A new era for the UK’s favourite engineering show
Southern Manufacturing & Electronics returns to Farnborough from February 6th to 8th 2018 for its 20th anniversary event. Two decades is a rarity for any exhibition and certainly an event worthy of celebration. But 2018 marks an even more important milestone for the show, and one which heralds a new era of development for one of the UK’s best-supported and most popular engineering shows.
From 2018 the show will move into its new permanent home, currently taking shape on the familiar Farnborough site. The £30m Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre development is the largest exhibition venue to be built in the UK for 20 years. The 20,000m² Hall 1 complex, designed by award-winning architects Terence O’Rourke, offers world-class facilities, easy access and panoramic runway level views.
But aside from the bright new surroundings, it is business as usual for Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2018 as many hundreds of Europe’s top engineering suppliers converge on Farnborough for arguably the most important annual engineering event of the year. For process engineers, the event offers a cornucopia of components – both electronic and mechanical – software, OEM parts, consumables and production hardware.
Hosting an expected 800 companies from around the globe, the event is significant enough to draw-in many highly recognisable big-name brands such as Nikon Metrology, Renishaw, Matsuura, Brady, Cosel, Delta Electronics, Yamaichi, ODU and TDK Lambda amongst many others. But it is also still the main annual exhibition for a huge variety of specialist SMEs, between them offering an incredible range of expertise, niche products and services. These two aspects of the show make it one of the most productive events you can attend, especially if multiple sourcing issues need to be addressed.
As in previous years, the venue is divided roughly equally between electronics and manufacturing technology, and then further loosely sub-divided into focus areas such as Subcontracting, Production Machinery & Tooling, Packaging & Logistics, Electronics Production and so on. There are no rigid boundaries between the various areas and visitors are encouraged to explore the rich variety that the show has to offer. Technology Trails bring together firms with expertise in particular areas such as Aerospace or Medical Technology, and the Trails are multi-discipline, so it’s possible to easily find, for example, both electronics and precision engineering firms with Aerospace expertise. Pre-registered visitors to the show receive a free Show Guide catalogue to help them locate products and services of interest to them. Visitors registering online before January will also receive a free 12 page preview magazine to help plan their visit. A full listing of exhibitors is available online at www.industrysouth.co.uk
Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2018 opens from February 6th to 8th. Admission to the show is free. More information and tickets are available from www.industrysouth.co.uk. Farnborough Exhibition and Conference Centre offers free on-site car parking and is easily reached by road, air or public transport.
.
