Stands at automotive supplier fairs

1–10 days

installation time, with parts placed on the final day

Stand types

Hanging a heavy part

The most common answer on automotive supplier stands is a parts wall: a surface holding dozens of products on a regular grid. It looks simple, and the problem is weight. If one cast part weighs a few kilos, a wall of forty puts a serious load into the structure, and that load grows with vibration over the run of the show.

That load does not go into the cladding. Fixings are taken into the aluminium frame or a steel flat behind it; the panel is only there to close the surface. The contact face of the bracket is lined so it does not mark the part, because visitors lift parts off the wall and put them back, and by day four the marks show.

Watch the height off the floor. Heavy parts are not hung above eye level: they carry a risk of falling and nobody looks up anyway. The productive band runs between waist and shoulder, with the heaviest items at its lower edge. Among the stand types, profile-framed builds give this hanging arrangement ready-made fixing points.

Why cutaways work

The visitor at an automotive fair is an engineer. They already know the outside of the product from the catalogue; what they want is the solution inside: the channel section, the weld line, how the seal seats, the wall thickness. A sectioned product answers all of it at a glance and moves the conversation onto technical ground. It is also the one thing they will not see on a competitor’s stand.

Preparing a cutaway is a production job: the part is cut, the faces are cleaned, the cut surface is marked in a contrasting colour and the whole thing goes on a rotating plinth. The plinth is fixed for the weight of the part, on the assumption it will be handled, turned and leaned on for four days. The cut edges are always deburred.

Two or three cutaways in the middle of the stand start more conversations than forty parts on the wall. The wall shows range, the cutaway shows capability. Together they tell both the inventory story and the engineering one. A short technical note beside the cutaway is the only information a visitor can read while the staff are busy. Put material, process and the critical tolerance on it; three lines are enough to carry the visitor to a second question.

Technical meetings and a floor that wears

In supply, meetings are long and paper-based: drawings come out, tolerances are discussed, a sample lands on the table. So the table is large and hard-wearing, and an oily part set down on it leaves no mark. Bar stools do not work in this sector; nobody studies an A3 drawing standing up.

The floor is the fastest-wearing surface on an automotive stand. Parts get carried, dropped, wheeled about. Light carpet is stained on day one and stays stained. A dark, high-density carpet or a hard floor finish survives four days and can be reused afterwards. Put a protection plate under the point where the heaviest exhibit stands.

Storage is kept generous: spare parts, packaging, a trolley and hand tools all stay inside for the run of the show. Rather than finding that space later, put it in the plan first, or the boxes end up under the meeting table. At the stand design stage storage is placed before display.

Should parts sit behind glass or in the open?

In the open. An automotive buyer wants to pick the part up and judge its weight and finish. Glass is only needed for new products that must stay confidential.

Who prepares the cutaway?

The cutting is done in the manufacturer’s workshop; the plinth, the fixing and the lighting are solved on the stand side. Share dimensions between the two early.