CMP Media (Thailand) Co Ltd, and the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) jointly announced the success of the recently concluded INTERMACH 2008 and SUBCON THAILAND 2008 machinery exhibition which attracted over 35,000 local and foreign visitors and produced combined transaction values of over 4.2 billion baht.

In spite of doom and gloom predictions, the 2008 exhibition turned out to be one of the most successful ever as the combined forces of INTERMACH and SUBCON THAILAND joined to forge new business opportunities across the board. The show's outstanding success bodes well for Thai industry which should continue to thrive and stimulate the country's overall economy.

Both local and international visitors expressed their satisfaction and have already booked space for the next INTERMACH and SUBCON THAILAND event in 2009. This will be held from May 13-17 and May 13-16 respectively at BITEC, Bangkok.

The 2008 exhibition was presided over by Mr. Damri Sukhotanang, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Industry together with Mr. Manu Leopairote, Chairman of CMP Media, the show organizer. Mr. Leopairote noted that, "As one of the most important industrial machinery exhibitions in Asia the event had surprised everyone by attracting over 35,000 people during its 5-day run and records were set in both sales and international attendance, with purchasing value of 1.7 billion baht.

Mr. Sukhotanang observed that both Thai and foreign visitors had shown great interest in the new technologies on display many of which were essential to the automotive industry in areas such as molding, automotive parts, electronics and production. He also pointed out that this year's show had significant other advanced technology on display such as laser-cutting machines, water jet TPP and more. "Important seminars on the automotive industry and logistics systems provided much inside knowledge and was particularly useful to automotive operators," the Minister said.

The powerful partnership of INTERMACH and SUBCON THAILAND will take place again next year at BITEC, Bangkok where larger displays of new technology essential to industrial manufacturing will be revealed along with even greater participation from companies at the international level. Seminars and conferences will also be expanded so as to provide the utmost benefit to industry.

Several important advance bookings have already been made for both INTERMACH 2009 and SUBCON THAILAND 2009 and the show is expected to raise the bar over 2008 and set further records as the Thai economy gathers steam.

Mr. Satit Chanjavanakul, Secretary General of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), noted that SUBCON THAILAND 2008 had 251 booths from 243 local and foreign participants. This included major players such as BMW and Isuzu Motors, which were in fact among the first companies to book space.

"The investment environment is improving as proved by the number of visitors at this year's event which rose from 5,739 to 13,050. Most came from the automotive, electronic and machinery industries," he said. "Overall the show generated over 1,563 business transactions mostly in the automotive and electronic business, with purchasing value of 2.557 billion baht. This exceeded our target of 2 billion baht. Follow-up business is expected to help bolster the transaction values by at least another 3 to 5 billion baht," he noted with satisfaction.

"The success of this event will be a guideline for the next SUBCON THAILAND with hopes to make it an ASEAN regional event in the future so attracting even higher numbers of visitors and investors," the Secretary General said, "I believe this will greatly help promote Thailand as the automotive parts hub of the region."