stepped it up a notch and has proven to be one of the best shows we have exhibited at in years. The exhibit hall stayed crowded with quality buyers and produced the key people we have been reaching out to. The co-location between Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas was brilliant. We look forward to participating in Anaheim in 2013 and going back to Atlanta in 2014.”

François Bourgault, marketing manager, Texel, a division of ADS Inc.: “The Techtextil North America show has always been the most productive trade show for us. The 2012 edition was no exception and once again delivered a very good return on investment for Texel. The MesseFrankfurt team and their subcontractors were also available and easy to work with, before, during and after the show.”