Tecnargilla 2018: the international buyers speak

Highly motivated not only to view the most recent innovations in the market, but also to stipulate commercial contracts and establish long-lasting partnerships with the exhibitors themselves, the international buyers invited to Rimini by Tecnargilla with the support of ICE-Agenzia once more played a decisive role in the event.

Coming from 27 countries, the top managers of leading tile, sanitary ware, tableware and brick manufacturing companies held over 1000 B2B meetings with exhibitors, which in many cases resulted in the stipulation of one or more contracts for supply. The foreign buyers were selected following a detailed analysis of the markets with the highest potential for the industries represented at the fair, with a focus on new and growing manufacturers with short term investment plans.

The high level of the business meeting platform was acknowledged by all foreign trade visitors, who confirmed the excellence of the exhibition's format and stated their intention to return to Rimini in 2020.

The wide range of technologies for all target sectors, displayed in a single showcase, combined with the high level of innovation on show led to general confirmation of Tecnargilla's world leadership in the ceramic and brick trade fair industry.

“Tecnargilla is the number one fair in the world and an essential appointment for any ceramic company," said Ahmadreza Mohagheghian, representing Marjan Tile, the Iranian tile company: "this is where you can find real innovation and creativity with an impact on the materials of the future. We are highly satisfied with our experience: we held meetings with more than twenty exhibitors who gave us valuable information on how to resolve our technical and production problems.”

“When we received the invitation from ICE-Agenzia, we talked with some of our Russian partners, who all urged us to attend Tecnargilla," adds Azizov Sur’at, Managing Director of brick manufacturer Ohangaron Keramika - Uzbekistan: " the fair opened up a new world to us, in terms of sustainability and automated plant. We have never seen before such a rich range of offerings with solutions specifically designed to improve our processes, and we are negotiating agreements with a number of exhibiting companies at this time.”

Javier Cuéllar Lozano, technical director of Mexican ceramic group Lamosa: “Tecnargilla brings together the best vendors of ceramic technology with a vast range of cutting edge solutions for the entire production process. We saw extremely interesting solutions for grinding, robotics, presses, glazing, digital decoration and the end of line. We will certainly return in 2020”.

Juan David Acebedo, Organización Corona, the number one Colombian ceramic and heavy clay group, is particularly enthusiastic about the fair's offering of innovative solutions: “Tecnargilla is our reference for implementing our planned investments in new technology. We are negotiating a number of contracts for the short and medium term, and have already received offers and estimates. We are interested in kilns, presses and energy saving solutions. This year's fair was even better than its predecessors in terms of innovation and top flight technologies.”

“The exhibition was outstanding, full of interest and high performance solutions", says Safeer Hussain, general manager supply chain for Master Tile, one of Pakistan's largest ceramic manufacturers in Pakistan. "We are planning major investments to increase our production capacity, and we met potential vendors here with whom we would like to establish long-term partnerships.”

"This is without doubt the most important trade fair for our industry in the world," says Hakan Morkoyun, purchasing manager for Akgun Seramik Sanay Ve Ticaret, the Turkish manufacturer of ceramic tiles, bricks, roof tiles and sanitary ware: "we came here looking for new technologies for energy saving, and found exactly the right solutions for our needs.”.

Claudio Gómez, owner of Ceramica Santiago, the sole Chilean manufacturer of heavy clay bricks still working in his country, is an old hand at the fair: “I never miss a Tecnargilla, this is where I meet technology vendors who by now are old friends as well as professional partners. I appreciate the ever more advanced show of technologies, but I especially value the very high quality aftersales service, which is essential to growing long-lasting partnerships.”