Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2020, held at Farnborough International Exhibition Centre in February, witnessed a 9% increase in attendance to set an all-time record. A total of 9,256 visitors attended the three-day show, which is the UK’s longest-running and largest annual industrial technology exhibition. Companies from all over the UK, continental Europe and further afield took part, showcasing a huge range of industrial products and technologies, from electronic components to the latest high-tech machining centres.
Attendance at Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2020 increased by 9% from 2019, setting a new record.
Supported by several of the UK’s top industry organisations, such as the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium, the SMMT, GTMA and CBM, the show provides a focal point for manufacturing enterprise across the southern half of the country, which includes a significant portion of the UK’s £32bn aerospace industry. Also supporting the show was Composites UK and NetComposites, two of the UK’s leading trade organisations for the rapidly-growing composites and advanced materials sector. Representatives from these organisations, along with other experts from industry and academia, provided three days of high-level insight at the show’s free technical seminar programme, which also proved extremely popular with visitors.
As one of the earliest major exhibitions of the year, Southern Manufacturing & Electronics provides an interesting weather vane for the mood of UK manufacturing, and particularly so this year, coming hard on the heels of Brexit. Along with record numbers of attendees, feedback from exhibitors mirrored a generally optimistic outlook for manufacturing. Peter Purdy, director of sales for RPL commented,
“There has been a higher proportion of applications discussed this year; all the good conversations have been with new people
“. Allan Turvey of Bystronic noted;
“ “We’ve had a lot of good enquiries, some from customers considering investment and lots of existing customers with new projects”. Ruth Beckett of Fischer Connectors said; “The show has been very good, very busy. The footfall has been good and a good mix of industries, from motorsports, instrumentation and military”.
Southern Manufacturing & Electronics will return to Farnborough from February 9th to 11th 2021 and over 70% of stand space has already been reserved.
