Trade Talk Today A+A Day 4

00:00:03:

00:00:09: This show is brought to you by Everglow.

00:00:23: und Arbeitssicherheit.

00:00:25: Those are the two words the A stands for in A plus A. In case you were wondering, translated it means obviously occupational health and safety.

00:00:35: In English we could use the A's for words like alarm or aerosol, additives, acid in this context.

00:00:44: We prefer here on Trey Talk Today to say it stands for awesome.

00:00:49: and amazing.

00:00:50: And with that, welcome to day four, El Treytau today at the fair A plus A, and welcome here on the show.

00:00:59: I'm so happy you're here today, managing director of Everglow, part of the show.

00:01:04: We're going to be welcoming a couple more guests today on the show, but I'm very happy to have you right now.

00:01:10: I hope you're doing well on the fourth day of the trade fair.

00:01:12: Yes, we have been doing very well and I'm happy to be here.

00:01:16: Welcome also from our side.

00:01:18: Thank

00:01:18: you.

00:01:18: It's an honor to have you here.

00:01:20: We're going to start off the show with some quick fire questions just to get us warmed up a little bit.

00:01:26: Starting with on-site demo or digital presentation?

00:01:34: On-site demo.

00:01:35: Very good.

00:01:36: Early bird or night

00:01:37: owl?

00:01:38: Night owl.

00:01:40: trade fair handshake or virtual contact.

00:01:43: Careful what you answer.

00:01:47: A trade fair

00:01:49: handshake.

00:01:49: Okay, that's a good answer.

00:01:52: High vision vest or reflective tape?

00:01:58: It depends on the situation.

00:01:59: Both is probably good, I guess.

00:02:01: Suit or casual?

00:02:03: Casual.

00:02:05: Easy question.

00:02:05: Coffee or tea?

00:02:07: Coffee.

00:02:08: Work hard or play hard?

00:02:10: Work hard, play hard.

00:02:12: I like that one.

00:02:13: I like that's a good answer.

00:02:15: Mountains or ocean?

00:02:17: Say it again, please.

00:02:17: Mountains or ocean?

00:02:21: Ocean.

00:02:21: Ocean.

00:02:23: Email or phone

00:02:24: call?

00:02:26: Meanwhile, more email.

00:02:27: Email,

00:02:27: okay.

00:02:28: And taking risks or playing it safe?

00:02:32: Taking risks.

00:02:33: Taking risks.

00:02:35: And I hope you're not taking a risk by being here today.

00:02:37: I hope you're happy to be here, but I'm sure you are.

00:02:40: I'm very glad.

00:02:41: Before we get into whatever glow does and what you're presenting here, or actually, let's get into whatever glow does, because you brought something to show us.

00:02:48: What exactly is that?

00:02:50: Yes.

00:02:51: I brought one of our hot items.

00:02:53: We are producing it since the first day.

00:02:55: And this little floor arrow, what is made for escape route markings, shows Some of our unique sales points are the most important are we are using aluminum as a base material instead of a plastic or film.

00:03:12: We are using high grade pigments, which guarantee high luminance, high visibility.

00:03:19: And we have screen printing technology.

00:03:23: We have been the first in the market, I know, and I know this market since thirty years.

00:03:29: We have been the first one who was screen printing the glow in the dark pigments on the substrate.

00:03:35: Which is fascinating that you've been in the business for so long, that the company's been around for so long.

00:03:40: Tell me a little bit about how the company came about, how it got put together, and how has evolved over the years.

00:03:47: As the company was founded by the late Johannes Bischoff back in nineteen sixty, no, nineteen seventy six and he was in the beginning a manufacturer for durable labels and tax especially for the automotive industry.

00:04:04: and in ninety five he entered the business of photo luminescence.

00:04:10: and developed this idea, screen printing of photoluminescent pigments.

00:04:16: And in ninety-seven, he had the idea to found a company called Everglow together with a partner where I was working at that time.

00:04:26: And it's if you want to get rid of your stuff, you make him a managing director.

00:04:32: that happened to me.

00:04:33: And since two thousand since this year, We merged again, so Everglow is now part of the Bishop GMBH or the Label Engineering Group.

00:04:46: And that's how you're presenting yourself here at A plus A. From your perspective, how has the importance of safety, signage and escape route guidance changed over the years?

00:04:58: There has been a lot of changes over the years.

00:05:00: So I'm talking about three different applications.

00:05:02: We are talking about industry.

00:05:05: We are talking about marine technology and we are talking about aviation.

00:05:11: and as you can see nowadays there are a lot of more photo luminescent installations than you have seen before.

00:05:19: there's a lot of code language which has been changing especially after the nine eleven event and we have a lot of codes where the performance of the photo luminescent material is standardized.

00:05:36: and If you look around in the industry nowadays, you'll see that we have a lot of complex systems, but less people working there.

00:05:48: So that gives a high demand for safety by guidance systems, especially if you consider smoke.

00:05:56: Emergency lighting is nice.

00:05:59: It comes from the law, but you always have to consider the risk of a fire and smoke.

00:06:06: And so what is the innovation you're presenting at, or one of the innovations you're presenting at the A plus A?

00:06:13: There are two things.

00:06:14: The first thing is that we are showing in our showroom.

00:06:17: We have a big showroom, but people really love at this show.

00:06:23: We show a very wide portfolio that nearly all applications can be done with one.

00:06:33: of our products.

00:06:34: So we have epoxy coatings, we have floor markers, we have signs, we have many many different products for the different areas and we are also looking for intelligent and fast installation solutions because nowadays it's very difficult to close a parking garage for a week to install this kind of material for instance.

00:07:00: And so the discussions at Aplus A at the stand are also concerning how to implement what you are making and what you are making for your customers.

00:07:10: Where do you see Everglow and what you are producing headed to in the future?

00:07:15: We see that we are developing much more products with not only marketing.

00:07:24: that should also be part of the design of a building.

00:07:31: Avoglop products are not energy-consuming, so it can be also very important part of the so-called smart cities.

00:07:38: So this will be our work for the next couple of years to increase luminance, to reduce charging times, and to optimize the installation time.

00:07:51: So sustainability is a big topic for you.

00:07:54: Tell me a little bit more about that.

00:07:56: As I said in the beginning we are also a supplier of the aviation business and also of the automotive.

00:08:03: So we have been involved in all this sustainability questions for many years.

00:08:09: Our company is either fourteen or one certified.

00:08:13: We are also working on reducing the carbon footprint and all materials.

00:08:21: Our base materials are.

00:08:23: For instance, this aluminum has a thirty, no, eighty-three point seven percent of recycled material inside.

00:08:31: So this is one of our mangos.

00:08:34: Sustainability is everywhere.

00:08:36: And that's a really great thing.

00:08:38: I wish you another thirty years of lots of great time at Everglow.

00:08:42: And it's amazing to have you here and find out all of the things you are doing for the industry and are offering the industry in terms of implementation and in terms of solutions.

00:08:52: So thank you so much for being here today.

00:08:53: I wish you a wonderful A plus A. And I know because you're such a busy man, you have not had the chance to take a look around the halls.

00:09:00: But guess what?

00:09:02: We did it for you and for you.

00:09:04: In case we haven't had time, we've spoken to some people who are walking around or are maybe exhibiting at Aplus A and I'd like to take a look at that right now.

00:09:22: Aplus A is the number one meeting point for the safety industry and we are so proud to have all these visitors on our stand.

00:09:29: It's really busy.

00:09:29: We can see them at our stand here live in Düsseldorf.

00:09:33: It's really full of people and we are happy to introduce ourselves, the products, the services for all that makes Mato so well known.

00:09:49: I think the Aplus A has actually secured his position as the global leading

00:09:56: event

00:09:58: in the world

00:09:59: in the

00:09:59: past twenty, thirty years.

00:10:09: A plus A has been for many many years a very important meeting point with our customers.

00:10:14: It's important to spread knowledge about the latest developments that they are in the field of the safe hazardous material storage within facilities and this is exactly the place where we need to be to spread that knowledge to all the attendees.

00:10:36: As you can see there's a lot going on in the halls at A plus A and a lot of people are happy to be here.

00:10:42: One person we saw in the hall and is Here now, which is amazing.

00:10:46: It's great to have you here.

00:10:47: Stefan Bleuch, chairman of the advisory board, A plus A. I hope you're doing well and it seemed like at least what we just saw that you're in a good mood.

00:10:55: Thank you very much and I'm very happy to be here and I'm in a good mood after three days of a good exhibition so far.

00:11:02: Yeah, and it has been really... you can feel the the vibe is just really positive which is a wonderful thing.

00:11:09: We're going to stay positive right now with our quick fire questions and get to know you a little bit before we get into the hard questions.

00:11:17: High visibility vest or safety shoes?

00:11:20: Safety shoes.

00:11:22: Beach vacation or mountain retreat?

00:11:24: Beach vacation.

00:11:25: Plan ahead or go with the flow?

00:11:27: Go with the flow.

00:11:28: Very

00:11:28: good.

00:11:29: Fire drill or safety training?

00:11:31: Safety training.

00:11:33: Jazz or

00:11:33: pop?

00:11:34: Pop.

00:11:35: Made in Germany or global sourcing?

00:11:38: Global sourcing.

00:11:39: Coffee or tea?

00:11:40: Water.

00:11:42: Water, really?

00:11:43: Yeah.

00:11:44: Nothing to give you a hyped up, okay?

00:11:47: That's enough.

00:11:48: Standup meeting or virtual briefing?

00:11:51: Standup meetings.

00:11:53: Teleport to trade fair or teleport

00:11:55: home?

00:11:56: teleport right there.

00:11:57: oh

00:11:57: really even after three days you don't want to go home you want to stay forever.

00:12:04: suit or casual

00:12:05: suit

00:12:06: okay.

00:12:06: thank you very much for getting to know you a little bit and we are now going to come to the hard questions.

00:12:10: but they're not that hard actually because As chairman of the A plus A advisory board, you can tell us about the key trends and challenges.

00:12:17: And I know that I know there are challenges, but I know there are a lot of solutions being offered here at the trade fair.

00:12:22: So how would you, where would you see the industry right now and where would you see we're headed?

00:12:29: Well I think all in all as you mentioned in the beginning the spirit and the atmosphere is extremely positive and I think we have gone through a tough period in the Covid times and the format of an exhibition was questioned overall.

00:12:46: so we were quite skeptical after the Covid period with the first exhibition and to see that customers and distributors and people are coming back and coming back big times and from what I heard this morning in our advisory board meeting that we have almost ten percent more visitors than last year after three days which is very positive.

00:13:12: We are very much enthusiastic about the format and we will continue obviously to invest and to try to make the A plus A even you know a larger and more important event globally.

00:13:25: Global Lee is a good keyword to be speaking about.

00:13:28: It is an international event.

00:13:30: What would you say in the last couple of years or the last years altogether, how has the audience developed, people coming from different countries, and what do they expect when they come here?

00:13:42: Well, I think first of all, statistically, we see that the share of international gas is increasing rapidly, which is very positive.

00:13:52: So I mean, both from a perspective of visitors, but also exhibitors, which is really a good sign.

00:14:00: And I think the expectation is to meet everything and everybody in Dusseldorf.

00:14:06: So we have a lot of regional exhibitions, countries, specific exhibitions, vertical specific exhibitions.

00:14:14: But at the end of the day, the A plus A is the only big global exhibition in the world.

00:14:20: And the expectation is to be able to cover everything in terms of product category services.

00:14:26: We've got the Congress, the Safety Congress, which is an important part of the exhibition as well.

00:14:32: So I think we just can offer everything that a professional expects in our PPE space.

00:14:40: still occupational safety and health at the workplace really differs in different countries.

00:14:45: There are different standards that are set and that are adhered to.

00:14:50: How does the A-plus A manage to find the solutions for every kind of standards that may be around?

00:15:00: basically covered by the exhibitors.

00:15:02: I mean, we have exhibitors from all over the world and most of the larger exhibitors do comply with all the relevant international standards anyway.

00:15:14: So I think everyone who comes from wherever, you know, country is from, he can find products and services which accomplish and which meet their national and domestic standards.

00:15:26: So that's essentially given by the scale of the exhibitors and the competence of the exhibitors as such.

00:15:34: Words like sustainability and digitization are forming what's happening in the industry.

00:15:40: And there is probably a difficulty balancing innovation and responsibility and long term impact.

00:15:47: How would you see how does the industry.

00:15:49: Figure this out.

00:15:50: this problem or I mean my problem is actually just something that is a challenge you have to figure out.

00:15:55: Well, it is a challenge because we are obviously pushed by the regulatory framework Particularly the European regulatory which is quite strict compared to many other countries, but I think specifically for the sustainability subject that also gives an opportunity, that gives an opportunity to be different, to differentiate yourself comparing to other competitors out there.

00:16:22: And so we are, I think, seeing a general enthusiasm despite some negative impact that we have seen over the last twelve months, maybe, but we remain very positive.

00:16:36: We think it's an unavoidable subject in terms of digital.

00:16:40: upgrades.

00:16:41: I think we see opportunities there as well.

00:16:43: I mean, digital upgrades of products, digital services that we can will be able to offer.

00:16:49: So I think we are balancing quite well these two elements in our industry.

00:16:54: Although short term, it will have some impact on our business, both negative, but I see more opportunities, positive opportunities overall.

00:17:06: You are not only chairman of the advisory board at the Aplens AO, I also see a huge company that is doing so much to go with the trend and actually bring in new innovations.

00:17:15: How are you driving progress and setting standards regarding the industry?

00:17:22: Yeah, innovation has been since day one.

00:17:25: I mean, we are celebrating our one hundred years history next year.

00:17:29: So since day one, innovation has been always part of our DNA and very important element about our strategy.

00:17:37: And we have a very complex innovation process established in our company.

00:17:44: We obviously see technology moving very fast from suppliers as well and the combination of internal innovation process together with technology moving ahead very quickly.

00:17:57: We have the ability to come up all the time with new exciting innovation and obviously are trying to excite our customers with added value at the end of the day.

00:18:09: about added value, whether it is comfort, whether it is technology, whether it is wearability, which is a very strong element.

00:18:16: And hopefully we will be able to generate those kind of innovations for the next one hundred years as well.

00:18:24: I'm sure you will.

00:18:25: I know we don't really have time left, but I do want to ask you one last question.

00:18:28: Can you give me three words to describe A plus A?

00:18:31: Global excitement.

00:18:33: and service-oriented.

00:18:35: And

00:18:35: awesome and amazing, of course.

00:18:38: So thank you so much for being here today.

00:18:39: It's been an absolute pleasure.

00:18:40: I wish you a wonderful last day.

00:18:42: And of course, we look forward to what's going to be happening in the next years at Aplosay and also at Uvex.

00:18:47: Thanks a lot.

00:18:47: And thank you all for being with us today.

00:18:50: And don't go anywhere because... This is all about more efficiency, more safety, more health, and new innovations.

00:18:58: And new is the keyword regarding what's happening next.

00:19:01: We have a surprise guest on the show.

00:19:03: And guess what?

00:19:03: He's here already.

00:19:05: Daniel Feisher is the new director of A-plus-A.

00:19:07: And you're here.

00:19:08: And I'm so happy to have you here.

00:19:09: And I just want to know.

00:19:11: How are you?

00:19:12: Thank you.

00:19:12: I'm I'm actually totally fine.

00:19:14: It's it's so great seeing the show happen here and here in Düsseldorf and the floor is bustling.

00:19:21: Everyone is happy.

00:19:22: So we are happy at least.

00:19:24: How does it feel to be the new director?

00:19:26: I know you've been doing this the last couple of days with the old director, Lars Wismar.

00:19:30: And then in twenty seven, you were taking over what the work doesn't start in twenty seven.

00:19:34: It actually starts yesterday.

00:19:36: Yes, it did already.

00:19:38: Yeah, it's a great feeling.

00:19:39: My team worked so hard on it for the last two years to make this happens.

00:19:45: I started in September and yeah, already into it.

00:19:49: And it's it's a great feeling.

00:19:51: speaking to the exhibitors.

00:19:52: They are so happy.

00:19:54: heard so far so we are happy when our exhibitors are happy.

00:19:58: visitors numbers are quite good.

00:20:00: so yeah that's

00:20:02: the vibe is unbelievable absolutely

00:20:04: yeah.

00:20:05: so maybe you can give us a little bit of insight on your perspective and your view for the next two years and what's gonna happen the next two

00:20:13: years.

00:20:14: so I think the The matter will stay so like people matter will be for twenty twenty seven.

00:20:21: the same because this is what a plus a makes really special.

00:20:25: The community is here in Düsseldorf, but we have also focused on our international portfolio.

00:20:30: next year We have four international shows for occupational safety and health next year in in Singapore in Shanghai also one in Istanbul and we launched a new show in Dubai for next year in autumn, twenty, twenty-six.

00:20:46: So really looking forward to go to Middle

00:20:48: East with

00:20:49: the OSHA portfolio.

00:20:51: One thing people may not know yet is when in twenty, twenty-seven, when can they mark their calendars?

00:20:57: Yeah,

00:20:58: so that's a good question.

00:20:59: And I'm happy to announce that it will be from nineteen to the twenty second of October, twenty, twenty-seven.

00:21:05: And I'm really looking already forward to welcome you here in Dusseldorf back for A plus A. I

00:21:11: would say that is a great way to end this show at A plus A, two thousand and twenty five.

00:21:16: And I can say thank you for joining us on trade talk today.

00:21:19: And yeah, two thousand twenty seven.

00:21:21: You'll be here and hopefully you will be here as well at A plus A. So we'll see you there.

00:21:26: Right.

00:21:27: Definitely.

00:21:30: This show was brought to you by Everglow.