Formnext Chicago has been postponed, and this is a significant development in the industry.
Formnext Chicago was the “beachhead” for Formnext’s invasion of North America in the additive manufacturing trade show circuit. The well-regarded Formnext event in Germany is by far the world’s largest, with nearly 1,000 exhibitors. The company behind the event, Mesago, wanted to establish a similarly sized event in North America, which would provide a way for some North American exhibitors to attend that could not afford the high cost of a European conference.
There’s just one problem: Rapid+TCT. This annual event has existed for many years and has become the go-to exhibition for additive manufacturing in North America. It’s big, but somewhat smaller than the European Formnext event.
Mesago has had interest in taking that crown from Rapid+TCT for some time, and this year they made their move, scheduling Formnext Chicago. However, the Rapid+TCT event in Detroit was then scheduled on the same days.
That placed the two events in direct competition, as exhibitors, attendees, and media would have to decide which event they should attend. They can’t be in two places at once, at least not without considerable extra expense. It is also questionable whether North America requires more than one big event per year.
Some weeks ago, we examined the progress of the two shows by inspecting their exhibitor floor map. At that time, we saw that Rapid+TCT had significantly more exhibitors, and that Formnext Chicago was far behind in attracting exhibitors. This may be due to exhibitors booking space years in advance, not anticipating the existence of Formnext Chicago.
In the weeks that followed, I periodically checked out the floor maps and didn’t see much change.
Then this week, Mesago announced the following:
“Due to an unfavorable scheduling constellation and the challenging situation in the AM industry, Formnext Chicago will not take place in 2025 and will be postponed.
The current environment with economic challenges and geopolitical uncertainties, as well as the transformation phase of the Additive Manufacturing industry, is putting many companies under considerable pressure. In addition, the clash of dates with RAPID + TCT Detroit is making it more difficult for exhibitors and visitors to commit to one of two important events.
Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH tried to resolve the scheduling situation with all parties involved and players right up to the end, but was ultimately unsuccessful.”
For the moment, it appears that Rapid+TCT has won the battle. Should Formnext Chicago appear in the future, they may have some challenges recruiting exhibitors due to the 2025 cancellation: if it happened once, it might happen again.
Nevertheless, Mesago is a very large operation that is quite well-funded. It seems they may have to go back to the drawing board to develop a new strategy for capturing the North American AM conference market.
Via Mesago (PDF)
