Join the fourth industrial revolution

A combined conference (Summit) and trade exhibition (Expo), the event attracts manufacturers eager to gain knowledge on how to adopt new management strategies to help improve their operations, as well as see the latest technologies to make this happen. 

The event also acts an opportunity to seek advice and finance from government, meet industry associations, and to network with over 2,000 attendees from 40 countries.

Speaker confirmed include:

• Stephen Phipson, CEO, of MAKEUK, the recently rebranded EEF, the manufacturer’s association

• Brian Holliday, Managing Director, Siemens Digital Factory

• Donna Edwards, Programme Director for the government’s Made Smarter North West pilot

• Andy Schofield, Manufacturing & Materials Strategy and Technology, BAE Systems – AIR

• Sheryl Bunton, VP Chief Information Officer, Gulfstream Aerospace

• Nigel Moulton, global CTO for the Modern Datacenter Business Unit, Dell Technologies

• Guillaume Vendroux, CEO Delmia, Dassault Systemes.

There will also be speakers from Bosch Rexroth, ADCO USA, Mondelez International, Trak-Rap, EDF Energy, Ford Motor Company, and others at the sharp end of digital transformation.

The Summit provides manufacturers with a comprehensive overview of industry 4.0, with insights on why to invest in industry 4.0, how to do so step-by-step, the real skills & training needed in this 4th industrial revolution, digital twins, understanding the new energy landscape as well as plenty of case studies of industry 4.0 in action.

Registered attendees so far include senior level management from PepsiCo, Merck, Ford, Siemens, Boeing, Asahi Breweries, RS Components, Rolls Royce, Huawei Technologies & National Grid. Interestingly, the visitors are not just UK based. France, Germany, Ireland & Portugal make notable European visitors but delegates are coming from as far as Australia, Brazil & Singapore.

A key focus of the summit is engagement with SMEs and involving them in discussions and providing them with the ideas and tools to help them start their own digital transformation. The organisers will have a special SME clinic onsite to answer questions on industry 4.0 and to connect them with experts to guide them on the right path. Expert advice will be provided by KTN, Innovate and Made Smarter.

Event Director Gary Gilmour comments: "Our event attracts visitors across the manufacturing spectrum eager to get a better understanding of how to adopt industry 4.0 and then put this into practice. Our event provides knowledge and solutions, and plenty of case studies from companies who have already started their digital transformation. We’ve made a real effort to attract more SMEs to the show. Over 15% of attendees have purchasing authority of more than GBP£500k, which we believe reflects that senior management will only attend a couple of important events a year, this being one."

Feature interaction

Within the free-to-attend EXPO halls, visitors will be able to see not just the latest technologies and solutions, but also interact with many of the features taking place. One such thing feature is the Siemens Sponsored Open Technology Forum where visitors can sit in and get short, precise expert advice from industry practitioners in topics ranging from 3D printing, predictive maintenance to cyber security.

Other features include:

• an interactive RobotZone to see the latest robotic technologies

• an Innovation Showcase showing some of the start-up companies creating future ideas

• and an SME Forum where companies are encouraged to attend and get some insights on digitalising their business for little investment, as well as hearing from companies like themselves who have started their own 4.0 journey

• an IoT Commercial Workshop with Intel for the technical community to come and learn how to build computer vision applications utilising the OpenVINO toolkit.

The exhibition shows a range of 4.0 technologies including automation, robotics, sensors, VR/AR, software, Big data, predictive maintenance with companies such as Bosch Rexroth, Dell Technologies, Festo, Dassault Systemes, Grundfos, Omron, Atlas Copco, Siemens, Daqri, Carl Zeiss, Holovis, SMC, Panasonic, Werma, & Beckhoff all exhibiting.