BIMU Machines, Robots and Automation Fair was held in Milan, Italy for the 30^th time on October 4-8, 2016. The fair that is organized every other year exhibited machine tools, metal cutting, welding technology, testing equipment, and machine tools accessories in 4 separate halls. The fair displayed metal cutting, metal forming, robot and automation technologies, robot programming, simulation machines, software technologies (3D software, software), CNC processing machines, and transfer machines.

Invited by the Italian Trade Agency (ITU), Mr. Erdoğan Kalay, Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors of BEYSAD; BEYSAD Board member Mr. Hamdi Erem; BEYSAD Board member Mr. Gökhan Turhan; BEYSAD Corporate Communication Manager Ms. Ayşegül Koç; BEYSAD member Mr. Bilgin Semiz and BEYSAD member Ms. Zeynep Kokumer participated in the event representing BEYSAD. From Turkey, Mr. Basri Akkoyun from BEYSAD member Makasan, Mr. Adem Selvi from Coşkunöz and Mr. Yalçın Gür from Makine Magazine also took part in the organization. Mr. Erol Kurt from the Italy Trade Center accompanied and hosted us throughout the organization. We would like to thank them once again.

In the fair, 1072 companies exhibited their products in 4 halls that spanned 90.000 m2 in total. These companies were visited by approximately 1020 companies from 33 countries.

The fair was organized under the leadership of UCIMU (the Italian machine tool, robots, automation systems and ancillary products [NC, tools, components, accessories] manufacturers' association) and was very extensive and orderly.

Mr. Erdoğan Kalay, Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors of BEYSAD, had the chance to participate in the fair in previous years and he was representing BEYSAD in this year’s fruitful event. Mr. Kalay said the following on the fair: BIMU is the most important fair in Italy which is one of the major hubs in Europe in terms of manufacturing technologies. Moreover, as we all know, Italy has been one of the leading centers in the world with regards to the White Goods Industry. These two critical points come together in this fair. We visited the fair to follow the new developments and we can safely say that it went very beneficial given our purpose.”

The second day of the event which BEYSAD participated was opened with a “Welcome” meeting where foreign delegates invited via the Trade Agencies of several countries around the world were received. During the opening meeting that had a number of guests from Turkey, Poland, Russia, Mexico, Iran, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, India, etc., informative presentations on the program and the purpose were given by the respective authorities.

Information on participants was shared with the participants to the fair before the event and schedules of bilateral discussion with companies were prepared. The visit made the fair all the more meaningful in this order. In addition to the discussion lists, the entire fair could be easily visited. In the evening of the same day, a reception was held for all the participants in order to make the day meetings even more fruitful.

As the visits continued on the next day, the council of groups from Turkey, Poland, and Italy had a mid-day cooperation meeting. Country groups met the authorities from UCIMU, the Italian, Turkish, and Polish Trade Agencies. The fair was evaluated and opinions were gathered from the group leaders in order to have a better event with bigger halls next year.

It was evaluated that in general, the fair was positive and productive. It proved to be a great meeting point. It gave the opportunity to follow the Italian machines industry, already known to be favorable, more closely and the event was perfect in a nutshell.

At the end of the day, a visit was held to an Art Gallery.

We would like to thank everyone who put this event together and all the members who participated.