Franke takes to the international stage: The Franke trade fair stand at Tekniska 1988 in Stockholm was organised by the local office, as is most participation in trade fairs abroad.
The first trade fair at which Franke exhibited was nothing less than a flop. Founder Erich Franke set up the trade fair stand he had designed himself at the 1950 Frankfurt Spring Fair with just one helper. He spent countless hours at night building a demonstration model of a wire race bearing slewing ring out of acrylic glass as a showcase piece – only to discover on the opening day that it had been stolen during the night.
Although the trade fair stand attracted a lot of interest, there were no major orders. That was quite possibly the reason why Franke refrained from participating in trade fairs on its own for more than two decades. From 1956 onwards, the general licence contract and later the cooperation agreement with Rothe Erde Dortmund gave Franke the opportunity to be present at all important trade fairs with a joint exhibition stand as a kind of “subtenant” of the larger company. This did not change until the 1970s, when Franke decided to part ways with the Dortmund-based company and expand its own sales organisation.
That also included trade fairs again, although this was approached very cautiously. It was clear “that we could hardly expect measurable success from such presentations, and we were also well aware of the not insignificant costs of such exhibitions”, a review from 1985 stated. Nevertheless, “it seemed important to us to raise the profile of our company, and trade fairs seemed particularly suitable for that”. Consequently, Franke was represented at the FAREGA trade fair every year from 1979 onwards, and also at PRODUKTRONIKA in Munich in 1981.
These trade fairs heralded the start of regular exhibitor activities, which soon become more international with the expansion of the sales network and also more professional with the establishment of a trade fair team. The list of trade fairs Franke has exhibited at in Germany and abroad since the 1990s would fill volumes. Special milestones in 2013 were undoubtedly Franke’s first ever participation in the world’s largest industrial trade fair, Hannover Messe, and the Paris Air Show, the world’s most important trade fair for the aerospace industry. Today, Franke not only participates in important mechanical engineering trade fairs, but also in automation trade fairs around the world. Trade fairs have long since become a central component of the company’s marketing. //
Technology you can touch: Because Franke bearings require detailed explanation, appearances at trade fairs also play an important role in the digital age.