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ACHEMA or CPHI, depending on who buys from you
Pick the show by thinking about your buyer. ACHEMA presents itself as the leading show for the process and life science industries, with exhibition groups such as laboratory and analytical techniques or pharmaceutical, packaging and storage techniques. According to the official 2024 summary, more than two thirds of participants had a technical or scientific background.
CPHI Frankfurt covers the whole pharma supply chain, from APIs to CDMOs, CROs and machinery. It has bioproduction and machinery and equipment zones, and for 2027 it announces a new lab and analytical equipment zone. If your customer is a CDMO or a pharma company buying for production, CPHI may be the better fit.
The twelve-month timeline before the show
ACHEMA has no application deadline, but space is let on availability. The organiser sends stand offers based on when your application arrives, whether you have exhibited before and technical requirements. Location requests go in with the application itself, so it pays to know what you want from the start.
Watch the cancellation terms. Cancel between 1 September 2026 and 14 March 2027 and you pay 50% of the agreed fees. From 15 March, you pay 100% of the space. The online application is binding, so get the budget signed off by management before you send it.
- 12 to 9 months out. Show, goal and budget. The ACHEMA Calculator gives you a first figure.
- 9 to 6 months. Which unit you bring, which demo you run and which renders or animations you need.
- 6 to 3 months. The accounts and distributors you want to see, and the first invitations.
- 3 months to 1. Team briefing, lead form, materials and a show page on your website.
- The week after. Follow up every contact based on what they saw at the booth.
When is ACHEMA 2027?
ACHEMA 2027 takes place from 14 to 18 June 2027 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. There is no application deadline, but space is let on availability. The online application is binding, and since 1 September 2026 cancelling already costs 50% of the agreed fees, so check the budget before you apply.
Who goes to ACHEMA and which days are busiest
The official 2024 figures help with planning. ACHEMA drew 106,001 participants from 141 countries, 48.9% of them from outside Germany, who stayed 1.9 days on average. A third came from management, and half of that group were C-level. On top of that, the organiser reports that 52% of participants attend no other trade show.
Wednesday was the busiest day with 43,137 visitors, followed by Tuesday with 40,113. Friday had 18,470. Put your key meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday with the full team on the booth, and keep Friday for distributors, suppliers and a look at what competitors are showing.
| Day | Visitors |
|---|---|
| Monday | 29,010 |
| Tuesday | 40,113 |
| Wednesday | 43,137 |
| Thursday | 33,470 |
| Friday | 18,470 |
Would you like us to review your ACHEMA or CPHI timeline? Leave your details and we will tell you what we would do first.
Review my planHow to book meetings before you reach Frankfurt
The meetings that matter are requested weeks ahead and with a concrete reason, such as seeing the scale the customer is evaluating in operation. The ACHEMA exhibition fee includes a digital logo with your hall and stand number and a social media kit. Use them in email signatures, on LinkedIn and on a web page with a link to book a slot.
A practical warning. ACHEMA states that only DECHEMA publishes the official exhibitor directory and app, and that other directories and fair guides are not authorised. When listing offers or invoices of that kind arrive, check them before anyone pays.
Can I exhibit at ACHEMA with a small stand?
Yes. The minimum stand size is 12 square metres, and ACHEMA offers all-in-one stand packages, an area for first-time exhibitors and a start-up area. You can also join a partner's or distributor's stand as a co-exhibitor, with a fee of 1,645 euros per company plus VAT.
What your booth should say and which demo to bring
Your booth message should say in one sentence what you make, for which process and at what scale, and it has to read from the aisle. A bioprocess buyer wants to know at a glance whether you work for mAbs, vaccines or cell and gene therapy, whether you build single-use or stainless steel systems and how many litres you go up to.
Bring the equipment people can touch and show the rest on screen. A benchtop bioreactor or a lab-scale TFF system can be shipped and run on the booth. Pilot and production scales are easier to explain with renders, a process animation or a 3D configurator, which then keep working for the website and the sales team.
How do I know whether ACHEMA or CPHI suits me better?
Look at who buys your equipment. If it is engineering firms, process plants and development labs, ACHEMA is the closer fit. If it is pharma companies and CDMOs sourcing suppliers across the chain, CPHI has bioproduction and machinery zones. A careful option is to exhibit at one and visit the other before deciding on the next cycle.
Briefing the booth team and capturing leads
Before the show, everyone on the team needs the same briefing, with goals, messages and who does what. On an equipment maker's booth you need to decide who greets visitors, who runs the demo, who talks validation, URS or lead times and who logs each conversation. A mix of sales, engineering and marketing tends to answer better than a sales-only team.
Everyone captures the same fields. Company, role, project stage, scale, timeline, what they saw on the booth and whether they agree to receive information. If each salesperson notes things their own way, the follow-up the week after falls apart.
David Monje, founder of crida studio, led marketing at TECNIC Bioprocess Solutions for four and a half years. International trade shows were his test bench, at a time when he was bridging engineering, product and sales to open markets such as Germany, Scandinavia and Asia.
