Subcon to co-locate with Advanced Manufacturing Show
This year's exhibitors commented on the extremely high quality of visitors, including top buyers from blue-chip manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems and JCB, and this was reflected in the number of companies booking their stands for the 2015 show.
The organisers have already opened up additional space on the floor plan to meet demand.
According to exhibitor Gerry Dunne of Westley Engineering and the Midlands Assembly Network: “The quality of visitors has been even better than previous years. It has been very good for us and we have already booked to come back in 2015 with a bigger stand.”
Leon James of electronics company SIC agreed: “We certainly had a good show. Subcon is the best of the subcontracting shows for us and has the best-quality visitors. It was consistently good over the three days of the show. We generated leads, made some good contacts and have already booked for Subcon 2015.”
David Lindsay of Laser Process emphasised that Subcon was a place where people come to do business, saying: “We have had a good show with a good number of quality leads. Everyone seemed very positive and there were certainly people with work to place.”
The strong presence of trade associations at Subcon looks set to continue, with many of the participating organisations expecting to extend their presence next year.
Chris Gladwin of the British Turned Parts Manufacturers Association (BTMA) said: “From the point of view of the BTMA it was a very good show with an excellent quality of visitors. And on the basis of the feedback I’ve had, it has been good for our members too. We have certainly been busy throughout the three days of the show and we have had the right visitors for us. Overall I would say it has been an excellent show – very well-organised. We are hoping to have a major presence of BTMA members at Subcon 2015.”
One of the BTMA’s members, Bright Engineering, used the show to highlight its new name and ownership. Managing Director Jon Hoyle said: “This was the fifth time of exhibiting at Subcon, and exhibiting this year as BTMA members, the 2014 show was an excellent platform for us to re-launch Bright Engineering (North West) following a recent management buy-out and rebranding exercise.
“We were delighted to see such a highly focused footfall at this year’s show and we returned to base with a folder full of fantastic leads. From an operational viewpoint, Subcon is a tremendously well-organised show and we will almost certainly be re-visiting next year.”
As well as the business being done, highlights of the exhibition included a top-level conference with senior executives from Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, BAE Systems and Siemens among the speakers as well as feature displays of the Bloodhound SSC and Skylon space plane. One of the prototype Mars Rover vehicles also had a spin round the show on the first day.
Other notable features included a VIP lounge and networking zone sponsored by Truphone and the participation of UKTI – via presentations and one-to-one meetings – to show companies how it could help them export.
Subcon is the UK’s national subcontracting, advanced manufacturing and technology exhibition. It covers every aspect of outsourced manufacturing services and technology from design and prototyping, machining, moulding, 3D printing, fabrication, composites, electronic assembly and finishing to software, testing, inspection and metrology.
In 2015 Subcon will run alongside The Advanced Manufacturing Show, the biennial event for machine tools, tooling and metrology equipment and a new annual event, The Engineer Design and Innovation show, that will focus on the tools, service and products that are essential to bring a product to market.
The three shows will take place on 2-4 June 2015 at the NEC in Birmingham.
