Between Hardening and Constructive Problem-Solving

Overall, the industry proved to be encouragingly resilient. Many exhibitors reported unusually concrete inquiries, solid projects, and—which is not to be taken for granted in the current situation—surprisingly full order books.

Despite all the external circumstances, this is an encouraging development; it appears that investments are not being put on hold across the board at the moment, but are instead being made in a targeted, selective manner and geared toward immediate efficiency gains. Particularly noticeable is the focus on retrofit solutions. Large-scale new construction projects, on the other hand, are becoming less common. This is consistent with an industry that currently has to rebalance itself amid cost pressures, regulatory requirements, and uncertain sales prospects.

Planning is essential even in volatile times

Overall, the environment remains contradictory. Political and geopolitical tensions are constantly leading to events that, just a few years ago, would have triggered immediate, widespread panic globally—and not just in the stock markets. Even though the current conditions do not seem particularly stable, planning is still essential. With a high degree of flexibility—to be able to respond to unforeseeable developments.

In this context, digitalization in particular is evolving from a largely supportive tool into a key control element. The shift is rapidly moving away from static automation solutions toward networked, flexible systems. In particular, the prospect of making complex handling tasks economically automatable addresses a central problem for many companies on the shop floor—the still-high proportion of manual labor in production.

The topics covered in the 3/2026 issue of mo are correspondingly diverse, ranging from efficient application technology, high-performance pretreatments for aluminum and titanium coatings for composite bipolar plates, to a weld-free, galvanized screening machine, and highly functional coatings produced by electrochemically induced deposition (ECiD).

Stability Without Guarantee

The overall picture is clear, but not without contradictions: The industry is technologically well-positioned, and the order book appears to be more stable than one might fear given the circumstances—yet at the same time, making realistic forecasts remains extremely difficult.

In any case, PaintExpo has made it clear that our industry can function despite the current conditions. Whether this generally optimistic mood can take hold in other sectors of surface technology as well—SurfaceTechnology Germany in Stuttgart, among other events, will soon provide indications of this. It is to be hoped that the takeaway from this year’s second major trade show in the surface technology industry will also be that companies have now found constructive ways to deal with the prevailing uncertainties and adversities.