Advanced Engineering UK to introduce product testing and quality control zone

Image courtesy Advanced Engineering UK

The new zone will span across Advanced Engineering and Lab Innovations, which will once again be co-located, giving visitors and exhibitors access to an even wider range of professionals, products and solutions. After a welcoming reception in 2021, the space and satellite zone will return, uniting the likes of the Midlands Aerospace Alliance, Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence and the Satellite Applications Catapult, who will showcase a range of satellites on their pavilion.

Now in its thirteenth year, the show is expected to attract thousands of attendees from all engineering disciplines and markets — aerospace, marine, automotive, defence, advanced metals, connected manufacturing and more. There will be four forums, which will each house two days of innovative and ground-breaking talks from industry experts. In 2021, this included representatives from the Aerospace Technology Institute, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, ADS, the UK Space Agency, Jaguar Land Rover, Composites UK, BAE Systems, Make UK and more.

The event is set to unite the UK’s leading engineering and supply chain professionals to drive and discover innovation, discuss meeting net zero targets and other challenges, and come together to share ideas and best practice.

This year’s speaker programme is already filling up and is set to trump that of its previous edition with a star-studded line up of industry experts confirmed to speak already. David Morgan, Director of Flight Operations at EasyJet, will take to the stage on the aerospace forum to discuss how the company is developing new technologies to help decarbonise aviation. There will also be other speakers at the event to highlight the vast range of specialities that Advanced Engineering offers, from Andrew Blows, Technical Specialist Strength and Durability CAE, Jaguar Land Rover, Alan Banks, Lightweighting Innovation Manager, Ford Motor Company and Craig Carr, Technology Director Integrated Composites Structures, GKN Aerospace. To further complement this year’s overarching theme of sustainability, Advanced Engineering is introducing a sustainability trail, where exhibitors showcasing an environmentally-friendly product or service will be highlighted in show material and with physical branding on their stand. Alongside this, the innovation trail will showcase the most innovative and pioneering exhibitors for 2022.

Advanced Engineering welcomes back its valued sponsors once again, with Silverstone Technology, GRP Solutions, University of Strathclyde, HP, and PRF Composite Materials headlining the event this year. In the composites networking area, PRF will showcase a museum of ground-breaking composite products for attendees to see. Associate forum sponsors, Cristex Composite Materials, Aerospace Manufacturing and Ripley Solutions will support over 200 hours of CPD-accredited learning, which is free for all visitors and exhibitors.   

The Enabling Innovation zone will return once again, giving the UK’s most innovative start-ups the chance to present their business to a panel of industry leading figures. Attendees will have access to representatives from some of the world’s top automotive and aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), courtesy of the show’s co-located Meet the Buyer events. The Meet the Buyer events will be hosted by ADS and the Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT) to help association members and Advanced Engineering exhibitors hold valuable conversations with buyers that are looking for specific solutions and components to fulfil their active projects.

“Advanced Engineering’s supporters are one of the main reasons that we’re able to have such a huge impact on the UK’s engineering and manufacturing sectors,” commented Alison Willis, Director at Easyfairs, the organiser of Advanced Engineering. “Some of the world’s key industry associations, such as ADS Group, SMMT, Composites UK, Make UK, UKRI, UK Space Agency, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, GAMBICA, and ALFED among others, have chosen to support Advanced Engineering for years and, because of this, we can ensure that the show addresses the issues that our industry is facing.”

“Events like Advanced Engineering are hugely important in stimulating action that will take us towards net zero,” commented Rosa Wilkinson, Policy Director at the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. As a speaker at last year’s event, Wilkinson said, “One of the things that really strikes me as I walk around the halls is that there are all sorts of ideas and products that companies can harness within their own net zero journey. I’ll bet that some of them came here looking for a particular supplier and they’ll leave with 101 good ideas. There are also people here that they can make contact with that can help them take that idea and make it a reality — I think it’s brilliant.”

When interviewed at Advanced Engineering 2021, Ben Fletcher, Chief Operating Officer of Make UK said, “I think Advanced Engineering is absolutely fantastic — the mood around the stands, the atmosphere, the skills, the technology that’s on show today is all world class. You walk around and you see companies providing cutting edge solutions, companies that have some of the best innovation in the world and the way that people are feeding off that really demonstrates that Britain is back after Covid and the sector is back and performing very strongly.”  

Registration to attend Advanced Engineering UK (2nd-3rd November 2022) is now open.