SIL stands for Salón Internacional de la Logística y Manutención (Logistics and Maintenance Tradeshow), to be held in Barcelona from May 23rd to 26th, 2006 in Pavilions 2 and 3 of the new Fira Center, located in Gran Vía M2, Barcelona. This eighth edition will feature a number of interesting novelties that seek to contribute added value and ensure the event will be a major meeting point for all sectors involved in logistics.
Among these novelties, the re-foundation and change of name are significant for Salón Internacional de la Logística y la Manutención – even if the acronym and words remain the same in general – focus on maintenance as the name makes reference to the intention of reinforcing the presence of exhibitors in this sector.
The president of the SIL planning committee, Enrique Lacalle, summarized in a single phrase their goals for the new year, in his speech during the presentation ceremony in Madrid: “Go for it all”. In the company of Blanca Sorigué, general director of the tradeshow, and José Blásquiz, president of Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Estanterías Metálicas (AEFEM) (Metal shelving systems manufacturers), Lacalle pointed out, “After our past seven editions SIL reveals to have become a meeting point for all transportation and logistics sectors in Spain, and the second largest event of its kind in Europe”.
Lacalle also added, “IN fact, each of our editions has been widely acclaimed by both exhibitors and visitors. We will not, however, stop to enjoy our success, as our idea is to improve quality and increase the number of exhibiting companies, as well as the number of professional visitors, offering more information and training courses to make SIL a genuinely useful tradeshow which will nevertheless be cost-efficient as to quality/price ratios and generating more business opportunities”.
Maintenance as a focus
The goal of growing in quality and quantity means SIL now will have an Executive Committee made up of professionals belonging to various sectors in the logistics field (AEFEM, AEM, MEDEA...) who will contribute their expertise to SIL. The first inclusion of this kind represents improvements and increase in the number of maintenance-related exhibitors.
“Even though maintenance as a sector has always been represented at SIL”, Lacalle states, “we now see that by means of a joint effort we will be able to empower our tradeshow. So our proposal to companies and associations in this sector is that they work together towards the attainment of this goal. We find professionals are excited about turning SIL into an international point of reference for the logistics sector”.
Clear proof of this idea of empowering the maintenance sector is the fact of including its name in the name of the event, which according to Lacalle, “aims towards integrating everyone”. In this way SIL, as compared with other international proposals, will have a larger integrating capacity because – as opposed to events of its category held in Paris, for instance, where both sectors are separate (SITL and Maintenance trade shows), we will concentrate both in a single event”.
The support of Asociación Española de Manutención, AEM and Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Estanterías Metálicas, AEFEM, was essential to include the sector in SIL, which will now become a total-logistics event in the style of major events held in Germany.
Enrique Lacalle, president of Salón Internacional de la Logística y Manutención 2006, said, “up until now major companies in the maintenance sector felt excluded, and couldn’t identify themselves with Spanish tradeshows as they exist today. Now, they have a place at SIL.”
José Blazquiz, President of AEFEM, states, “Now SIL has large operators in this sector and the stocking and maintenance companies are the missing links in this chain”.
SIL 2006 will comprise all sectors in logistics, distributed in groups and areas: warehouses and maintenance, distribution and transportation (air, sea, road), a specific area for railway transportation, e-logistics and industrial vehicles.
One of the novelties in this edition is the creation of an Executive Committee for the Maintenance Sector, made up of the presidents of major associations in this field. There will also be an award that will distinguish companies, similar to the Nit Award for Logistics.
Parallel activities, technical workshops at SIL 2006
SIL 2006’s schedule includes a list of workshops, fora, parallel events to contribute and share expertise, contacts, business opportunities and value among professionals. Among the supporters and sponsors, are ASCAME, Cambra de Comerc de Barcelona, ICEX, CIDEM, COPCA, Zona Franca Aduanera, Puertos de España and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, etc, and the schedule includes:
- 9th SIL International Symposium – five days.
- 4th Mediterranean Forum for Logistics and Transportation.
- Railway transportation seminar.
- State-owned ports seminar.
- Duty-free warehouses and areas seminar.
- CIDEM seminar.
- Industrial vehicles seminar.
- Warehouses and maintenance seminar.
- Logistics operators’ seminar.
- Logistics Nit.
- Al Invest business meetings.
The 9th edition of the International Symposium to be held will reveal interesting changes. Conferences will be concentrated in a single day (on Wednesday, 2nd day of the event) and their focus will be more practical and financial, made up of four sessions. There will be a debate on Asian markets, between the president of a major multi-national company and the director of a mass media company, where they will compare cities and harbours. The first edition will include Barcelona and Amberes, and the mayors of these two cities will be attending.
Fully international event
The 2006 edition of Salón Internacional de la Logística y de la Manutención will include international exhibitors. Over 90% of the exhibitions area is already booked, and there is an increase of foreign and international companies. Closing-date totals reveal over 20% of the companies participating are international, but this share is expected to grow over time.
First-time exhibitors at SIL include Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority (DAFZA – UAE), and there will be European and Latin American companies. DAFZA represents a major continent, Asia, in this international event. SIL 2006 will have Italy as guest country, and during May 23rd and 24th, there will be a new edition of Al Invest, the sectorial meeting event jointly planned by COPCA (Consorcio de Promoción Comercial de Cataluña) and SIL.
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