Southern Manufacturing to host 800 exhibitors

Machine builders face a continual challenge to find new and more efficient ways to automate processes and streamline the steps required in the design stage. An awareness of the latest components and sub-assemblies plays a big part in effective engineering design. Southern Manufacturing & Electronics provides an excellent showcase for the best hardware and services the UK has to offer, as well as the opportunity to see the new and unexpected from a variety of industry sectors.

Southern Manufacturing is the first big industrial show of the year and is claimed to be the most popular event of its kind in the south. In spite of the overall decline in interest in monolithic national trade shows, Southern Manufacturing has enjoyed consistent, robust support from engineering firms from all over the South and West. Joining them are an ever-growing number of international organisations. With the launch of sister event Northern Manufacturing in 2013, the show's ability to bring together the big global names as well as smaller regional specialists in a single, easy-access venue is proving more compelling than ever.

After nearly a decade of growth, the 2014 Southern show appears likely to demolish records once more: the total number of exhibitors is set to nudge 800 for 2014, and visitor numbers approaching 10,000 are not unrealistic given the over-8500 attendance in 2013.

A large part of Southern Manufacturing's popularity is down to the broad selection of businesses participating. The Southern Manufacturing show has always proved a popular event for machine builders because of the sheer diversity of suppliers represented in a single venue. With the event now in its 17th year, that range has grown more comprehensive than ever. The organisers say there is perhaps no other show in the UK that offers the chance to solve so many engineering issues in a single visit. In just a couple of hours, it is possible to source suppliers of everything from hydraulics to locknuts. With its positive bias towards the small to medium-sized enterprise, the show is very popular with specialist suppliers, many of whom do not exhibit elsewhere. If you are looking for a supplier for that elusive part or specialist service, there is a very good chance that you will find it at Southern Manufacturing. Its co-location with Southern Electronics - now the UK's biggest and longest-running electronics show - increases those chances even further.

Phil Valentine of organiser ETES, states: "The benefit of the show is very much that visitors can satisfy a range of requirements in one visit. There is not another show that will allow you to source such a wide selection of mechanical and electronic components, support and production solutions in just one place. The range of items and activities displayed make it a very useful event for machine builders particularly."

Exhibitors

The majority of the regular exhibitors will need no introduction. Igus (UK), HepcoMotion, LG Motion, Fanuc, Kawasaki Robotics, Finder, Ondrives and Lee Spring are among the hundreds of well-known companies taking part once again in 2014. Returning also for 2014 are consultants TUV Rheinland, relay and switch distributor TTI inc, precision component manufacturer Farsound Engineering, and cable management specialist Kabelschlepp Metool. Among some of the interesting new faces for 2013 are Anotronic, BAE Systems, Fluid Solutions Europe, Olympus and Metamation.

In addition, the rapidly-growing Electronics Pavilion is undoubtedly an area of specific interest to machine builders looking for components and sub-assemblies. Typical exhibitors such as Spirit Circuits, Eurocircuits, RS Components, Anglia and a huge selection of others are accompanied by a considerable number of first-time exhibitors, which include Japanese enclosure manufacturer Takachi Electronics Enclosures, PSU provider Powerpax UK, relay specialist Pickering Electronics, sub-assembly manufacturer Datalink Electronics, component supplier Ashlea Components and many others. Switch, display and HMI suppliers include membrane keyboard specialists The Membrane Keyboard Company, In2tec and RJS Electronics.

Free seminars

Along with the impressive demonstration of production hardware on show, the event is also an excellent place to gain information via well-rounded free technical seminars. Running over two days, the seminar programme will cover a multitude of design-related subjects. Full details and pre-booking will be available at www.industrysouth.co.uk shortly.

Admission to Southern Manufacturing and the seminar programmes is free, and FIVE Farnborough provides ample free vehicle parking and easy access by road or public transport. To register online for event tickets, go to www.industrysouth.co.uk or telephone +44 (0)1784 880 890. Visitors can also keep track of all the most up-to-date bulletins from the show by visiting the official blog website at blog.industrysouth.co.uk, by joining its LinkedIn group or by following @Industry_co_uk and the #southmanf hashtag on Twitter.