Interview with Mareile Kästner: Behind the Scenes of Bauma 2016
To get a world-leading trade fair like bauma off the ground, you need clever minds who take responsibility and have vision. This also includes project manager Mareile Kästner. On Messe.TV she gives an insight into her work, the current bauma 2016 and also an outlook on bauma 2019.
Interview with Mareile Kästner, project manager of bauma 2016
Klas Bömecke: We've chosen a nice spot for the interview, haven't we? Mareile Kästner: As a matter of fact, yes. Klas Bömecke: Are you also fascinated when you see such a big machine? Mareile Kästner: Yes, very much so. Especially when we start planning years in advance, we have a planning period of 3 years, and when we see how it's going to look and how it's going to look in the end, it's a great sense of achievement for us, of course, so that's great. Klas Bömecke: As a trade fair organizer, you have to be a long-distance runner if you have to prepare for three years, right? Mareile Kästner: Yes, that's true. We work towards a goal, towards a very tightly defined time frame, that's typical for trade fairs, the time frame is fixed, we work towards it and you reap much later after sowing the seeds, so to speak. Klas Bömecke: But how should I imagine it then, is it a relaxed way of working with your team over three years, or are there still moments when you work up a sweat? Mareile Kästner: Yes, we have a very intensive year in the year before Bauma. Definitely. We work at full capacity and it's very exhausting because we have a lot of work to do in that period and we have fixed deadlines. For example, the layout planning has to be completed before the summer so that our customers can then do their detailed planning. If you look at the hall here now, it's a very large stand, so of course the customer has to have enough time to plan it, so it has to be ready in the summer and then the event takes place the following year in April and we're working very hard on that. Klas Bömecke: I imagine it would be extremely difficult with such a large trade fair. I think it's the biggest trade fair in the world in terms of space, to keep track of everything! Mareile Kästner: We do have an overview. We do, even if you spend a long time planning and talking to customers and then sometimes there's a shift, or you work on finding the solution for the customer and the best possible solution, then you've been talking to them for a long time and then you know where the individual customers stand. The longer you have been planning, the more you know exactly where the individual Mareile Kästner are.
Klas Bömecke: Well, what I find most impressive is that the companies here have set up so much. Well, great tippers or something like that are of course very impressive at first glance, but outside in the outdoor area there are huge cranes and entire asphalt factories that have been there for weeks. I mean, it's a huge investment for the individual companies when they come here, isn't it? Mareile Kästner: Yes, of course. Exactly, and that works when the relevant visitor groups are here, and Bauma has been around since the 1950s. It was founded after the war, so to speak, as a trade fair that has grown steadily over the decades, over the 60 years, and fortunately, the industry has also learned a lot from the visitors, i.e. all participants, that this event takes place and that they always enjoy coming here and meeting up and then perhaps also concluding business deals on site. This is the success that must of course be fulfilled during the event so that the investment for Mareile Kästner is also worthwhile and Bauma fulfills this promise every time and that is why we are now off to a very good start again. We're already thinking about Bauma 2019, for example. Yes, that's already starting for us. Klas Bömecke: How was the first day? Mareile Kästner: We got off to a good start and also had nice weather on the side, which is a good start for the outdoor area if we have dry weather, and we're in a very good mood now. Klas Bömecke: So there's really something going on here, you really have to push your way through and you hear languages from all over the world - I think it's an exciting experience. Mareile Kästner: Yes, it's very nice for us as trade fair organizers because we've been working towards this for so long. It's a very nice experience. As you mentioned, bauma is international in terms of both visitors and Mareile Kästner. We have over 63 percent international guests alone and that is a very high rate - also for the trade fair business. On the visitor side, it is similar - we are expecting over 500,000 visitors from all over the world during these 7 days. From over 200 countries - that is quite rightly a world-leading trade fair. Klas Bömecke: What strikes me is that it's all about very large machines made of steel, huge wheels and so on, so in many respects the whole thing is so coarsely motorized one would think, but nevertheless high-tech is also a story that is playing an increasingly important role in the products. Is that deceiving me? Mareile Kästner: No, you're right. We also have a very strong components sector at Bauma. We are not only the OEMs - i.e. those who bring the finished products to the market - but also the components. There is a buzzword called Building Information Modeling, which is all about networking, and of course this also plays a role in construction machinery. When you imagine a construction site, it's important to simulate it in advance and see: What equipment do I need? What needs to be moved on the construction site and how? What volume of excavation do I have and this is where Building Information Modeling comes into play, where you network the information with each other to be able to simulate and plan everything in advance. And then ultimately the aim is to save costs and complete the whole project more quickly. Klas Bömecke: There are hardly any people who are as networked across the entire industry as you are. What do you think the construction site will look like in ten or twenty years' time? Mareile Kästner: Yes, am I the right person now? Klas Bömecke: Where is it going? You get to see so much. Of course you're not a construction machinery manufacturer, but you hear a lot from all the manufacturers! Mareile Kästner: Well, there's definitely a lot more to come in this area, and we know that from the companies that offer systems and solutions in this field. These companies are also explicitly asking for more space because they need to present themselves better. Because they meet a lot of customers here with whom they do business so that these solutions can be implemented in reality and become established, which always takes a certain amount of time, and a lot is happening here at Bauma on this topic. We also had Building Information Modeling as an important part of our forum and our Federal Minister of Infrastructure also came to talk about this topic. The Federal Minister Mr. Dobrindt, who opened the whole thing, and that shows that it is very important. Klas Bömecke: Then we don't have to worry that Bauma will mutate into a computer trade fair in the next ten years. Mareile Kästner: No that won't happen, because you can't move heavy loads with information technology.
