Industry 4.0 Summit returns

Taking place at the Manchester Central Convention Complex on 28th February and 1st March, companies sharing their knowledge will include INTEL, Ford, GKN, Meggitt, Bosch Rexroth, Babcock, Tharsus, GE Digital Europe, Accenture and IBM. Topics will range from skills, training, digital twins, getting digital for less than £1k, and  digitalisation of a Victorian dockyard, to implementation of cobots in the automotive industry. The Summit is supported by Gambica and EEF, who will also co-chair through Steve Brambley, CEO Gambica and Richard Halstead, Membership Engagement Director of the North, EEF.

Headline sponsors

Confirmed as headline sponsor for the second year is Bosch Rexroth. Regarding the company’s support, UK Marketing Manager Sean Kilgallen said “We had a great experience at the last event where we were headline sponsor, a decision in itself that raised some eyebrows since this was a new show in a relatively new area! Post show we were very happy with the level of new business that followed the discussions we had at the event. We are looking forward to making the next event and we hope this demonstrates how much Bosch Rexroth is committed to Industry 4.0 as a key driver in boosting UK industry’s productivity and the UK Government’s plans for made smarter.”  

Joining Bosch Rexroth as Headline Sponsor in 2018 is IBM, with a keynote address at the Summit from  UK Chief Technology Officer, Paul Homan, and a showcase of the company's end-to-end approach to IoT at the Factories of the Future Expo.

Factories of the Future

Visitors to the free to attend Factories of the Future Expo will be able to see a range of technologies to help manufacturers digitalise their operations and make them smarter. Leading automation companies include ABB, IFM, Balluff return, and Omron, HMK, Festo and Beckhoff join for the first time. IOT will be heavily featured through the likes of sponsors Finish company Elisa and INTEL, which in addition to hosting an Open Technology Forum, will be holding a 2-day industrial IOT workshop open to manufacturers wanting to get some hands-on IOT experience.

Visitors seeking advice on how to digitise their operations will also be able to engage with Innovate UK & Knowledge Transfer Network who will have a large presence at the event. Ben Peace, Head of Manufacturing at KTN, comments: “This initiative helps join up the innovation landscape. We engage 1-to-1 with manufacturing SMEs, understand their needs and help them take a step-by-step journey into 4th IR, making links to additional partners that can enable that journey and help them ascertain whether there is any funding.”

For further info visit: www.industry40summit.com