FENAF 2009 - Brazil

Excellent show...good leads and many interesting people to talk to.

Although the number of visitors were down on previous FENAFS’s it was generally thought that there was a more senior level of people in attendenace. There were a larger number of Managers and Directors and less student/trainee types. I put this down to the Economic Downturn that has hit the Brazilian Metallurgical industry hard this year. With money being tighter companies are less likely to release there trainees for this kind of event, it is just too expensive and there is little return for them.

Previous FENAF’s have had one day when the trainees attend and it just turns into a wasted day as all the larger suppliers and foundries, Fosceo, Ashland, Tupy, etc have free beer on the stands and they do take advantage of that.
This effect turned out to good for us as we didn’t get as many “timewasters” as before. Although the first two days were slow the last two days more than made up for it. Serious enquiries were made from small and large foundries.

I felt the stand design was particularly good this year. We had a good corner position with a long frontage. The stand was bright and airy, very clean looking with the white flooring. The general level of stands at FENAF is excellent, companies must spend a lot of money on the design and layout.

Kevin Lenton
Head of Brazilian Operations