Plant & Asset Management 2014 - maintaining the standard

With only a couple of months to go until The Plant & Asset Management Exhibition returns to the NEC, event organiser DFA Media is optimistic this year's show will exceed both the exhibitor and visitor numbers of the 2012 event, which itself attracted the highest visitor numbers yet; totalling 11,146 for the three-day co-located event. This represented an increase of 29 per cent from the 8624 attendance figure of the 2010 shows, highlighting a significant return of confidence to the UK manufacturing sector.

The event is supported by the IPlantE, the plant engineering professional sector of SOE (the society Operations Engineers), Cranfield University, The Institution of Diagnostic Engineers, UKTA, BCAS, and the Institute of Asset Management. The co-location of DFA Media exhibitions - Fluid Power & Systems, Air-Tech, Drives & Controls, and Plant & Asset Management, together with the newly launched European Offshore & Energy Exhibition (all to be staged at the NEC Hall 3/3A, Birmingham, from 8-10 April 2014) - are currently up on contracted exhibitors by 57 per cent compared with the 2012 shows, while contracted floor space is up 102 per cent.

Ian Atkinson, managing director of event organiser, DFA Media, comments: "For 2014 we will build on the success of our 2012 shows by further improving the look and layout of each exhibition within our co-location of events, as well as making it as easy as possible for visitors to navigate their way around each separate event. We will also further enhance the format of our valued seminar programme for next year. The combination of leading manufacturing events, with a highly focused seminar programme, will give visitors a unique opportunity to keep abreast of the latest industry developments by visiting a single co-located event. "

Some of the products and services featured at the forthcoming Plant & Asset Management:

• Asset Management systems, bearings, lubrication, boilers and burners, buildings and property maintenance, CMMS
• condition monitoring, contract maintenance
• Energy management, handling & storage, health & safety
• Facilities management, generators, industrial cooling and industrial rental equipment
• Security and fire prevention, sensors, probes and tools, leak detection equipment
• Training and thermal imaging
• Water/waste management

Exhibitor update

A selection of exhibitors - for a full listing please visit the Exhibition website:

• Alpha Lettering Systems
• Alpine Components
• Ambersil (CRC Industries UK Ltd)
• Artesis LLP
• AV Technology Ltd
• BINDT
• Bosch Commercial and Industrial Heating
• Brownell Ltd
• Byworth Boilers Ltd
• C-Cubed Limited
• Combustion Engineering Association
• Cygnus Instruments Ltd
• Derma Shield Skincare
• Empteezy
• Flowcrete UK Ltd
• Fluke UK Ltd
• Idhammar Systems
• Infor (Solihull) Ltd
• IPlantE
• IRISS
• Klueber Lubrication
• Mainnovation
• MCP Consulting & Training
• Mistras Group
• Practice Care Maintenance Services Ltd
• Pragmatic Maintenance & Reliability Ltd
• Pruftechnik Ltd
• Real Asset Management
• Reliability Maintenance Solutions Ltd
• Saacke Combustion Services Ltd
• SafeRack Limited
• Score Diagnostics Limited
• Shell Lubricants
• Shire Systems Ltd
• Siveco UK Ltd
• SPM Instrument UK Ltd
• Strategic Maintenance Ltd
• T Cards Direct
• The Integrated Maintenance Centre at Cranfield University
• TWI Ltd
• University of Central Lancashire
• Valveforce Ltd
• Xetec Limited

Seminar programme

Complementing all the exhibitions will be a full programme of FREE technical seminars, with speakers offering expert insight and practical advice on important and topical issues concerning today's maintenance professionals. At a time when engineers are under increasing pressure, and time out of the office for attending exhibitions needs to be balanced against heavy workloads, one growing justification is attending a well-balanced and focused seminar programme where gaining further industry knowledge is at the core. For more information on the FULL Plant & Asset Management 2014 seminar line-up, together with speaker profiles and programme, please visit www.maintenanceuk-expo.com. It is advised to register early for your preferred choices as many seminars are already sold out.

UK Trade & Investment to have major presence

It was recently confirmed UKTI will also feature prominently in the conference and seminar programmes staged at all the co-located shows; Fluid Power & Systems, Air-Tech, Drives & Controls and Plant & Asset Management. During its seminar presentations, UKTI will highlight many of the areas it is currently working and the levels of success it is currently achieving for UK businesses. Jim Feeney, head of UKTI's Advanced Manufacturing Events, commented on the Government Department's decision to exhibit and speak at the event: He says: "When event organiser DFA Media approached me to consider whether I should add this event to the portfolio of events in the UK and Internationally where UKTI seek to provide a platform for international business to be done and export contracts to be won, I was immediately interested.

"The initial approach was based on UKTI's role in the oil & gas sector; a sector where we have a significant profile - and a successful role - in supporting British business from the major oil companies like Shell and BP down through each tier of the supply chain to SMEs. However, my colleagues and I saw this wide-ranging engineering event as offering an opportunity broader than just oil & gas where we already have a very strong and responsive customer base."

Feeney continues: "We felt this event offered the opportunity to reach businesses which were not yet exporting and introduce them to UKTI and engage with existing exporters and introduce them to new markets. We plan to do both at the event. We will seek to highlight the work UKTI does locally, nationally and internationally and to introduce and explain the product range of support available through government networks and the business partners with whom we regularly operate.

"We will put together a strong presence at the show with the intention of assisting more companies to explore exporting for the first time, or to consider new markets, or to identify potential new customers in existing export markets with our team on site during the event. We will be able to provide details of our programme of activities across all sectors through 2014-15 and beyond and will be able to explain how and where UKTI support can fit the needs of individual companies. I am looking forward to it."

Ryan Fuller, commercial director of show organiser DFA Media, comments: "This is an exciting opportunity for the UK maintenance sector to promote and share their wide knowledge base and diverse range of systems. Combined with the co-location and specialist seminar programme, Plant & Asset Management is a truly unique event not to be missed by anyone with a vested interest in maintenance."

Darrell Moffatt, part of the sales team at Conference Communication, adds: "UK manufacturing/engineering is currently enjoying a very positive resurgence in activity. Only companies that have ensured that their physical assets - the plant and machinery on which their businesses depend - are fit for purpose will benefit from this market upturn. Plant & Asset Management Exhibition 2014 will deliver maintenance and asset management solutions that will enable UK industry to take advantage of the opportunities offered by both established and emerging economies throughout the world."

For more information and regular updates on Plant & Asset Management 2014, please visit: www.maintenanceuk-expo.com.