Paul Eberhard Schall, the founder of trade fair organiser Schall that runs Blechexpo, Fakuma, Control, Motek, and Optatec, has died. He passed away on 19 February shortly before his 77th birthday.
The company will be continued by the trade fair team under the direction of Mr Schall’s wife and sole managing shareholder, Bettina Schall.
The Schall group of companies was founded in the Swabian town of Neuffen in Germany. ‘There was a sort of garage available at a cabinetmaker’s workshop in Neuffen,’ Paul Schall said on the company’s 50th anniversary. ‘It was cheap, empty and hardly impressive. But I had the opportunity of proving my independence with my own company.’
The new firm held its first technical exhibition for modern graphic machines in Stuttgart’s Killesberg district in 1966 with 15 participating companies. Thirty years later, Paul Schall was honoured for his achievements with the Economic Medal of Baden-Württemberg.
The sheet metal processing exhibition, Blechexpo, will take place next year in Stuttgart, Germany from 7 to 10 November 2017.