That’s a Wrap!
April 30, 2016Laurie Mease is an International Trade Specialist with ITA’s Office of Textiles and Apparel.
It’s been a fantastic week here at Hannover Messe. We’ve had visits from President Obama, Chancellor Merkel, the governors of Virginia and Kentucky, our own Secretary Pritzker and Deputy Secretary Andrews, and many other high-level government officials from the U.S. and Europe. We’ve also learned more about Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, industrial automation, and the opportunities TTIP will offer. Most importantly, our U.S. exhibitors have been hard at work showcasing their products and services to the world, making sales and forming new partnerships.
U.S Army Band plays at Hannover Messe partner country reception.
One such partnership was finalized between Wisconsin’s Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. and Germany’s KUKA Robotics, who will work together to provide industry leading robotic arc welding systems and Welding Intelligence™ solutions to enable Industry 4.0. Ken Hyatt, Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade, was on hand to witness the agreement’s signing.
First-time exhibitor Filtroil from Richmond, VA also had a tremendously successful week. On Monday alone, before Filtroil’s scheduled meetings even began, the company had already signed a couple of new distributor agreements. Company president Jeremy Leahman says that Filtroil will do a lot of business with Europe after Hannover Messe and emphasizes what a great, cost-effective platform the show has been for a small company like his to meet representatives from so many countries, all gathered in one place. Leahman plans to continue working with ITA to further grow his company’s export sales.
The United States has also been recognized for its innovation this week. A team of students and professors from Johns Hopkins University were presented with the 2016 KUKA Innovation Award for their work in developing innovative robotics applications and components for flexible manufacturing. Kudos to the CoSTAR Team, who will take home a 20,000 Euro prize.
Luckily for us, there has been some time for fun in between all of this hard work. The highlight of the week was Wednesday evening’s Partner Country USA reception, sponsored by Google. Attendees were able to try out some of Google’s latest technologies while enjoying the evening with great food, great beer, and some new friends. Shout out to the U.S. Army Europe Band & Chorus for providing such an awesome soundtrack for the event!
This weekend, we’ll say “auf widersehen” to Hannover and head home to rest our feet – we’ve walked a lot of miles around these halls! But before we go, congratulations to all of our U.S. exhibitors on a wonderful show. The future is bright and there are many opportunities to build on the partnerships we’ve made here, driving increased commerce between the U.S. and Europe for years to come.
Tradeology, the ITA Blog 