Continuing threats from the COVID-19 pandemic continue to thwart plans for in-person events.
On May 10, plastics machinery manufacturer Arburg GmbH + Co KG announced it was canceling its annual Technology Days again for 2021, for the second year. The company had intended to spread the event over six days, June 7-12, rather than the traditional four, to allow for strict adherence to all prevailing COVID-19 safety measures. It had instituted a COVID-compliant invitation and visitor management system and a meticulously planned hygiene and testing concept designed to safeguard the safety of visitors and employees.
All to no avail, however. Arburg has now been forced to backpedal on all plans for an in-person event.
In a statement, the company wrote that "consultations with official bodies and due consideration of the ramifications of the global coronavirus epidemic that are still clearly evident’ prompted last Friday’s decision to cancel."
"The so-called 'Federal Emergency Brake' applied by the German government has has a decisive influence on this situation," the company said.
Juliane Hehl, the managing partner responsible for marketing at Arburg added: “We regret this cancellation hugely but we are compelled to take this step due to prevailing parameters. Up until the final moment, we were hoping, and were genuinely working flat out, to enable these Technology Days to take place in the form, at long last, of a physical trade fair.”
Arburg’s Technology Days are a brand in their own right, she noted, “so we really did do everything conceivable to facilitate, at long last, a personal and physical event experience for our customers.”
Next year, in 2022, the Technology Days will be held in March, at the company’s Black Forest headquarters in Lossburg, Germany.