Last June, the Achema was held in Frankfurt, the world platform for the process industry. This trade fair, held every three years, is one of the largest in Europe with several halls full of exhibitors from the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. The 2022 edition (postponed for a year due to Covid) attracted more than 70,000 visitors from 127 different countries. This year, Hitma specialists Katrien, Janna, Kevin, Rick and Patrick were present. I interviewed my colleagues and summarized their experiences at the trade fair.
Meeting suppliers
My colleagues that visited the Achema for the first time were blown away by the size of the trade fair. The number of exhibitors and visitors is incomparable to that of much smaller (bio)pharma trade fairs in the Netherlands. The size is also the advantage of the trade faire: in a few days you can meet many Hitma suppliers that you wouldn’t normally see. Especially the suppliers outside of Europe you usually don’t see in person, but they are often present at the Achema. For Hitma it’s important to maintain relations with suppliers. An event like the Achema is the ideal place to have discussions about the collaboration and (new) products, but also for a chat. Ultimately, people do business with people, so personal contact can really make the difference.
Because the trade fair was so big, our colleagues came up with a good strategy: use the exibit app to locate the most important suppliers and go to their stands without being distracted too much by other stands. If they encountered an interesting stand along the way, they wrote them down to visit at a later time. A few of the important Hitma suppliers present during the Achema were CPC, AdvantaPure and Saint-Gobain. PendoTECH even organized a distributor meeting during the fair where the focus was on explanation of their new vision and focus and the product range. Additionally, the distributors prepared a meal during a cooking workshop led by a chef, which allowed everyone to get to know each other better informally.
New developments and products
Visitors were also able to get to know important products better during the trade fair. Many suppliers presented their entire product range, which allowed my colleagues to get up-to-date with all existing single-use products and their possibilities. Seeing, feeling and trying out products gives a better picture than seeing a products on a brochure or website. But the Achema is above all a place to introduce new products. For example, AdvantaPure demonstrated their new, innovative AdvantaPass system. This is a kind of water lock that safely and sterilely pumps fluids from one cleanroom to another through hoses. My colleagues were impressed with how easily this system can be implemented when they tried out the AdvantaPass themselves. Another innovation that caught their attention is CPC’s MicroCNX micro connector. A very small (1/16” hose barb) connector that can be used for sterile connections in flow applications. Its counterpart was also exhibited at the Achema: the new AseptiQuik W with 1.5” hose barb connection for connections between large hoses. It’s great to see that our suppliers have or develop solutions for all applications, large or small!
In addition to these product innovations, my colleagues also noticed some trends during the Achema. For example, there is an increasing focus on sustainability and our suppliers are spending more time and resources on becoming more sustainable. Some suppliers are already making significant progress with recycling programs for leftover materials and limiting their water use and carbon footprint. In addition, the role of AI seems to be increasing. For example, machine learning is already being used to learn from collected (research) data. There is also more and more robotization of (bio)pharmaceutical processes. These trends will certainly influence the (bio)pharmaceutical industry in the coming years.
All in all, a very interesting visit to Achema 2024 where our colleagues saw many people, products and developments. They hope to be able to serve our customers even better with this. Are you interested in the products mentioned or do you need advice regarding other single-use products? Feel free to contact us!
