Drives & Controls October 2022

48 n ADVANCE ENGINEERING UK PREVIEW October 2022 www.drivesncontrols.com Make manufacturing connections at the NEC T here’s just a fewweeks to go until the doors open at the BirminghamNEC for Advanced Engineering UK, which will bring together professionals from the connected manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, marine, defence and advanced metals sectors, and more. This year, for the first time, there will be a new zone dedicated to test and quality control. Across the two days, there will be four forums – dedicated to connected manufacturing, aerospace, automotive and composites. The connected manufacturing forumwill open with a talk from Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK, followed by a day of presentations covering issues such as sustainability, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The keynote speaker, Paul Homan, chief technology officer at IBM, will talk about bridging the gap between the physical and the digital world. On day two, the connected manufacturing forumwill continue with talks on supply chains, additive manufacturing and other topics. The keynote speaker will be Bhavina Bharkhada, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Make UK, who will consider the role of UK manufacturing in the Government’s levelling-up strategy. In the automotive forum, experts from Siemens, Britishvolt, the Aluminium Federation, the University of Strathclyde, IDTechEx, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Xi Engineering, will cover topics ranging from electrification to the digitalisation of vehicle development. In the aerospace forum, there will be presentations on sustainability, supply chains, digitalisation and automation from Rolls-Royce and Airbus. Speakers from the Aerospace Technology Institute, NottinghamUniversity, ZeroAvia and more, will address creating a greener industry. Exhibitors at this year’s Advanced Engineering showwill include Aligned Vision, Atlas Copco Tools, Isra Vision, Beckhoff Automation, Conex, the Digital Manufacturing Centre, Elesa, FourjawManufacturing Analytics, Interface Force Measurements, Keyence, Make UK, Mini Gears Group, Plus Automation, Ripley Solutions, RS Components, Technimeasure, Telonic Instruments, Tenon Engineering and Virtek Vision. In a special display, advanced manufacturing experts from the University of Manchester will give a glimpse into what human life in space could look like, with a graphene-enhanced space habitat that has been developed to meet anticipated demand for human settlements beyond Earth. Two innovations born out of the Formula Student competition will also be on show, with Oxford Brookes Racing andWarwick Racing highlighting electric vehicle technologies for the formula circuit. The aim is to demonstrate that electric vehicles can succeed not only on the roads, but also on the racetrack. The Enabling Innovation zone is returning, giving UK start-ups the chance to present their businesses to a panel of leading industry figures. “Events like Advanced Engineering are hugely important in stimulating action that will take us towards net-zero,”says RosaWilkinson, policy director at the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and a speaker at last year’s event.“One of the things that really strikes me as I walk around the halls is that there are all sorts of ideas and products that companies can harness within their own net-zero journey. I’ll bet that some of them came here looking for a particular supplier and they’ll leave with 101 good ideas. There are also people here that they can contact that can help them take that idea and make it a reality— I think it’s brilliant.” Speaking at Advanced Engineering 2021, Ben Fletcher, chief operating Officer of Make UK, said:“I think Advanced Engineering is absolutely fantastic— the mood around the stands, the atmosphere, the skills, the technology that’s on show today, is all world- class. You walk around and you see companies providing cutting-edge solutions, companies that have some of the best innovations in the world, and the way that people are feeding off that really demonstrates that Britain is back after Covid.” n The 13th edition of the Advanced Engineering show arrives at the NEC next month to celebrate innovation, collaboration and sustainability in engineering and manufacturing. It will include a two-day seminar on connected manufacturing. SHOW FACTS Where: NEC, Birmingham When: Wednesday, 2 November, 9am–5pm Thursday, 3 November, 10am–4pm Registration: Free, via showWeb site Web site: www.advancedengineeringuk.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/advancedenguk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/showcase/18128740 Facebook: www.facebook.com/advancedenguk