Welcome to IIW2013-Essen – a "one-of-a-kind" Experience!!

In the name of the IIW2013 Organising Committee, we would like to welcome you very warmly to the 66th IIW Annual Assembly here in Essen. For the fourth time since 1957, you have selected Germany as the meeting place for your annual event. For us at the DVS, it is a special honour to be allowed to be your host once more on this occasion. We are even more pleased this year, because, after a four year hiatus, the world-leading SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2013, International Trade Fair Joining Cutting Surfacing, will take place in Essen again. Your Annual Assembly and the International Trade Fair therefore turn Essen into the center of international joining technology for two weeks.

Nevertheless, both major events, the IIW Annual Assembly and the SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2013, are not just two consecutive events in the international industry calendar. For the link that connects them thematically and conceptually with each other is the IIW International Conference. This year, it is under the heading "Automation in Welding". Under this title, joining processes like laser welding and arc welding, resistance welding and friction stir welding, are intensely examined. Moreover, worldwide experts will hold lectures on production processes and process flows, on pipeline construction and the market prospects of joining technology in different countries of the world.

With its top-class presentations, the IIW International Conference is the connecting link between your Working Units on the worldwide status of joining technology and the global market that can be seen in the form of products and services at the SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2013. The fact that current global technological joining issues and innovative product solutions come together in this form constitutes a unique phenomenon that opens up absolutely new synergies. We hope that you will all benefit from this to the highest degree.

As a venue for your IIW Annual Assembly, Essen is a location that could not be more suitable. The town has always been the venue of the SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN and hence a place where the international world of joining technology feels right at home. Also, some parallels can be drawn between joining technology and the cultural capital of Europe in 2010.

Joining technology, for example, is continuously developing. New technologies, processes or products are being conceived. Current issues give rise to incentives for new research and practically- oriented solutions. In the field of joining technology, there is always something happening - in the location of Essen as well.

From a town whose image in earlier times used to be predominantly characterised by industrial plants, it has developed into a place where art and culture, science, economy and service providers are right at home. With the supporting programme for the IIW Annual Assembly and with different technical-scientific tours that we are offering in addition to the IIW working sessions, you can see and judge for yourself. In Essen and its surroundings, there is a place for large-scale industry, for SMEs and for trade. These are precisely the target groups for which the results of IIW work and the offer of the SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2013 are relevant.

With 570,000 inhabitants, Essen is one of the largest cities in Germany. At the same time, however, Essen is also the centre of the Ruhr metropolis with 5.2 million inhabitants, Europe's third-biggest conurbation. In combination with the extremely favourable location of the town relative to the important sales markets of Europe, Essen thus turns into the ideal location for economic commitment and international business relationships. We would like to invite you to draw inspiration from this atmosphere and use your stay here in Essen, for the SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2013, to profit from this potential. With the DVS Congress and three Young Welders' Competitions at the same time, at the Trade Fair you will also experience other special facets of the world of joining technology.

When the entire world of joining technology meets for two weeks in one location, this poses a special challenge for the organisers. However, thanks to professional cooperation between the International Institute of Welding (IIW), the Essen Congress Center, all sponsors and other parties involved, we have succeeded together to implement something extraordinary. We hope that the result will convince you, too. Enjoy the German hospitality and the stay in Essen, and experience the international world of joining technology in a totally new dimension.