REIFEN MESSE BOOTH
Last week, our team was on location hosting a booth at Reifen Messe in Essen, Germany. Reifen is the world’s largest trade fair for tires, featuring exhibitors from 43 countries and a variety of solutions for the tire industry, which provided a great multicultural experience for visitors and exhibitors alike. We hosted a booth in Hall 1 and featured our sealant solutions, EQUAL samples, and the new EQUAL FLEXX balancing compound.
The display case for EQUAL, EQUAL FLEXX, and IMI Sealant incorporated various products into the IMI booth at Reifen 2016.
“FLEXXING” TEAMWORK MUSCLES
Our IMI team for this international show was led by Stefan Klopfer, Managing Director of IMI’s GmbH and Ignacio Vega, Latin American Sales Director.
After setting up the IMI booth prior to the show start, we prepared our partner station at the REMA Tip Top booth to showcase the new product release of EQUAL FLEXX. One of the team members assisting with the REMA Tip Top display setup was IMI’s President and CEO, Bob Fogal. “Our cooperation with REMA Tip Top International was on display with a dedicated EQUAL FLEXX kiosk in their stand that featured active demonstrations of EQUAL FLEXX dampening vibrations. This garnered a fair amount of attention within the REMA Tip Top International booth, as EQUAL FLEXX was one of the few new products introduced at this year’s Reifen Expo.”
Reifen Messe – REMA Display, with Associate Product Manager Derek Forney.
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
After setting up the booth, our team had the opportunity to visit a service van, Premio Reifen-Service, and experience the on-road services provided in Germany. According to Derek Forney, Associate Product Manager, “While at the Scania service center, we were able to see a dealer service truck first hand. The differences in the equipment, truck configuration, and how some basic maintenance is done was very intriguing. It was great to see how some parts of the tire technician’s day is similar to those in the United States, but the differences in technology, regulations, and even in simple things like typical inflation pressures was surprising.”
The show ran four days and was extremely successful, as we were able to have constructive business meetings – as well as experience many facets of the German culture. We enjoyed delicious coffee, large pretzels, and the occasional white sausage and sauerkraut, and we all feel incredibly fortunate to have had this opportunity.
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END
After dismantling the booth and saying our farewells, we travelled to Frankfurt to begin the long journey home. However, there was still one experience that was left to be had while abroad. “For some reason, on the journey to Frankfurt, the autobahn came to a congested, screeching halt… and required about four hours of restlessly waiting in and out of the vehicle until we could move again,” recalls Bob Fogal. “This was very unlike our concept of the autobahn, where you usually have the ability to speed as fast as you wish in some rural sections without a general speed limit.”
The autobahn eventually resumed its usual flow of traffic, and we all returned safely home. We are now full of enthusiasm for our international relations, anticipation for the launch of EQUAL FLEXX, and the desire to find a location making cappuccinos like those we had in Germany.
Beste Grüße!
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