Control 2023: Pure Inspiration!

The 35th Control international trade fair for quality assurance was a huge success. 589 exhibitors from 32 countries presented cutting-edge technologies from the fields of vision technology, image processing and sensor technology, as well as measuring and test technology, from the 9th through the 12th of May, 2023. Packed exhibition halls from the very first day, a world-class supplementary programme and fantastic feedback from expert visitors ensured a user-oriented exchange of ideas and a high-spirited mood.

“What a great week at this year’s Control trade fair!” This was the verdict of exhibitors and expert visitors across the board, including the Umati Community, an association of machinery and system manufacturers supported by the VDW and the VDMA dealing with the issue of the Universal Machine Technology Interface. “As the trade fair organisers, we certainly agree with this concise conclusion,” emphasises Control project manager Fabian Krüger from trade fair promoters P. E. Schall. “Control 2023 was inspiring right from the very first day, and the trade fair week was a huge success. We experienced four full exhibition halls with impressive solutions for quality assurance (QA) and saw lots of trailblazing new solutions. From the very first hour, brisk activity and a fantastic mood prevailed,” says the project manager. “On 42,000 square metres of exhibition floor space, 589 exhibitors from 32 countries demonstrated that quality assurance is on the direct path to the future.”

It’s plainly evident that the significance and innovative power of QA is increasing in production environments. Exhibitors and expert visitors have once again confirmed the special importance of Control as a globally leading trade fair for the manufacturing industries this year. The large proportion of exhibitors from outside of Germany (34.5%) confirmed the customarily high levels of internationalism at the industry highlight, and substantiated the unique status of this outstanding, global business meeting place covering all aspects of QA. “Where quality assurance is concerned, Control is one of our leading trade fairs throughout all of Europe,” confirms Stefan Hug from Faro Europe, responsible for sales in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The company’s mobile 3D measuring technology for product measurement met with great interest. Dr Harald Wuest, Co-Founder and CEO of Visometry also confirmed “lots of interesting contacts and very high levels of interest on the part of the expert visitors”. In all of the exhibition halls and at all of the booths, it was once again apparent this year that Control is taken advantage of as an ideal opportunity for the adequate presentation of the latest developments for industrial and non-industrial quality assurance and quality inspection – at the highest professional and technological levels, in a practice-oriented, user-focused manner and in a pleasant working atmosphere.

“We’ve seen significant increases in all segments and above all impressive visualisations,” stresses project manager Krüger. “Thanks to improved image processing systems and new analysis software, the inspection of parts and other objects is performed in accordance with the latest standards. Eye-catchers also included numerous robots that provide automated support for test sequences. The discussion surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has never been as intense as it was this year,” noted Krüger, “and its benefits for practical use, for example in inspection and quality testing, were demonstrated and made transparent in many ways.”
21,310 expert visitors experienced currently trending, driving issues for the QA industry at Control 2023 – automation, end-to-end digitalisation, modern software, inline inspection processes and AI-supported systems – viewed first-hand in practical applications. Software used in measuring systems is playing an increasingly important role, as are web and cloud technologies. Inline test technology is also a major issue which is being pursued continuously. It saves time and resources, but it also presents new challenges. This is also confirmed by Wolfgang Zeller, managing director of Mitutoyo Germany: “Measurements are performed to an ever-greater extent outside of the laboratory, directly on the shop floor. Demands placed on measuring machines are increasing as a result.”

Control 2023 did more than just link the virtual world in production to the real world, it also brought together suppliers with users, exhibitors with expert visitors, and manufacturers with customers and partners. “As a leading trade fair, Control was a complete success for us again this year,” confirmed Kai Bartel, head of measuring technology at Klingelnberg. Uwe J. Keller, chief marketing officer at Dr. Heinrich Schneider Messtechnik, also described Control as “the trade fair highlight of the year for us”. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Christoph, managing director of Werth Messtechnik, was more than satisfied with Control 2023 as well. “The trade fair is really outstanding!” He expressly praised event organisation and emphasised the lively interest demonstrated by the expert visitors. He’s already looking forward to Control 2024 and to further development of the current trend.
“It’s not without good reason that Control, as an international trade fair with leading global character, is one of the most important dates of the year for many companies,” observes Bettina Schall, managing director of trade fair promoters P. E. Schall. “The uniquely brisk trade fair action, the tremendous interest in the world-class supplementary events and the great number of satisfied voices were once again proof that this is where concentrated QA expertise came together in 2023. Control gets to the heart of the issues and challenges of the market – cost-effectiveness, quality, safety, resource conservation, efficiency and future viability. This trade fair plays an exceptional role in tackling these tasks. We’re quite pleased with this and sincerely thank all exhibitors, visitors and participants for their commitment!”
After Control is before Control: the international QA sector has long since entered the dates of the next exchange of ideas amongst the experts in its calendar. Many exhibitors, both national and international, booked their booth floor space for 2024 already during Control 2023 in order to present the further development of future-oriented concepts to the interested public, also increasingly from abroad, at the 36th Control international trade fair for quality assurance in Stuttgart from the 23rd through the 26th of April, 2024.

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Schall has developed successful business platforms with internationally recognised trade fairs for quality assurance (Control), optical technologies, components and systems (Optatec), stamping technology (Stanztec), automation in production and assembly (Motek), bonding technology (Bondexpo), plastics processing (Fakuma), sheet metal working (Blechexpo) and joining technology (Schweisstec). This has given rise to entirely new markets in various sectors, whose protagonists are distinguished by tremendous innovative strength, comprehensive systems competence and practical application solutions.