What's on show
March 1st 2008

The Plant & Works Exhibition (PWE) – www.pwe08.com – is new to the lineup of engineering and manufacturing trade shows at the NEC this April. A brand new event for 2008, Plant & Works Exhibition has a mix of suppliers of plant and maintenance equipment and related products and services. The aim of PWE is to reflect the 'multi-tasking' required of today's plant, works and maintenance engineers by covering a comprehensive range of relevant topics.

The show will be split into three main categories: Core Maintenance Products & Services, Energy Management and Ancillary Services. Energy Management is expected to attract particular interest because of the growing importance for many high energy-consuming companies of reducing consumption and improving their management of energy.

Drives & Controls – Demand for space at Drives & Controls 2008 has been extremely high and the show has almost sold all of its available space to exhibitors.

"We really have the cream of the UK manufacturing sector here," says Doug Devlin, sales director of show organisers DFA Media. "The success of the event in 2006 spoke for itself and this year's exhibition has really become the place to be seen."

Air-Tech – With over 90% of exhibitor stands now sold, the forthcoming Air-Tech show – www.airtech08.com – is clearly the place where major players in the compressed air industry want to be seen.

After a successful debut in 2006, the exhibition is returning to its NEC home confident of its position as the UK's number one forum for compressed air and pneumatics businesses.

The Air-Tech show was launched as a direct response to market and customer feedback, which demanded a UK-wide showcase for air power technology. The exhibition covers the whole supply chain, from compressors to practical applications.

IFPEX – UK industry is keenly awaiting the return of the International Fluid Power Exhibition (IFPEX) in April 2008, when it will take place at the Birmingham NEC alongside a series of other major manufacturing and engineering trade shows. IFPEX last opened its doors in 2000 and a truly international line-up of major fluid power industry players is already confirmed to attend the show.

The IFPEX event is backed by the British Fluid Power Association (BFPA) and its director Ian Morris is pleased to see the show returning: "This is a must-exhibit for fluid power system manufacturers and distributors as it's the only UK exhibition totally focused on hydraulics and pneumatics."

The 2008 event will once again be complemented by a series of speciallydesigned seminars and workshops, this time specially put together by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

Exhibition seminars programme A comprehensive and focused seminar programme with speakers representing some of industry's most pre-eminent organisations, has been confirmed by DFA Media for its series of exhibitions – Drives and Controls, Air-Tech, IFPEX and Plant and Works Exhibition. The free industry focused seminar programme, run across the three days of the shows (22-24 April), will be launched by the EEF, the manufacturers' organisation's chief economist Stephen Radley, who will speak about the challenges facing UK manufacturing and the economic environment for manufacturing in 2008.

Ranging from energy management and plant safety to manual handling, Ethernet communications and gearbox maintenance, the seminar programme will cover a broad range of subjects specifically chosen for their topicality and relevance to today's increasingly multi-tasking engineers. These highly focused series of 20 seminars will also give delegates the opportunity to pick up best practice tips and valuable advice from a variety of speakers, representing a cross section of the engineering and manufacturing sector.

Speakers include the Carbon Trust's David Pratt; Chris Dee, executive director of the British Compressed Air Society; Ian Morris of the British Fluid Power Association; RoSPA Consultant Pete Dixon; Professor Len Gelman, director of Centre of Vibro- Acoustics and Fatigue at Cranfield University; and Stephen Barker of Gambica Trade Association, plus many more.

Ian Atkinson, managing director of DFA Media, enthuses: "We are delighted industry has been so keen to participate in these important series of seminars. With such a variety of themes, high-calibre speakers, and a truly independent approach without commercial influences, we are offering visitors added value for their time at this manufacturing extravaganza in April – there will be something for everyone." As in 2006, the DFA Media shows will be co-locating with Subcon and MACH 2008.

Over 40,000 delegates visited the combined events in 2006, which provided a one-stop-shop for UK manufacturing, engineering and maintenance strategies.

Visitors to the event can take full advantage of all co-located exhibitions to assess and fulfil all their manufacturing strategy needs. For more information about the seminar programme or any of the co-locating shows, visit: www.drives08.com

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