At the recent Subcon exhibition, the focus was firmly on senior buyers who had come to the show to do business. Procurement professionals who came to Subcon to find and compare suppliers of contract manufacturing services included representatives of top aerospace organisations such as Meggitt plc and Rolls-Royce plc, automotive companies including GKN Driveline and Jaguar Land Rover, as well as manufacturing heavyweights Cummins, Caterpillar, Terex and Babcock International. Footfall at Subcon was 6% up year on year.
Kevin Garbutt, Sourcing Manager at Halifax Fan, said: “It was helpful to meet a significant number of potential suppliers face to face in one arena which is a significant timesaving to the more traditional methods of sourcing activity.”
One of the new initiatives for Subcon 2016 was the Buyers Programme, which allowed participants to pre-plan their appointments and attend exclusive networking events. Jude Robinson, Managing Director of exhibitor GWR Fasteners, said: “Through the Subcon Buyers Programme appointment scheme we had a request from a very large company to meet us and find out what our capabilities are. They were quite impressed with what we can do and this could significantly increase our turnover.
Dean Munkley of Qimtek, which sponsored the programme, added: “Overall we loved it. We met lots of people – good people. We had over 200 leads in total and generated three times the cost of the show in potential business.”
Jude Robinson concluded: “The quality of visitors was excellent and we were speaking to people who were interested in both our manufacturing services and our standard fasteners. There were people there we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Some of them were companies not far away from us that hadn’t heard of us and were interested in us quoting for them. Some of these leads have already come to fruition.”
Grant Burgham, Business Development and Portfolio Director for Centaur Engineering Live Events, said: “Once again Subcon showed it is a place where real business gets done. Subcon, the UK’s showcase for contract and subcontract manufacturing, returns to the NEC from 6 to 8 June 2017, when it will again run alongside The Advanced Manufacturing Show and The Engineer Design and Innovation Show.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7970 4083
Email: fiona.griffiths@centaurmedia.com
