Interview with Beata Snopkiewicz, Project Manager FASTENER POLAND®
Please tell us about FASTENER POLAND®
FASTENER POLAND® is a convenient space for decision-makers, engineers and purchasing professionals from key manufacturing sectors to meet with leading fastener manufacturers from around the world. The show provides insight into industry trends and provides key information on the latest developments in the fastener and fastenings sector. For exhibitors, participation in FASTENER POLAND® is an excellent opportunity to reach thousands of specialists in the same place and time and to present innovative solutions, which translates into: strengthening market position, brand recognition and, most importantly, maximising profits while saving time and money.
What can you say about the potential and advantages of the Polish fastener industry?
Poland has huge potential for growth in terms of fasteners. Because of COVID and problems with availability, lots of European production companies have moved into Central European countries, and with them comes demand for fasteners. Poland is the biggest winner from this change. Now what is more important is not just-in-time logistics, but also just-in-case. Poland has a good tradition in production, a skilled workforce and reasonable production costs. Production of fasteners is in 3rd place in the EU and still growing.
How has Fastener Poland coped with the pandemic?
When the last edition, fully illustrating the state of the fastener market in Central and Eastern Europe, was held in 2019, less than 210 companies participated, 72% of which were exhibitors from abroad. The same was the case with trade fair visitors, 43% of whom were industrialists from outside our country. I recall these data on purpose, as the international nature of this event translated into our future plans. In 2021, when the events market was slowly returning to "normal", Europe and the other continents were still struggling with the pandemic, difficulties in crossing borders and enforced quarantine. In this situation, we focused on moving the event to the net and, together with the Enterprise Europe Network and the Krakow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we organised FASTENER POLAND B2B Meetings. Producers, distributors, wholesalers, buyers and suppliers of raw materials met on a specially prepared platform. The event was attended by 156 participants from 30 countries. Of the participants, 53% were manufacturers and distributors, 28% buyers and 19% were wholesalers and other participants related to the fasteners industry.
What kind of innovations are you planning for the 5th edition of FASTENER POLAND®?
The announcement of the upcoming edition will be a series of webinars, during which exhibitors will present the latest products and solutions, which allow them to produce more and faster, in line with the industry 4.0 strategy. The webinars will also be an opportunity to invite customers to the fair in Krakow in October. We also decided to repeat the success of last year's brokerage meetings, this time organising them using a hybrid formula with both the actual space of EXPO Krakow during the fair, and a virtual space after its end. Additionally, at the same time the first Polish trade fair devoted to industrial assembly will commence. We will create the perfect space for decision-makers, engineers and designers related to both automatic assembly processes in production, as well as specialised pneumatic manual assembly tools. The event will also be dedicated to the topics of robotics, gluing, welding, soldering, chemical preparations and dosing machines. We believe that in the case of these two complementary topics, we will achieve a synergy effect.
Which countries participate the most in FASTENER POLAND®?
It is a bit too early to precisely answer this, as it all depends on the situation relating to the fading pandemic. If you can travel without problems, customers will surely add. We will do everything to maintain the current statistics, according to which foreign customers were in the lead. We can reach producers all over the world directly with promotion of the event through our customer base of several thousand people, but we also have trusted agents in other countries. Our collective task is in gaining a select group of exhibitors. You probably know something about this because we have been cooperating with FASTENER EURASIA since the first edition. You have exclusivity in acquiring customers from Turkey, Japan and South Korea. During the last edition, you brought 18 companies to Krakow, and I keep my fingers crossed that there will be more of them this year. In October, during FASTENER POLAND®, we will see top brands from around the world.
What would you recommend to companies that want to invest in Poland?
If you want to invest in Poland the most important is to choose the right place. It has to be close to good skilled people. Logistics in Poland is very good; next-day delivery is standard for the market, so it is not so crucial to be close to clients, but you do have to have good people. Unemployment is at a very low level and the biggest task is finding good employees.
What are your goals and future projects?
A lot of plans and challenges lie ahead of me and my team. I wouldn’t like to mention all of them, so as not to jinx things. The ones coming in autumn. In addition to FASTENER POLAND®, together with the team, we are organising fairs devoted to injection moulding and its peripherals. This is the only trade fair in Poland dedicated to tool shop and injection moulding plants, drawing together bidders and decision-makers responsible for the development of the tool and processing industry. These take place 500 km from our facility, in Bydgoszcz, in the Polish Tool Valley. For such a project, everything must be carefully planned in Krakow in advance and transferred to the outside location in the smallest detail. But as a team, we have extensive experience: besides Krakow, we organize trade fairs in Warsaw, the aforementioned Bydgoszcz or Wrocław. Next spring, we have an ambitious plan to prepare a fair for producers of windows, doors, gates and roller shutters. This will be in the south of Poland, some 200 km from Krakow, where most of the factories supplying such products are located – and Poland is a leading European producer of these. Please keep your fingers crossed for the success of these endeavours.
