2013 was a record breaking year for Subcon and Advanced Manufacturing with a staggering 64 per cent increase in visitor numbers.Subcon, the UK’s only cross-sector subcontract and contract manufacturing exhibition, alongside the new Advanced Manufacturing Show and The Engineer Conference brought in over 4,100 visitors across a busy three days of business at the NEC in Birmingham.
The opportunity to meet and compare the best suppliers from both the UK and around the world attracted top-level decision makers from right across British manufacturing.
With some of the latest technologies and services in the market on show, the cluster of events attracted senior buyers, production engineers, supply chain managers, strategic sourcing teams, designers and engineering directors from sectors that included aerospace, automotive, oil & gas, medical equipment, energy, electronics and machine building.
A significant number of orders have been placed and exhibitors report high levels of good-quality enquiries. 57% of space has already been rebooked for Subcon 2014 - the UK’s national subcontracting, advanced manufacturing and technology exhibition.
The feedback from visitors and exhibitors alike has been excellent.
In Subcon, the strong UK presence, combined with some of the world’s leading overseas suppliers provided a powerful draw for high level buyers.
David Moore, Strategic Technical Buyer at Spirax Sarco, confirmed this.
“The international pavilions were very good,” he said. “We are always looking for near and far sources and this time we've had the opportunity to meet one of our suppliers from India.
From the exhibitors’ perspective, Andrew Buckingham, Sales & Marketing Manager at Axis Precision Engineering Components said: “We had a very good show. The quality of the visitors was exceptionally good – I’ve got two good leads already.”
Rachel Garrett, Technical Sales and Marketing Manager for Metal Injection Moulding specialist Egide UK Ltd agreed. She said: “It was a brilliant event for us, we had a lot of interest on our stand and some very promising enquiries. We even had companies who had brought packs of drawings with them and came to see us wanting quotes. It was also a good opportunity to arrange to see some of our existing customers from around the country in one place, and to renew our relationship with companies we have worked with in the past.”
Visitors and exhibitors alike were also impressed with the new Advanced Manufacturing Show. The
response was so positive that the organiser, Centaur Exhibitions, confirmed at the Show that it would return in 2015 on a biennial basis.In its inaugural year the exhibition attracted world-leading suppliers including 1st Machine Tool Accessories, Aberlink, Cadventure, C Dugard, Delcam, FARO, Hexagon Metrology, Matsuura, Nikon Metrology, Renishaw, Seiki Systems, Sumitomi Electric Hardmetal, Trac Measurement Systems, TRUMPF, WNT, XYZ Machine Tools and Yamazaki Mazak, amongst others.
Grant Burgham, Business Development and Portfolio Director at Centaur Exhibitions, said: “The exhibitor profile at this year’s Advanced Manufacturing Show has been excellent and we believe that it has a great future.”
Visiting the exhibition, Gary Roberts, Product Development Manager at Rolec Services, agreed.
He said: “The variety of the machinery is very diverse. If you're coming here for engineering opportunities this is the place to be.”
Speaking for the exhibitors, Ian Michie, Marketing Manager at Matsuura says his company was delighted at the unprecedented demand from visitors for live demonstrations.
He said: “The Matsuura stand and our MX-520 5-axis machine received what was at times overwhelming numbers of visitors to watch the live machining demonstrations. A finished component came off the machine every 21 minutes – with eager takers wanting a trophy to take home! So much so that a number of visitors booked their viewing to make sure they could acquire their own demonstration component.”
The conference and seminar programme was also a big success, with packed sessions hearing some truly
remarkable stories of technological excellence and inspiring examples of UK innovation.Speakers came from companies that ranged from large multinationals such as Airbus, Jaguar Land Rover and BAE Systems to cutting edge SMEs such as Bladon Jets which told the story behind its revolutionary micro-gas turbines.
Grant Burgham concluded: “When we launched these events last year, we said we wanted to bring a fresh approach to UK manufacturing exhibitions and create a critical destination for engineers, sourcing teams and manufacturing management across all sectors and disciplines. I believe that what we have seen over the three-day event clearly shows we have succeeded in our objective.
Subcon returns to the NEC in 2014 from 3-5 June with high expectations of another great show – while the Advanced Manufacturing Show is set to be held alongside Subcon again in 2015 from 2-4 June.
