Maintec 2018: Moving forward in uncertain times

The show attracts thousands of engineering visitors from across multiple industries including energy, manufacturing, automotive, hazardous environments, aerospace, utilities, oil and gas, food and drink, rail, and ports and marine.

This will be the second edition of Maintec since its acquisition by Western Business Exhibitions, who in 2017, delivered the most successful event in the show's recent history. The event delivered a 62% increase in visitor numbers and welcomed engineering teams from 15 of the UK’s top 20 manufacturing sites.

For 2018, the show has introduced a number of exciting new initiatives to ensure the event remains of value to attendees. Tim Else, event director, Maintec comments: “When we acquired Maintec in 2016, we made a promise to ensure that the event remained pertinent to the UK’s maintenance and reliability engineers. We are incredibly proud of the quality of the 2018 programme and are pleased to be able to host keynote speakers and to feature leading engineering suppliers on the show floor. We know that they bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the show and make the event a must-attend for all UK maintenance, reliability and asset managers.”

Backed by the industry

Many of the UK’s engineering associations and institutions have endorsed the new-look Maintec event and will be in attendance. Leading organisations include the British Compressed Air Society, the only UK technical trade association open to manufacturers, distributors and end users of compressors, vacuum pumps, pneumatic tools and allied products. They are joined by the Society of Operations Engineers, a professional engineering membership organisation promoting career development in road transport, plant engineering, or engineer surveying, and the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF), the trade body for the UK’s safety industry. 

Maintenance engineering technology 

Event partners Bosch Rexroth and sponsors Kimberly-Clark, SSG Insight and Pruftechnik are just some of the manufacturers and suppliers who are part of the impressive list of exhibiting companies for Maintec 2018, which is fast becoming one of the best line-ups in the show’s recent history.

Maintec has become the perfect opportunity for visitors to touch, experience and buy the most state-of-the-art products available on the market. It is the largest coming together of dedicated maintenance engineering suppliers, with many exhibitors using the show as a platform to launch new products to the UK marketplace. Visitors will be able to benefit from show discounts and offers. 

Seminar programme

In addition to the impressive list of exhibiting companies, visitors will be able to experience a dynamic professional programme which features 34 top engineering speakers delivering 10 hours of professional conference sessions over the two-day event under the theme ‘The future of reliability, maintenance and asset management’. The event’s content will be fully CPD-accredited and approved by the Society of Operations Engineers to ensure the sessions are both of high-quality and of educational value for attendees. 

Content will take place across two theatres; Maintec Insights and Reliability Dialogue. The Maintec Insights theatre will include a combination of case studies, technical insights and state-of-the-nation presentations from key high-level experts from the world of maintenance engineering including keynote sessions from Dr Jenifer Baxter, head of engineering, IMECHE and Paul Adams, maintenance strategy manager at GlaxoSmithKline. 

The Reliability Dialogue theatre, which is new for 2018 and sponsored by Bosch Rexroth, will address the changing face of reliability, automation and the impact this has on the future of maintenance engineering. Over a mix of presentations and panel discussions, leading experts will discuss and debate key topics facing end-users in the industry and will feature an opportunity for the audience to join in the discussion and ask questions of the panel.

Visitor registration for Maintec 2018 is now live. To claim your free visitor badge visit www.maintec.co.uk 

***Al, please do a box for the Programme highlights blurb ****

Scintillating seminars

This year’s Maintec Insights programme features some of the UK’s leading engineering voices. Key sessions include:

Building a winning plant maintenance strategy for modern operational needs

Delivered by Paul Adams, maintenance strategy manager (Global Manufacture and Supply) at GlaxoSmithKline

Plant maintenance should be viewed as a driver of value inside industrial operations. Paul Adams, maintenance strategy manager (Global Manufacture and Supply) at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, outlines the seven things all winning maintenance strategies have in common, and explains how a ‘detect it, fix it, prevent it’ approach to maintenance can delivering results quickly, therefore sustaining long term performance.

Next-generation rail technologies and maintenance activities: Technical expertise for building stronger railways

Delivered by Stephen Lewis, consultant, rail technologies, British Steel. 

Effective maintenance is crucial to the performance of the railways, with advances in rail welding techniques for activities such as gauge corner restoration delivering extended rail life. Stephen Lewis, consultant, rail technologies, British Steel, looks at how intelligent maintenance can improve the performance of the railway network, and describes how the railways can navigate the shift from a ‘find and fix’ philosophy towards one of ‘predict and prevent’.

The role of artificial intelligence in future maintenance strategies

Delivered by Daniel Dunn, hydraulic product specialist, Bosch Rexroth

Digitalisation is being applied across industrial sectors at a rapid pace, providing far greater visibility of the performance and condition of key operational assets. Increasingly, the collation and interpretation of plant data will be used to create artificial intelligence models and to power machine learning. Daniel Dunn, hydraulic product specialist, Bosch Rexroth, will look at how these emerging trends will lead to the development of more intelligent predicative maintenance methodologies.

Closing the skills gap in maintenance-related industrial sectors

Delivered by Verity Davidge, head of education and skills policy, EEF

A shortage of skilled workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics threatens the performance of industrial organisations. Verity Davidge, head of education and skills policy, EEF, looks at how businesses and academia can help alleviate the skills problem, and explains how the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution will change the skills requirements of tomorrow.