Subcon 2019: Excelling in innovation and partnerships

Subcon, the UK’s only dedicated event to enable subcontract manufacturing buyers to source suppliers, benchmark capabilities, and form new manufacturing partnerships, returns on the 4-6 June 2019 at the NEC, Birmingham.

Now in its 43^rd year the show will be staged against a backdrop of profound uncertainty and change within the engineering and manufacturing industries. However, Subcon 2019 will show how the industry continues to innovate and deliver maximum value, with three events in one venue.

For 2019, Subcon has unveiled a brand-new opportunity to support engineering entrepreneurs. The Launchpad and Launchpad Awards will showcase cutting-edge innovations from across the industry with dedicated space at the event for specially selected start-ups.

The Launchpad aims to propel manufacturing and engineering-based innovations by giving entrepreneurs an opportunity to share them with thousands of professionals with the power to guide them to success. The showcase and awards will deliver a platform for eight engineering start-ups and a £10,000 prize package to the winner.

As with every previous show, Subcon will deliver the contacts, connections and content that engineering and manufacturing businesses in the UK need to succeed. Visitors will be able to harness new advances from more than 300 world class suppliers to help increase capacity, optimise productivity and improve flexibility while driving down costs to stay competitive in a global market.

Subcon exhibitors span a massive range of engineering businesses. Ahead of the event this year, Subcon hit the road and spoke to exhibitors across metal fabrication, 3D printing, measurement and other sectors. As this diversity of exhibitors shows, there will be huge opportunities to forge strategic partnerships and improve existing processes.

A wider offer

To maximise the value of the event, Subcon is once again co-locating with The Engineer Expo and Advanced Manufacturing Show. The Engineer Expo delivers the innovation, inspiration and insight businesses need to optimise future engineering and manufacturing strategies.

From an exhibition of next generation design and technology solutions from the UK’s most innovative suppliers, to a comprehensive conference programme featuring industry leaders responsible for some of the UK’s most inspiring engineering and manufacturing projects, The Engineer Expo will keep visitors abreast of the biggest issues around, from Brexit and Industry 4.0 to the challenges of diversity and skills.

The Advanced Manufacturing Show will showcase live demos and the latest efficiency-boosting innovations from hundreds of world class suppliers. This is an ideal opportunity to review outsourcing and procurement decisions and bring tools and technology up to speed, to reduce costs, cut lead-times and increase productivity to stay competitive in a global market.

Conferences for the future

Following the success of the conference programme in 2018, Subcon will also feature presentations from industry pioneers such as Siemens and Rolls-Royce, as well as thought leadership from organisations including MakeUK, the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and WMG (formerly the Warwick Manufacturing Group). A total of 34 sessions will be announced in the run up to the event.

The conference programme will deliver insight on industry issues, with presentations from industry leaders responsible for some of the UK’s most inspiring and ground-breaking engineering and manufacturing projects.

Speakers confirmed this year include: Brian Holliday, managing director, Siemens Digital Industries, discussing the impact of Industry 4.0; Mark Ireland, chief engineer at the MTC; Stephen Phipson, CEO, Make UK, covering the impact of Brexit; Riona Armesmith, chief project engineer, Hybrid Electric Propulsion, Rolls-Royce; Lina Huertas, head of technology strategy, digital manufacturing at the MTC; Jeremy Pullen from Sartorious, covering additive manufacturing; Steve Banton, from ABB Robotics discussing the development of cobotics; Rachel Edes, from WMG on the development of infrastructure for electric vehicles; Nick Hawker, CEO and co-founder, First Light Fusion on the commercial application of nuclear fusion and Martin Little, commercial director of the Rail Alliance discussing opportunities in the rail industry.

Gordon Kirk, event director for Subcon points out that this wide range of opportunity and the chance to see so many diverse companies is no accident at the show.

He comments: “We are even more aware than ever of the pressures on UK engineering and manufacturing businesses, so we have crammed as much value into the event as we can.

“From the 34 sessions of The Engineer Conference to the showcase of new start-ups and co-locating with Advanced Manufacturing Show and The Engineer Expo, Subcon 2019 will deliver huge value to visitors throughout the three days. We are incredibly excited to include so much new material and look forward to opening the doors at the NEC.”

Subcon 2019 www.subconshow.co.uk