JEC 2013 Blog

Day 3

Day 3 started out right where day 2 left off. Companies were making up for lost time due to the snowstorm. Most of the day was spent in meetings. The show’s 932 exhibitors made one final push to see the booths and exhibitors that they had yet covered.

Throughout the morning the Washington State booth was filled with prospects and clients and we had more traffic than we did in Day 2. Porsche and Ferrari were among some of the top companies to meet with members of the Choose Washington delegation. The day came to a close as students from area universities entered the exhibition hall. Many students stopped by the booth to check out Washington and see what our state had to offer.

Overall, JEC 2013 exceeded our expectations and elevated Washington State as a leader in composites and advanced manufacturing.

Photo Gallery

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Day 2

“Busy” was the word of the day at JEC 2013. Now that the weather has improved there was increased attendance and the Choose Washington State booth was overflowing at times. There is a lot of interest in the composites industry in the state, especially from international companies who were anxious to forge new partnerships and perhaps do a little business with Washington’s growing composites sector.

Meetings are virtually non-stop and some companies got meetings with tier-one suppliers in the supply chain that they haven’t been able to get for five years or more. Washington State is a known player in composites and companies are coming to the Washington booth to hear more about doing business in and with the state and its more than 100 composite firms. As the Department of Commerce’s Sean Meehan noted, “we’re becoming more than just a blip on the radar screen” of businesses worldwide.

 

Day 1

Washington State demonstrated clearly why it is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to composites. Out of the 102 companies from the United State, 20 are based in Washington and 10 more have a presence in the state.

In fact, Washington has a larger presence at this important composites show than Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. Only China, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom had more companies on the exhibit floor.

Our companies had a great day at JEC making new connections, too, says Sean Meehan, Department of Commerce representative at the show. As you can see in the photos, the booth was busy all day long and some familiar faces — Boeing, Embraer, Turkey Aerospace representatives, Aston Martin, Airbus, CFK Valley Stade and the National Composites Center UK, to name a few — stopped by to visit and say hi.

Paris was hit by a fairly good snowstorm, preventing some of the attendees from getting to the show. Tomorrow should be much busier, if such a thing is possible.