Advanced Engineering, held at the NEC in November, has become one of the most anticipated industry events for the UK composites industry. Composites in Manufacturing hears more about what visitors can expect to see at this year’s show.
Advanced Engineering, the UK’s largest annual gathering of engineering and manufacturing professionals, is set to open its doors at the beginning of November. A hub of innovation, collaboration and development for all sectors and areas of the engineering supply chain, the event attracted around 9,000 attendees and over 400 exhibitors in 2022.
Now in its 14th year, this year’s show comes with a fresh and future-focused rebrand, removing the previous show zones from its exhibition floor and introducing a main stage for the event’s well-attended forums.
Advanced Engineering, taking place on November 1 and 2 at the NEC, Birmingham, was previously divided into several zones. However, in order to meet the future demands of the engineering and manufacturing sectors, the show has been re-engineered to encourage even more cross-industry collaboration.
The organisers say that this layout felt limiting for exhibitors, and that visitors in general walked the entire show floor, regardless of their specific industry. This year, the long-established composite zone will remain, but the automotive, aerospace and connected manufacturing zones will be removed. However, these sectors will still have a strong presence at the event, with the industry-specific forums remaining. There will also be a main, central stage on this year’s floor plan where discussions about key challenges in the industry will be discussed.
“Making these changes wasn’t an easy or a quick decision,” begins Alison Willis, director of Easyfairs, the organiser of Advanced Engineering. “We spoke to more than 200 exhibitors, visitors and speakers to make sure that any changes we made were future-proof and reflective of all stakeholders. We realised that many of the issues that our exhibitors and visitors are facing align, no matter what sector they are from. Take sustainability for example – we wanted to make sure that our floor plan gave attendees the best opportunity of sharing ideas and solutions to challenges like this.
“Advanced Engineering has expanded greatly over the years, starting as a specific aerospace event 14 years ago. 2023 felt like the right time to break down the walls that separated our exhibitors to fully encourage collaboration across industries and to prepare the show for a new era of manufacturing and engineering,” states Willis.
Beyond boundaries
To ensure that visitors and exhibitors can still easily find relevant contacts, Advanced Engineering exhibitors will now be categorised by the services, products and solutions offered. They will have the opportunity to highlight all of the sectors they work in, removing any limitations created by the specific show zones. As well as encouraging visitors from the show’s established sectors like aerospace, space, automotive and composites to attend, Advanced Engineering hopes to attracted visitors from newer sectors, like marine, security, rail, energy, sports and leisure, and medical.
With the rebrand, Advanced Engineering returns with a speaker programme made up of some of the leading figures in UK engineering and manufacturing. This year’s day one keynote is Richard Noble, OBE, former holder of the world land speed record and serial innovator at ThrustWSH. Also on the main stage, Eman Martin-Vignerte, director of external affairs and government relations at Bosch, will share her thoughts on digitalisation and automation. In the afternoon, there will be a Women in Manufacturing panel, followed by a discussion from a Make UK representative on how new industrial technologies are affecting the skilled workforce.
On day two, the opening keynote will be given by Make UK, and will be followed by talks from Made in Britain on innovation in British engineering and design, and a second panel on women in composites. Two exciting competitions will also be held on the main stage, with the Enabling Innovation competition in the morning and the SAMPE Design and Make competition in the afternoon.
At the aerospace forum, visitors can meet experts from H2FLY, Rolls-Royce, YEET Aerospace, MGI Engineering, ADS, Midlands Aerospace Alliance, Satellite Applications Catapult, Gravitilab and Spirit AeroSystems, who will cover topics ranging from digitally enabled supply chains to propulsion technologies.
Composite talking points
Meanwhile, exhibitors can learn about composites circularity, the future of composites, digitalisation being the key to productivity and more at the composites forum. Here, several speakers will be taking the stage from the following companies: AMRC, Creative Composites, NCC, Composites Leadership Forum, Composites UK, KTN, Plataine, The Ford Motor Company, WMG, Composite Branding and the ADS.
Attendees can also see Pim van Baarsen, CEO at the Silverstone Technology Cluster, and Lucy Parsons, sales account manager at Nikon Metrology UK, who will be discussing and showcasing innovative products at the automotive forum.
Advanced Engineering will also showcase six groundbreaking innovations throughout its exhibition area. One of these is the prototype of the ThrustWSH boat, which will be accompanied by a presentation from Richard Noble OBE on the main stage. In what is a collaborative effort with PRF Composites, ThrustWSH is hoping to break the world water speed record and the exhibit at the show will allow visitors to see the preliminary designs for the record attempting boat.
As in previous years, to coincide with Advanced Engineering, Composites UK will be holding its annual dinner for the industry at the nearby National Motorcycle Museum on the first night of the show.
Net zero innovation
In addition, MGI Engineering is speeding ahead in its journey to net zero and will demonstrate never seen before technologies to the sector, including an F1 car and eVTOL drones. Meanwhile, SCU Motorsport has also booked an exclusive exhibitor spot, pioneering its 3D learning environment for students that will involve augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality technologies. This will feature a 3D virtual motorsport garage too.
Cyclopic stands as a Clean-Tech enterprise also dedicated to advancing technologies for achieving net zero goals. It will introduce the enhanced manoeuvrability of an E-Corner platform, shedding light on the innovative centreless wheel technology.
What’s more, advanced manufacturing experts from the University of Manchester have attained a spot to showcase new technologies, products and processes. Hosted by the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), visitors can see the extraordinary properties of graphene and other 2D materials.
Finally, Gravitilab Aerospace Services, a Space engineering company, is displaying the patent protected drop pod, which provides unique microgravity environments at relatively low altitudes.
“Advanced Engineering is spotlighting several groundbreaking innovations, spanning various domains and sectors that push the boundaries of technology and progress,” concludes Willis. “These innovations stand testament to the relentless pursuit of progress in engineering and manufacturing that not only inspire, but also exemplify the remarkable strides that are being taken across aerospace, composites, automotive and more.”
To secure your visitor pass, see a current exhibitor list and check out the growing list of confirmed speakers, visit the Advanced Engineering website.
