Event organisers team up to provide co-located trade shows for manufacturing and engineering sector

TCT Show interior

RAPID News Group, Messe Frankfurt and Nineteen Group have announced a three-year partnership to co-locate trade events for the UK manufacturing and engineering sector.

The move will see Med-Tech innovation Expo, TCT 3Sixty, Automechanika Birmingham, Design Engineering Expo, Engineering Expo and Manufacturing Expo come together at the NEC Birmingham. The launch edition will take place from 8-9 June 2022.

Within this three-year period, all six show will run alongside each other, which has been described as creating a ‘phenomenal offering for the manufacturing and engineering community from all vertical sectors’. Visitor registering for one event will be able to gain access across all shows.

Simon Albert, MD at Messe Frankfurt UK, organisers of Automechanika – an exhibition for the automotive aftermarket and supply chain sector – said, “These events naturally complement each other and by working together we can deliver the strongest platform for our customers to do business. Collocating gives the market the best possible reason to take time out of their busy schedules to visit for the duration of the shows.”

Ed Tranter, event director at Nineteen Group and behind the launch of the Manufacturing Expo, Engineering Expo and Design Engineering Expo, added, “Collaboration and continuous improvement is at the heart of manufacturing and engineering and the Nineteen Group. We are thrilled to be working closely with other organisations at the forefront of the sector. As companies begin their recovery from a year of disruption, there has never been a more important time for our industry to pull together to help promote and encourage innovation and see our sectors grow. The shows provide the perfect platform for connections between suppliers and buyers with conference programmes to give a clear roadmap for a successful future. Collocating these six shows is an exciting opportunity and ultimately provides more value to the communities we serve. We are stronger together.”

Duncan Wood, chief executive at Rapid News Group, organisers of TCT 3Sixty, the event for 3D printing and additive intelligence and Med-Tech Innovation Expo, which focuses on medical device design and manufacturing technology, commented, “The synergy between our group of shows delivers two clear benefits to the market and underpins the rationale for aligning our dates and access protocols. For the visitor the breadth of solutions under one roof at one time is unprecedented, time is precious, and these co-locations enable a prospective attendee to optimise their time out of the office. Equally the free flow of visitors across all the shows means that the return on investment for exhibitors is hugely enhanced versus each of us operating alone on different datelines. We are hugely excited to be working with a group of organisations who view the visitor experience and exhibitor ROI as importantly as we do, and we look forward to next June in anticipation.”