SOUTHERN MANUFACTURING SHOW PREVIEW
BACK IN BUSINESS
SOUTHERN MANUFACTURING & ELECTRONICS
Southern Manufacturing & Electronics makes a welcome return to Farnborough from February 8th to 10th 2022
The show ’ s eagerly-awaited revival comes as engineering firms across the country are getting back to business and keen to reinvigorate their order books . Happily , many of the show ’ s regular participants seem to have weathered the turbulent conditions of the last 20 months and are now eager to pitch their wares at the UK ’ s longest running and largest annual engineering show . As in previous years , the show features an incredible array of high-tech automation , mechanical and electronics components , tooling , industrial hardware , business and subcontract services from all over the UK , continental Europe and beyond .
While the worst of the pandemic is hopefully behind us , the effects of it – and that of the other significant event of recent years , Brexit – will continue to have have far reaching repercussions for manufacturers for years to come . In particular , dealing with skills shortages , rising energy costs , supply chain difficulties and the challenges of cross-border business . These are all areas where Southern Manufacturing 2022 and its diverse exhibitor base are helping to find answers .
Automation has taken on a new sense of urgency as manufacturers strive to find ways to do more with less . Design & Automation Solutions will be demonstrating one solution on its stand at Southern 2022 , using a MELFA ‘ Assista ’ Collaborative Robot , supplied by Mitsubishi Electric Automation Systems UK . DAS creates custom cobot solutions for a variety of applications , recent examples being a tooled Grimm linear to a cap feeding system for a UK based biotech automation company and a project to provide a highperformance powered gantry system . XYZ Machine Tools will provide exhibition visitors with the first UK sighting of its brand new XYZ SS 65 twin / sub-spindle turning centre , its first multi-spindle turning centre . XYZ points out the ability to machine in one-hit reduces part handling and idle time , delivering tangible advantages as companies bounce back from the restraints of the Covid pandemic whilst simultaneously facing the challenge of finding skilled labour .
Automation has taken on a new sense of urgency as manufacturers strive to find ways to do more with less .
Rising energy costs and the prospect of carbon taxes on the horizon are also pressing issues to be addressed . Energy saving solutions and a turnkey installation service of renewable energy and low carbon technologies will be showcased by Noble Green Energy . The company delivers a range of key low carbon technologies nationwide for high energy usage clients across a variety of sectors , including manufacturing , automotive , chemical , food / drink , printing and agriculture . Technologies include solar PV , battery storage , combined heat and power ( CHP ), biomass , heat pumps , LED lighting as well as asset finance and PPAs , monitoring and maintenance .
As manufacturing becomes more connected and comes to rely more and more on IoT technologies , so too the issue of cyber security becomes something manufacturers need to take very seriously . Secure embedded memory products will be showcased by Nexus Industrial Memory . Its Flexxon ’ s X-PHY solid state drives ( SSD ) was selected by Lenovo for what are expected to be the world ’ s first ‘ all-in-one ’ AI cybersecurity laptops . The SSDs are proving popular in embedded systems as security is implemented in the drive ’ s firmware , which monitors for threats in realtime and locks down the moment a threat is detected . There will be demonstrations to simulate cyber-attacks on the X-PHY as well as a range of Flexxon ’ s memory ICs , cards and modules .
But while leading-edge automation and IoT technologies are plentiful at Southern Manufacturing & Electronics , the show remains at its heart one of the best events in the UK to solve the more mundane sourcing problems . The show features hundreds of vendors of both mechanical and electronic components , making it a great place to tackle multiple procurement challenges in one visit .
52 PECM Issue 54