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Industrial Exposition
Highly Successful
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE nine US firms which had exhibits at the
recent German Industrial Exposition in Berlin, termed their partici-
pation in the fair "highly successful." In many cases, the representatives
reported, the gains in good will alone made participation in the Industrial
Exposition worthwhile.
The American firms which took part in the fair included International
Business Machines; General Motors Corporation; Flohr-Otis, Berlin sub-
sidiary of the Otis Elevator Co. of New York; General Electric; Standard
Oil Co.; Webster-Chicago; the National Cash Register Co.; Burroughs
Business Machines, and Addressograph.
The consensus was expressed by F. R. Pujanek of the German Bur-
roughs Adding Machine Co., who pointed out that "our success here
can't be reckoned in terms of on-the-spot business. The real values of
our participation will only become apparent over a long period of time.
"From a business standpoint," he added, "we found interest
high among
buyers from both East and West. A major purpose of our exhibiting
here was to open a window for trade possibilities with the East, and on
that score we consider ourselves 100 percent successful.
"Our old friends from East Germany came in by the hundreds, want-
ing to know when we would be able to deliver our machines to them
again and marveling at the technical progress that has been made in
our production. The models they know are in many cases 20 years old.
THEY ALL ASKED ME, 'When will we be free?"' he
added. Mr. Pujanek said he was particularly im-
pressed with the interest shown by East German youth.
"They stayed long hours, asking a million questions,"
he said, "and I tried to explain the workings of the
machines to their satisfaction. I even let them operate
them. One boy told me if his teacher could see him
there, operating such a machine, he would give him a
beating. One can certainly see from that remark the
'progress' there is in the East."
General Motors sponsored two separate exhibits at the
fair, one displaying models purchasable for dollars and
another showing the products of the German divisions of
the firm. Representatives of the firm said there was great
disappointment on the part of would-be buyers when they
learned the international models could not be ordered.
They were referred, however, to the German divisions,
from which similar goods available on the German market
could be ordered.
They also reported that Eastern visitors complained
about the lack of parts for their old installations and
always took advantage of the opportunity to tell us about
the difficulties of daily life in the East." The German
divisions of General Motors reported several dozen "good
prospects" for sales as a result of the exposition.
FLOHR-OTIS REPORTED "good contacts" and said
both East and West visitors were highly interested
in seeing the demonstration model of the new "touch
Nine showings of 25 different films drew
large crowds daily to theater in George C.
Marshall House. Half of daily average at-
tendance of 50,000 came from Soviet Zone.
button" electronic elevator which was used for the first
time in the United Nations building in New York.
"Contacts made here will certainly result in business
for the firm someday," the sales engineer said. "Our ex-
hibit here resulted in much good will and brought our
name before a large cross-section of both East and West
residents.
General Electric representatives also reported major
success, emphasizing "enormous" gains in good will.
Addressograph representatives noted that "if it had been
possible to take East-Mark orders we would have taken
in more than 500,000 marks in the first 10 days of the
fair." They said one East zone businessman tried to place
an order for 100,000 marks worth of machines.
IBM also reported "substantial" business prospects
gained from West fair visitors and great interest on the
part of the East German businessmen. "Machines cannot
be shipped into East Germany," booth representatives
said, "but our customers there are patient. They are
merely waiting."
Webster-Chicago officials expressed satisfaction with
the fair's results, reporting substantial orders from West
Berlin and West German firms for its business machines.
MORE THAN 603,000 persons viewed the "Better Liv-
ing" exhibits in the George C. Marshall House on
the fair grounds during the exposition Oct. 6-21. Visitors
to all fair exhibits totaled 778.000, approximately 45 per-
INFORMATION BULLETIN
JANUARY 1952
33