The seventh edition of SICAM once more confirmed how the international trade fair calendar has found a stable balance and leader events have strengthened their respective roles in the planning and marketing strategies of companies in the components and accessories sector.
The four days of the trade event saw intense movement of buyers and designers, and technicians of global furnishing: a highly-qualified public which, with the network of high-level business relations that it creates, is the true added value of the event.
The International Exhibition of Components, Semi-finished Products and Accessories for the Furniture Industry confirmed the validity of its format once again this year, with its particular atmosphere which promotes the development of quality personal relationships, and its standing as a leading trade fair in the specific segment at the service of the furniture industry.  
“Companies look for quality relationships at the trade fair,” commented the event organiser, Carlo Giobbi, “and we provided it this year with operators from over 6,700 companies, with 29% from abroad”.
In actual fact, the parameters we use to assess professional trade fairs have no longer been focused on simply the general numbers reached by the event, but rather the contacts judged interesting by each individual company, the new relationships capable of bringing solid results in terms of business developed. In this sense, SICAM offers a high level service in both the exposition panel in all goods represented and the professional profile of the visitors, with over half of them including decision-makers of the highest level. These fundamental components, together with the unanimously recognised quality and completeness of services, every year create a complex and delicate “machine” which, extremely functional to the creation of direct relationships, provides positive answers to the expectations of the companies taking part.
The international level of SICAM was confirmed once more in October at the same top levels of the past editions. With regard to exhibitors, 28% of companies attending came from abroad (from 33 different countries), while approximately 35% of visiting operators were foreign (with 96 countries of origin registered). It is interesting to see how, on the one hand, European countries were the origin of two thirds of foreign operators while, on the other hand, Asia brought numerous new and interesting presences this year (counting for 26% of foreign visitors registered); specifically, there were many buyers from Iran and Saudi Arabia. With respect to European visitors, the Germans were overcome numerically by Russian buyers, while the country lying in third place was the Ukraine (another novelty). The following standings in this particular list were occupied once more by operators from the United Kingdom, Spain, and France.
The functionality of an event like SICAM for the market is well represented by the statistics related to the production sections of the operators who attended. While 43% were recorded as “furniture” in general, as many as 19% specifically declared as belonging to the “kitchen” segment. This event is thus attended by manufacturers that will be found at Eurocucina in April, the bi-annual event at the Milan Furniture Fair. This is an additional element which shows how the date chosen for the Pordenone event is perfectly suited to the design and production needs of the companies from the furniture industry as a whole.
“Kitchen manufacturers and furniture-makers at SICAM are constantly looking for high-technology solutions,” Carlo Giobbi commented, “which enable their products, in addition to being innovative and constantly more aesthetically pleasing, to make the most of the space, a trait which is increasingly more strategic in new homes. Even the customisation of each component has a growing importance. The creativity and capacity to offer technologically-advanced solutions are two assets of the many artisan enterprises that use SICAM as the most effective shop window to get into contact with important players, not only in furniture but also in the international kitchen industry”. Looking at the records of professionals visiting SICAM 2015, 8% were architects and designers: people dedicated to the research of aesthetical value to add to new products or to be used to renew the image of existing collections.
In addition, the industry-artisan union has found validation in the numbers generated at SICAM 2015. While 44% of visiting operators were recorded as belonging to the industrial segment, 20% belonged to the artisan section. At SICAM everyone finds a time of synthesis where expectations, ideas, and intuitions converge; a place where they can meet the most qualified players to develop future projects and help them evolve.
“Over 56% of our visitors hold high-level roles at their companies,” we were told by Carlo Giobbi, “32% of registrations referred to company owners or managing directors, while more than 24% related to management roles, both general and technical and commercial; thus, all decision-makers, with regard to both acquisition policies and production development”.
The effectiveness of the event for the accessories and components segment, a strength recognised for years now thanks to its format, has been reconfirmed once more by the applications received to attend the next edition (from Tuesday 18th to Friday 21st October 2016, at the Pordenone Trade Fair area). They were already coming in during the event itself, even from companies not present at the 2015 edition, and it is easy to predict that SICAM will mark an additional success next year, confirming itself once more as a vital event for the development of business in the field of accessories and components for the furniture industry again in 2016.