November/December 2023 www.drivesncontrols.com 8 n NEWS MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING WEEK HAS been renamed Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week for the 2024 event, which takes place at the NEC in June. The show’s organiser, Nineteen Group, says the change reflects the forward-looking nature of the event and focus on the new technologies driving the sector forward. “The week is all about cutting-edge innovations in hardware and software and solutions to the current challenges being faced around industry 4.0, sustainability and supply chain shortages, to name a few,” explains the event’s marketing director, Verity Noon. “Manufacturers and engineers are constantly looking for ways to work smarter, to become more efficient, stay ahead of the competitive curve and explore new business models and practices and Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week will help them do just that.” This will be the first year that the Drives & Controls show and its sister exhibitions, Air-Tech and Fluid Power & Systems (all previously owned by DFA Media), will be fully-fledged parts of the event, taking place in their own hall. They will run for three days (4–6 June), while the other exhibitions – Design & Engineering Expo, Smart Factory Expo and Maintec – will run for two days (5–6 June) next door. Together, the events are expected to attract “way beyond 450 exhibitors”. “Drives & Controls is one of the great brand names in the UK industrial exhibitions sector,” says its director, Laura Parris. “It has such a long history from the days when it overflowed from its original home in Telford to now where it finds its natural place as part of Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week.” Other live events taking place during the Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week will include: the Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit; the Director’s Forum; and the Industrial Data Summit; and the Manufacturing Automation and Robotics Summit. The Manufacturer Top 100 Award ceremony will also take place during the week. “In 2023, we gave our team licence to put on an event which was different to how industrial exhibitions and conferences had been staged in the past,” comments Nineteen Group CEO, Peter Jones. “The festival feeling which they created will be built on in 2024 and the addition of Drives & Controls in Hall 5 means we must think even bigger as there are just simply more people to engage and entertain.” www.mandeweek.co.uk Manufacturing & Engineering Week gets Smart for 2024 The 2024 Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week will be the first at which the Drives & Controls show will have its own hall COVENTRY UNIVERSITY HAS relaunched its Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) with a £6m expansion aimed at helping UK manufacturers on their journeys to a clean, sustainable and digital world. The latest funding – which takes the total investment in AME so far to £18m – adds nearly 2,000m2 of space which is being used for a digital twin pilot environment, a robot testing area, AI and VR stations, laser welders and six new laboratories. AME was originally born out of a collaboration with Unipart Manufacturing in 2014. Since then, it has completed more than £110m of R&D and commercial projects for companies including Aston Martin, Ford and Lotus, helping to generate more than £500m of economic benefits. Almost 175 companies – including OEMs and SMEs – have been involved in the collaborative work, and more than 400 students have graduated with a combination of real-world shopfloor and classroom learning. The latest funding includes £5m from the University and a £1m grant from the Government’s Local Growth Fund. “The AME expansion is more than just physical growth of an additional 2,000m2; it’s a testament to our unwavering commitment to bridging the skills and R&D gap between academia and industry,” says AME director, Marcos Kauffman. www.coventry.ac.uk/ame Coventry’s ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’ gets a £6m expansion EVENTS Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2024 6-8 February, 2024 Farnborough The annual regional event is aimed at people involved in design, engineering production and procurement. They can see the latest in production hardware, components, consumables and other technologies. The organisers expect around 800 exhibitors and 9,000 visitors. www.industrysouth.co.uk Hannover Messe 22-26 April, 2024 Hannover, Germany The industrial megashow returns bringing together exhibitors from digital industries, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and the energy sector. Key topics will include Industry 4.0/Manufacturing-X, digitisation, AI and machine learning. The fair will include a Research and Innovation Summit for the first time. The partner country is Norway. www.hannovermesse.de/en Drives & Controls 4-6 June, 2024 NEC, Birmingham Now part of Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week, the Drives & Controls show will run alongside other events including Air-Tech, Fluid Power & Systems, Maintec, Smart Factory Expo and Design+Engineering Expo. It will cover areas including industrial automation, energy efficiency, machine safety, drives, motion controls, power transmission and robotics. www.mandeweek.co.uk/ drives-controls-expo-home Smart Manufacturing Engineering Week 5-6 June, 2024 NEC, Birmingham The event will include the Maintec, Smart Factory Expo and Design & Engineering Expo shows and will run alongside Drives & Controls, Air-Tech, Fluid Power & Systems. The organisers say the “Festival of Industrial Innovation” represents the future of manufacturing and engineering in the UK. As well as the exhibitions there will be conferences and summits. www.mandeweek.co.uk
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