A Guide to IFEX (Indian Foundry Expo) for First-Time Exhibitors
Building at the rotating venue: the rules that shape your stand
IFEX runs at major venues — the India Expo Mart (Greater Noida), Mahatma Mandir (Gandhinagar) or HITEX (Hyderabad) in recent editions — each with its own access and marshalling discipline. We design to the specific venue and hall allocated, because heights, grids, loading and the freight leg differ — roughly 1,400 km from Mumbai to Greater Noida, 525 km to Gandhinagar, or 710 km to Hyderabad.
Foundry machinery is heavy, so floor loading is the first calculation: we plan machine positions, base plates and load spread to the venue's limits, and coordinate the forklift and rigging to move equipment in safely. Three-phase power is ordered against a declared load through the official contractor ahead of the deadline; all materials are FR-treated with certificate and fire NOC filed before move-in; finishing is completed off-site; and two-storey builds need a structural-stability certificate from a licensed engineer.
We plan the logistics to the venue: machinery is crated and convoy-timed for the relevant road leg, and because foundry equipment often arrives separately from the manufacturer, we coordinate the stand and the machines into one access window rather than letting them clash on the marshalling yard.
What a winning foundry stand needs
The stands that win orders at IFEX put the machine or the material first and make the capability legible. For machinery brands, we design a stable, well-lit platform with safe sightlines for a running or demonstrated machine, clear signage on process, output and automation; for materials, refractories and consumables, we design strong technical product display with the data a foundry engineer scans for. A meeting area lets a foundry owner or engineer talk specification and supply.
Capability has to read fast on a technical floor, so we give the demonstration or the technical data room rather than crowding the stand with generic imagery, and keep the message specific so a foundry buyer grasps your machinery or material capability before they reach you.
Designing for foundry owners, engineers and casting buyers
Buyers walk IFEX with capital-equipment, materials and process decisions, so the stand has to qualify them fast and then talk numbers: a clear statement of the machine's process and output or the material's performance, a demonstration or technical display, then a conversation about throughput, integration, price and service. We design the path from the display to that conversation, because at a technical machinery-and-materials show the proof earns the meeting and the meeting earns the order.
We keep the message specific to your domain — melting, moulding, sand plant, metals, refractories, consumables, testing — because a machinery buyer and a refractory buyer want different proof, and a precise capability statement is found far faster than a general 'foundry solutions' one.
What an IFEX stand costs
A turnkey SOL stand at IFEX runs from ₹1.8 lakh for a focused 9–18 m² Essential presence, from ₹4.5 lakh for a 24–48 m² Regular build with a machine platform or technical display and a meeting area, and from ₹12 lakh for a 50–100 m²-plus Premium raw-space, double-deck or multi-machine build. The figure is all-inclusive — design, fabrication, graphics, lighting, freight, install, dismantle and the venue paperwork — with only the organiser's floor space outside it.
What moves the number is machine floor loading and handling, a live demonstration with three-phase power, or a double-deck or large raw-space build. What you do not pay extra for is flooring, material handling and electrical fit-out, which on a machinery show is exactly where stands get caught out.
Stand sizes and layouts
Stands run from compact 9–18 m² spaces for consumables, refractory and component suppliers up to 100 m²-plus raw-space builds carrying machinery for major builders. The layout puts the machine or technical display where the aisle sees it, keeps safe circulation around equipment, and sets a meeting area slightly back. Corner and island positions help a machine be seen and approached on a busy, order-focused floor.
Whatever the size, we light and present the machinery or product to show build and technical quality, because on a foundry floor the presentation of the machine or material is part of how a technical buyer judges the engineering.
Getting into the venue: build-up timing
The venue runs a tight build-up and marshalling schedule, and power and handling book up early. We confirm your build slot, calculate and order three-phase power through the official contractor before the deadline, plan floor loading and the forklift schedule for machine move-in, and time the freight so the stand lands inside its access window — built and ready for the machines to be set and commissioned.
Because machinery and stand often arrive separately, we coordinate both streams into one plan rather than reacting to them on build day.
Reusing your stand between editions
Foundry brands exhibit at IFEX, IMTEX and the regional metallurgy circuit across the year, so a modular reusable stand designed around your machine footprints is strong value. We store the core in Mumbai, refresh graphics and technical display for each edition, and keep your power and handling orders on file — so the next show is a refresh and a re-set of the machines, not a rebuild.
Common mistakes, in order of frequency
- Treating a machinery stand like a graphics stand and under-planning floor loading and power.
- Letting the machines and the stand arrive uncoordinated and lose hours on the marshalling yard.
- A live demo with no safety guarding — a hazard and a credibility risk.
- Generic imagery that hides which process and output the machine or material delivers.
Getting Started
Send your stand size, your hall and stand number once the organiser has issued it, and a short note on what will physically happen on the stand. You get a 3D design and an itemised all-in quote, at no charge and with no obligation.
