Participation in ATX West 2016, one of the most eagerly awaited exhibitions in the US, the world’s largest market

Held: Tuesday, February 9 through Thursday, February 11, 2016
Where: Anaheim Convention Center (US) We were entrants for the first time in the most eagerly awaited exhibition in the United States, currently the largest market in the world. Entering the exhibition was a chance to find many issues that need to be solved as we continue to develop our market.
http://anaheim.ubmcanon.com/automation/

Large-scale US exhibition gathering place for corporations from all over globe

The ATX is held every year at the US’s Anaheim Convention Center. The exhibition is themed on the shift to automation in a range of industries, and is a gathering place for latest technologies including robots and related components. In addition to the US, corporations from Japan and other countries also have booths at the exhibition, which served as a venue for strengthening relationships in the US and expanding sales channels.

Actively engaging in PR with US corporations

Our booth featured EV recharging equipment, and we also displayed solar panel-related fittings, agricultural supplies, CFRP hinges, and standard padlocks in addition to other items.

Maybe because we are not so well-known in the US, at first, not many visitors were coming into our booth, although people will come into our booths naturally at exhibitions in Japan. We then actively engaged in PR by inviting persons passing by into our booth and by visiting the booths of US corporations. Our number of visitors began to increase, and we were then able to engage with visitors, asking about what they wanted to see in products and taking requests for catalogs. While abroad, we were really able to see how important aggressive communication is.

Compared to last year when we just went to see what the exhibition was all about, there seemed to be fewer visitors. This would seem to be due to not as many Chinese corporations participating in the exhibition this year, as well as a still-sluggish US economy amid the downturn in the world economy. However, as it is the only industrial exhibition in the US and also the largest, we felt it was extremely important to approach other participating corporations as well as exhibition visitors.

Continued participation

Through the exhibition, we were able to again have an awareness of the size of the market, and see that other corporations are also seeking to expand their channels to the US.

We also would very much like to have continued backup support through Moritani America, who also assisted by lending staff able to discuss our products with visitors.

Although we only had a few requests for catalogs, we were able to collect information that could be very useful in expanding in the US market, such as customer demand, new technology in the US, and industry-related information.

It was also an opportunity for us to see that the name TAKIGEN is still not so widely known, and that we are lagging behind.

At a next exhibition, we would like to widen our scope to also include the medical field, while at the same time continuing our participation to increase recognition of TAKIGEN, which will in turn promote widening of our sales channels as we expand into the US market.

We also observed many different facilities around town.

Hydrogen fueling station — fuel cell cars
Different types of EV recharging facilities
Many things are locked using a padlock