Subcon sees 58% visitor increase
Around 450 exhibitors from the UK and 11 overseas countries covered every aspect of subcontract manufacturing, advanced manufacturing technology and design engineering.
This wealth of products and services attracted the highest levels of visitor including senior production directors and managers, sourcing and supply chain directors and managers, heads of design and board level executives.
Visitors came from across industry, from high technology niche SMEs to some of the world’s most respected manufacturing organisations including leading brands such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Black & Decker, Caterpillar and Jaguar Land Rover.
The quality, number and relevance of the visitors was a constant theme in comments from exhibitors in all three shows.
Tom Mongan, General Manager at Subcon Laser Cutting said: “In all my years exhibiting, yesterday at the Subcon show has to rank up there with the best. We were inundated with good quality visitors and exceptional leads.”
Robert Glaister, Commercial Director at Cogent Technology, agreed, saying of The Engineer Design & Innovation Show that it was, “one of the best shows in my career”.
A common theme in comments from the show floor was the amount of business being done and orders taken. At the Advanced Manufacturing Show Emily Barker, Managing Director of Odin Engineering, said that the company had done more than £60,000 of business on the first day.
Tony Barker, Business Development Director of Mechatronic Solutions added: “We are potentially looking at getting over £1m pounds of business out of this. It has been fantastic.”
For XYZ Machine Tools, what was notable was the number of new companies it met at the show. UK Sales Manager Martin Burton said: “On the first day nearly 40% of enquiries were from new customers to us and on the second day we were showing about 50%. It has been a very good show for us.”
Special features designed around the needs of the visitors were busy throughout the three days of the shows. These included a high level conference, an Innovation Hub featuring the latest technological advances – such as graphene materials for the 3D printing of aerospace components – and an Advisory Drop-In Centre where visitors could get support and advice from organisations including Lloyds Bank, UKTI, The High Value Manufacturing Catapults, The Business Growth Service and The Engineering Industries Association.
The Subcon show returns to Hall 4 at the NEC from 7-9 June and, and with more than 65% of the space for Subcon 2016 already rebooked, the event looks set to be another record-breaking show.
Grant Burgham, Business Development & Portfolio Director at Centaur Live said: “We built these shows around the business needs of visitors and exhibitors and we are really delighted with the results. We are well underway in our planning for 2016, and I look forward to unveiling some exciting new initiatives shortly.”
