When ALUMINIUM 2026 opened its doors at Messe Düsseldorf on 6 October, Romania’s aluminium industry was impossible to miss. Two stands — a 196 m² double-deck for ALRO in Hall 3 and a 110 m² stand for ALRO Extrusion in Hall 1 — were designed and built by XDS, IFES member since 2005, and delivered on schedule with three partners from the IFES family: fundus7, who furnished both stands, Expodium, who supplied the raised and LED-lit flooring, and SQM, who supplied and commissioned the main LED wall. Four IFES Family companies, 306 square metres, one deadline — met.

Setting the Stage: Romania’s Aluminium Industry Comes to Düsseldorf

ALUMINIUM is the world’s leading trade fair for the aluminium industry and its application sectors. For the 2026 edition — back at Messe Düsseldorf from 6 to 8 October — two top aluminium companies from Romania, ALRO and ALRO Extrusion, decided to arrive again, not as visitors but as exhibitors with a bold statement to make.

They turned again to XDS, the Arad-based stand design and build company that has carried the IFES flag in Romania since 2005. The brief was substantial: a 196 m² double-deck stand for ALRO in Hall 3 (3E23), with client meeting rooms on both levels, a hospitality area and 2 large LED walls — and a 110 m² stand for ALRO Extrusion in Hall 1(1B39), with a full hospitality programme. Together: 306 m² in two different halls, with a single contractual handover deadline — Monday 5 October, 18:00, the evening before the fair opened.

For a team whose workshop sits 1,400 km from Düsseldorf, that is exactly the kind of project where the IFES network stops being a line in a membership brochure and starts being the way the job actually gets done.

The Power of the Network: Furniture, Flooring and the Big Screen

Rather than trucking every last component across Europe, XDS built the two stands the IFES way: core structure, design and project management from Romania, and the right local partners for what is best sourced locally.

fundus7, Düsseldorf’s exhibition furniture specialists, furnished both stands from their local stock — meeting-room seating, bar stools, tables — delivered straight to the halls. Their flexibility showed and was highly appreciated as always.

Expodium delivered the raised flooring on both stands — the platform floor with PVC finish for ALRO’s double-deck in Hall 3, and the floor build for ALRO Extrusion in Hall 1, including BOMA-ELAST finishing and integrated LED floor elements that gave the stand its backlit signature. A raised floor is never just a floor: it is where all the power and data cabling of a two-storey stand lives, and it is the first thing that must be right before anything else can go up. Ronny Weser’s team worked shoulder to shoulder with the XDS crew through the build-up days, adjusting on the spot as the cabling plan for the upper deck evolved.

SQM brought the third piece: the main LED wall — the moving centrepiece of the ALROstand — supplied on rental together with hands-on assistance at installation and commissioning. A screen that size is a project of its own: rigging, power, signal, calibration. Having the people who know the hardware working next to the people who built the structure took a whole category of risk off the critical path, and the wall was live and calibrated before handover.

The network advantage was most visible on the ALRO Extrusion project. The contract was signed at the end of August — barely five weeks before opening day. A compressed timeline like that only works when your partners are minutes from the Messe, know its halls by heart, and treat your deadline as their own. By 5 October at 18:00, both stands — in two different halls — were handed over to their clients, on schedule, the evening before doors opened.
There is a quieter benefit, too, one close to the IFES sustainability agenda: furniture rented ten kilometres away and reusable floor systems mean fewer trucks on the road and nothing built to be thrown away.

Delivered on Time, Together

On Monday 5 October at 18:00, both stands were formally handed over — ALRO’s double-deck in Hall 3 and the ALRO Extrusion stand in Hall 1, where ALRO Extrusion marked twenty years “From metal to meaning”. The handover protocols were signed that same evening, and the next morning ALUMINIUM 2026 opened over both.

For three show days the stands did what they were designed to do: ALRO’s glass-fronted meeting rooms ran back-to-back client conversations above the crowd, while the overhead crown carried “Made in Europe. Built for the world.” across the hall. When the fair closed on 8 October, the same partnership dismantled it all in reverse — fundus7’screw returning at night to pick all furniture safely before the structure followed.

“Every stand builder knows the feeling of delivering far from home: your workshop is 1,400km away and the clock does not care,” says Voicu Sferdianu, Chief Visionary Officer of XDS and a former IFES President. “What IFES gives you is partners who treat your handover as their own. fundus7 furnished two stands in two halls as naturally as if we shared one warehouse, and Expodium’s floors were the first thing down and the last thing anyone had to worry about. That is what membership looks like at 17:55 on handover day.”

“From the first order in June to carrying furniture away on dismantling night, this was the kind of cooperation rental is meant to be.” — Patrick Meuter, Managing Director, fundus7
“Working with the XDS crew was straightforward — clear drawings, clear deadlines, and decisions taken on the spot. Two stands, two halls, one team.” — Ronny Weser, Expodium
“Behind every impressive multimedia installation is a team of people who make it happen. Working with XDS demonstrates the real strength of the IFES network — combining technical expertise, trust and teamwork to deliver outstanding results. At SQM, we believe that great technology makes an impact, but great partnerships make it possible.”— Jakub Kowala, Sales Director, SQM

About the Partners

XDS (Arad, Romania) – IFES member since 2005 — designs and builds custom, modular and double-deck exhibition stands in Düsseldorf and across Europe, with turnkey show services, international logistics and on-site project management;
ALUMINIUM Düsseldorf – is one of the fairs the team returns to edition after edition. Voicu Sferdianu, XDS’s Chief Visionary Officer, served eleven years on the IFES Board, four of them as President.
fundus7 – Based in Düsseldorf, fundus7 is one of the leading providers of rental furniture in Germany and its European neighbours. www.fundus7.de/en
Expodium – exhibition flooring specialists, whose raised-floor and LED floor systems carried both XDS stands at ALUMINIUM 2026.
SQM (Poznań, Poland) – supplier of the main LED wall on the ALRO stand – is a European technology partner delivering audiovisual solutions, rigging, lighting and content production for corporate meetings, exhibitions and live events. With offices in Poznań, Barcelona and London, SQM combines technical expertise, creativity and comprehensive services to deliver projects across Europe. Its technical, creative and service teams work as one, ensuring every project is executed with precision, reliability and innovation. sqm.eu