Maintec 2013: Innovation galore

The first of these was a brand new Business Strategy Conference featuring leading experts from major companies such as Britvic, PepsiCo and Scottish & Southern Energy.  MAINTEC 2013 also hosted The Maintenance Exchange featuring a rich programme of 28 practical presentations. 

This level of content was well received by leading maintenance professionals, engineering, plant and asset managers who attended the show. Paul Young, predictive and preventative maintenance engineer at Pirelli said: "Maintec was educational and I came across things I haven’t seen before which are useful in the workplace. I also met people I haven’t seen before.” 

Also new for this year was the Maintec Maintenance Professional Awards, with the winners announced from the show floor.  PEME's Tom Cosgrove was awarded Maintenance Apprentice of the Year and the company's managing director, Ashley Maile, won Maintenance Professional of the Year.

Exhibitors were enthusiastic about this development.  Simon Turner, managing director of Cobalt Conveyors being typical of many when he said: "Recognising maintenance personnel, especially apprentices, was a really good idea.  It can only add to what is for us already a great event.”

These new features ran alongside established show favourites including the Lions’ Lair competition. This was won by AV Technology and its partner Tan Delta which secured the top innovation slot for its ROC 500 Rapid Oil Checker which it launched at the show.

It was fitting that the product was launched at the event, as the concept is the result of a discussion held at Maintec a year ago.  Steve Mottershead, managing director of AV Technology said:

"It's amazing to think that just a year ago we kicked around this idea and here we are today launching a major new product. Winning Lions' Lair at Maintec was the perfect launch pad for the ROC 500."

AV Technology wasn’t alone in using the show to debut a new technology; over 30% of exhibitors launched new products or services. For instance CorDEX Instruments used the show to globally launch its new TC 7000 intrinsically safe thermal imaging camera. While, via a ‘live’ remote link to a wind farm based in Scotland, visitors could see in real time how Schaeffler FAG WiPro’s condition monitoring system for wind turbines monitors the main rotor bearings, gearbox and generators on five wind turbines 24/7. Adding drama to the mix, DENIOS ran a live and explosive, free lecture throughout the show; this used graphic demonstrations to explore the limitations of flammable materials in the workplace.

This mix of education, technology and networking proved popular with the thousands of plant managers, engineers and maintenance professionals who attended MAINTEC 2013.  Frank McAlister, maintenance manager at Jaguar said: "I came to MAINTEC looking for new techniques in predictive maintenance and I found what I was looking for in the exhibitors and at the seminars. It was eye-opening and interesting to see other people’s vision in this area.”

The positive feedback was echoed by exhibitors at the show, with the likes of Schaeffler, Hansford Sensors, Direct Air and Newson Gale rebooking on-site for the 2014 edition. 

Matt Benyon, managing director of organisers easyFairs UK Ltd, concluded: "We’ve been tremendously encouraged by the feedback we’ve had following this year’s show.  Everyone has really got behind our new ideas and an unprecedented number of exhibitors have used Maintec as the place to launch new products – a real endorsement of the show’s importance in engineering and maintenance calendars.”