PECM Issue 43 2020 | Page 85

The exhibition alongside is a one-stop shop for the latest smart technologies to give manufacturers that competitive edge. The organisers feedback shows that over 15% of attendees have purchasing authority of over £500k, and this has resulted in many major contracts arising from encounters at the show. Gilmour adds “The products on display tend to be big ticket purchases. We know from exhibitors that it is 6 months after the show that they start to see their ROI. We’ve had two robotics companies secure very sizeable contracts, and one large company has said they have received both a seven-figure order as a result of exhibiting and more solid sales leads than any other event”. The event has consistently attracted broad mixture of the manufacturing community ranging from division heads of engineering, chief intelligence officers, project directors to robotics & automation engineers from the likes of BAE Systems, Airbus, AstraZeneca, MBDA, JCB, Oscar Meyer & Unilever as well as number of SMEs keen to get a better understanding what 4.0 means for them. For the next event there will be a new show running alongside called the World Advanced Materials Summit & Expo, WAMSE for short. This event has evolved out of the support industry 4.0 has received in Manchester, and it will be an event that showcases latest advanced material developments and their application and adoption into manufacturing. It will cover areas such as composites, graphene, biomaterials & nanomaterials and will link research, government and industry and provide latest thinking on areas such as sustainable packaging & light-weighting. Both events combined expect to deliver a minimum of 3,500 visitors across the advanced manufacturing & materials communities, and over 120 exhibitors and 80 speakers. Interested parties can get more information at www.industry40summit. com and www.wamse.com or call the organisers at 01642 438225. For further information, please visit www.wamse.com Issue 43 PECM 85