The exhibition at this years PestWorld included 173 exhibitors and covered over 100,000 square feet of exhibition space. Usually one or two manufacturers hold back the introduction of their products for this event and end-up stealing the show. Was this the case this year?
The simple answer to this question was – no, not really. Although there were several new items on display, most were refinements or variations on already established products. There was no really revolutionary product launched. This is hardly surprising, as lead-times to develop and register new unique products, certainly for the chemical companies, stretch further and further into the future. As an industry, pest control manufacturers have had to become even more inventive and have developed ‘variations on existing themes’.
Be this as it may, the exhibition at PestWorld 2013 once again proved itself as the premier platform to conduct domestic and international business in the pest management industry. Exhibitors and attendees alike reported PestWorld to be the most cost-effective and efficient way to do business, shop for new products and services, and stay on the cutting edge of industry technology.
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Whilst it was billed that the number of exhibitors had increased, the overall size of the exhibition looked much the same – the consensus of opinion was that there may have been more stands, but the traditionally large stands (from the big international manufacturers) were smaller. One interesting development this year, in an attempt to boost visitor numbers to the exhibition on the last, traditionally slack day (this year it was a Friday), NPMA came-up with the idea of ”Black Friday” (traditionally the day following Thanksgiving which always falls on a Thursday). For those who have never heard of Black Friday, it’s a bit like the Boxing Day sales where items are on special offer – and ‘black’ comes from retailers who begin to turn a profit, or go ‘into the black’. Maybe the idea will catch-on in subsequent years, but the number of stands promoting special offers was rather limited. As ever, the number of European manufacturers with stands remains encouragingly high, and many do now have fully operational businesses located in the USA, for example PestWest, Brandenburg, P+L, Liphatech and Unichem. Others work closely with their distributors, for example Russell IPM and PelGar. With their own stands were Plastdiversity, Silvandersson and Igeba. Making their debut at this event was RatPak (from Lincoln) with their steel Ultrabait product, Control Zone Products (from Sheffield) with their range of EFKs and Vectorfog from Korea, yet with a global sales base in Farnham, UK. In the US, bed bugs remain the number one pest under debate – far more so than in Europe. So, if you add all the chemicals available for their control on display, to the detection dogs, the various monitors, the heat treatment and fumigation equipment you come up with largest number of pest-specific control options. A large number of options – but nothing radically new. Although not an established name in Europe, FMC Professional Solutions seems a company keen on coming up with novel technologies. Some two years ago they launched the innovative Verifi bed bug monitor which was a combination of technologies – although maybe too clever and too complex for its own good, as there was no obvious sign of this on their stand and rumour has it they have had ‘problems’ with the product. However, this year they were launching EndZone, billed as an insecticide sticker designed to kill flies. It’s a totally simple concept – a clear plastic square coated in a sugar bait matrix (as attractant) with 4.4% acetamiprid, (a neonicotinoid insecticide). You simply place the sticker (about 10 cm square) on windows, in or around rubbish bins, near drains or on/inside EFKs. EndZone was only one of several insecticides available for sale (or talked about in development in the technical sessions) containing some sort of neonicotinoid insecticide. Surprising really as, like Europe, concern has been expressed regarding their use linked to the decline of honey bee numbers. In fact, label wording requirements have recently been announced by EPA for certain neonicotinoids.
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