For the past 22 years, Connection Magazines and World Plumbing Info publisher Jeff Patchell has been fortunate to attend the world’s major bi-annual plumbing fair. In the following report Jeff explains why ISH (International Sanitation & Heating) never ceases to be an interesting week in understanding where the market is heading.

ISH takes place in Frankfurt, Germany at one of the world’s largest fair grounds. It is first and foremost a trade fair and this year’s visitor count of 204,000 is typical of past numbers. However, there is a growing number of primarily overseas attendees, which continues to confirm the prominence of the event. Even the Americans are travelling again.

In part, recent numbers have been strong because the event has not been affected by the timing of the global financial crisis (GFC). The March 2009 event was worked on by organisers and exhibitors so far ahead of time that to stop an event of this magnitude would have been akin to pulling up an ocean liner. This year there was optimism due to the recovery of much of the global economy.

Visitors can’t hope to view all the stands and technology on show: this year there were 2,355 manufacturers exhibiting. It is therefore necessary to plan your days, head for the things you think will be of most interest and hope to see a few surprises along the way.

The dominant themes at this year’s event were resource conservation, sustainability, efficiency and renewable energies. This is mostly consistent with what is happening in an Australian context.

The largest variation at ISH in comparison to the Australian market is that most of Europe has to worry about how to stay warm during the northern hemisphere winter, thus a lot of emphasis is given by exhibitors to heating, boilers and renewable energy – it’s a giant market for suppliers and installers.

Best of both worlds
In the general plumbing fittings and sanitation sector, the leaps in design and technology that we have seen in the past were absent. However, developments coming to market today from most suppliers are more refined; product performance is based around efficiency gains (water/energy use) and design has become edgier.

This trend is working its way through the market from bottom to top-end.

At the upper end of the market, there are some interesting things happening with particular regard to cost savings in the water and energy spheres. For some, social conscience is a hard swap for luxury and this is reflected in product design.

A luxury shower cabinet exhibitor from Germany www.sealskin.com was pushing the benefits of combining sustainability with bathroom experience (the Germans call it wellness). They expressed it as ‘Xtreme wellness with a conscience’.
Although Germany’s backyard is virtually full of water, the country leads the way in reducing water consumption and is now proudly demonstrating it.

A public affairs campaign titled www.blue-responsibility.com aims to demonstrate that sustainability is at the core of what the German sanitation supply industry produces for the global market.

This is against a backdrop that tells us more than 80% of the available freshwater resources in Germany go unused. Every German can rely on a daily average of more than 5,000L, but they use only 122L.

So, some of our efforts in Australia to reduce consumption are really about achieving water-use frugality on a par with other developed nations.

Other trends
Pipe & Fittings
The ISH ‘World of Installation Technology’ exhibition hall is filled with what feels like 1001 pipe and fittings companies and is always busy with visitors and display action.

It contains myriad product demonstrations of pipe connections, pipe bending and similar attractions.

I’m not an expert on piping, so I asked Australian visitor Glen Bines, of pipe and fittings supplier Auspex how he viewed the European pipe/fittings sector in relation to the Australasian market.

“There still remain some differences between our markets in terms of use, but a visit to ISH is a must, in order to keep up with what is happening,” Glen says.

“At ISH 2009, we had just started to see the first use of multi-layer pipe for gas applications and this year it was prevalent among the major suppliers – they’ve all hopped on board. What was interesting from an Australian point of view is that we have probably led the growth of multi-layer pipe in gas applications ahead of the Europeans.

“Cross Linked Polyethylene (PEX) appears to be holding its own as the polymer of choice for most suppliers, due to its proven technical performance.

“When it comes to fittings, I noticed that polymer fittings continue to be popular in Europe while Australian installers still have a brass fittings ‘culture’. But that may change over time.

“The other noticeable thing was the growing strength of the major pipe/fittings suppliers at ISH. They’ve certainly recovered some confidence since the GFC and it looks like the European installers are once again strongly supporting their tried and true favourites. This is distinct to smaller suppliers who can offer little more than price, which alone does not stack up.”

Bathroom product
In the bathroom product halls, you could spend days ogling the designs of the latest tapware, toilets, baths/basins and showers.

Most European sanitary suppliers are now offering a version of the Toto Washlet-type toilets; such is the growing popularity of this top of the range category. This is something we’ll keep a watch on in the Australian market.

Energy
A category that appears destined to grow is micro-CHP (micro combined heat and power) units for domestic installations. There were a number of products at ISH based on Stirling engines which are gas fired. If I have my ‘Spanglish’ correct, I am led to believe that the WhisperGen from Spain is selling in Europe for under $10,000 and they expect that with growing unit volume, the price will continue to decline as demand increases due to rising energy costs.

Another growing installation sector within Energy appears to be Ventilation. With the trend to seal homes/apartments in order to reduce heat/cool energy loss through doors/windows and ceilings, there is a growing need to provide unpolluted air to buildings. I noticed a number of solutions based around passive house principles. There is plenty to learn from the Europeans in the field of mechanical air-handling.

Australasia on show
A few of our local suppliers exhibit at each ISH in search of new market opportunities. This year I noticed Reliance (who already have a sizeable business in Europe), Methven and IXL.

Start planning now for the next ISH (www.ishmessefrankfurt.com), which will be held in Frankfurt, 12 – 16 March 2013

Jeff Patchell visited ISH as a guest of Messe Frankfurt, the organiser of ISH.