Hydraulics & Pneumatics Apr/May 2024

SMART MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING WEEK PREVIEW From 5-6 June 2024, the NEC Birmingham will transform into an epicentre of industrial innovation and connectivity, hosting the Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week (SM&E Week). Across its two halls, six exhibitions, two summits and eight education theatres, the event addresses the key issues that concern manufacturing and engineering businesses currently, irrespective of the market sector they serve. The main themes of the wideranging event are innovation, the supply chain, sustainability, digital transformation and people and skills. Central to the week’s proceedings, Fluid Power & Systems and Air-Tech Exhibitions offer an unprecedented glance at the latest in engineering innovation. Co-located alongside Drives and Controls, Smart Factory Expo, Maintec and Design & Engineering Expo, this year’s event encapsulates the multifaceted nature of modern manufacturing. The week is set to unfold under the banner of cutting-edge technology, with primary partners such as 3M, Abdex Hose and Couplings, Amazon RME, Binder, Charter Controls, Emerson, Festo, igus, ILME, Lutze, Pilz Automation, Teseo SRL, Tom Parker, Wurth Electronics, ETA Enclosures, Eriks, Jenny Science AG and SMC Corporation leading the charge. Educational content & Summits To those familiar with Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week (SM&E Week) it will come as no surprise that education and peer to peer learning plays an important role. There are two summits that run alongside the exhibition namely the Industrial Data and AI Summit and the Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit. Now in its 7th year the Industrial Data & AI Summit takes place on the 5th of June and focuses on Data Management and Data Insights. The structure of the summit includes four keynote presentations, a panel discussion and two 60-minute roundtable discussion sessions. The summit allows senior leaders to hear from the sector’s most respected experts, such as the Head of Digital and Data at Education takes centre stage at SM&E Week The live events for Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week 2024 take place at the NEC, Birmingham on the 5 and 6 June. H&P looks at what visitors can expect at the event amid the myriad of activities taking place. BAE Systems and the Senior Director of Data and Analytics at Mars, as well as to share their knowledge and experiences with their peers. The roundtable sessions offer a unique opportunity for in-depth discussions on topics ranging from Data Integration and Management to Developing a Data Driven Business to Generative AI. Taking place on both the 5th and 6th June at the NEC is The Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit. This summit includes eight keynote presentations, two panel discussions and four 60-minute roundtable discussion sessions. The Summit focuses on how digitalisation is changing how products are designed, produced, used and maintained as well as transforming the operations, processes and energy footprints of factories and supply chains. This summit is broken down into two distinct streams, the Enterprise stream is for those working within businesses with revenues in excess of £100 million while the Growth stream is for those less than £100 million (theoretically classed as SMEs). While the summits charge an entry fee there is also a huge amount of free-toaccess education during the event with no less than 144 presentations taking place across the eight education theatres. The theatres cover: Drives & Controls, Digital Transformation, IIoT & Connectivity, Industrial Data & AI, Innovation, Maintenance, Air-Tech Solutions and Fluid Power & Systems. In the Fluid Power & Systems Theatre Colin Guttridge, Principal Manufacturing Engineer, Baker Hughes will be talking about Navigating the People and Skills Landscape in Manufacturing and Engineering. Colin will look at topics 18 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS April/May 2024 www.hpmag.co.uk

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