An acrylic exhibition stand is a schedule as much as a structure. Six weeks before a trade fair in Düsseldorf, a brand team approved a stand design and then discovered that the acrylic counters could not be produced, crated and shipped in the time left. The stand went by air in three parts, arrived with one cracked panel, and the repair was done in the hall at three times the factory cost.
The three dates that govern an acrylic exhibition stand
- Design freeze: the date after which no dimension changes
- Sample approval: a physical corner sample, not a render
- Hall handover: the date the venue opens for build
Everything between those dates is arithmetic. Fabrication takes two to three weeks for a 20 to 40 square metre stand, packing takes two days, sea freight takes four to six weeks and air freight takes five to eight days.
If the maths does not work, the answer is not to compress fabrication. It is to split the stand: structural parts by sea, graphics and lit elements by air.
Week one: design and the sample that prevents surprises
Approving a corner sample resolves the three arguments that otherwise arrive after production: the exact tint of the acrylic, the edge finish where panels are visible, and the joint detail where two panels meet.
A sample costs a few days and one sheet. Skipping it costs a repaint or a remake, and those are measured in weeks.
Weeks two and three: fabrication
Counters and plinths at 8 to 10 mm, graphic walls at 5 to 6 mm, shelving at 3 to 4 mm. Joints are bonded with a solvent cement that needs 24 hours to reach handling strength, so a stand with sixty joints cannot be packed the day it is glued.
Lighting is integrated last, because heat from LED strips close to a panel will show as a faint bloom after a few hours of operation. A 30 mm air gap behind the light solves it.
Packing to survive a forklift
Every panel gets corner protection, a slip sheet and a label keyed to the assembly drawing. Panels are packed in assembly order, so the hall crew opens one crate and finds the parts for one wall.
That single decision removes most of the on-site confusion that turns a two-day build into a four-day one.
Week four: freight and the repair allowance
Sea freight is the cheap option and the slow one; air freight is fast and volumetric. Acrylic is light, so air freight is priced on volume, which means flat-packed panels cost far less to fly than assembled boxes.
Reserve the last week for repair, not production. A tube of cement, a polishing kit and two spare panels of each thickness will fix nearly anything that happens in a hall. Cut-to-size panels ordered as spares are cheap insurance at this stage.
Where stands fail after the show
The most common failure is not at the fair but at the second fair: panels stored upright without a slip sheet develop scratches, and joints that were never cleaned pick up dust that shows under the next lighting scheme.
A stand designed for reuse should be built with removable graphics and a crate that holds each wall flat. That is a design decision, and it is cheaper to make at week one than at the end of the season. For bonded sub-assemblies, the panel bonding service covers the joint types that survive repeated packing.
Send your stand drawings and show date to oversales@rpplexiglass.com; we will confirm which parts can ship by air and which must go by sea.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does an acrylic exhibition stand take to produce?
Four to five weeks from design freeze for a typical 20 to 40 square metre stand, with two weeks of that in fabrication and one in packing. Rushed stands are possible but the repair allowance disappears.
Should the stand ship assembled or flat?
Flat, almost always. Assembled stands attract volumetric freight and damage. Flat-packed panels with a numbered assembly drawing arrive in better condition and fit a standard truck.
What thickness is used for stand walls?
8 to 10 mm for structural walls and counters, 5 to 6 mm for graphics panels, 3 to 4 mm for shelving. Thin panels on a long span bow under lights and read as poor quality.