A press conference was held in London earlier this month to promote this year’s EMO Hannover, the “world’s leading trade fair” for the metal-working industry.

The exhibition, which covers an area equivalent to 130 football pitches, is taking place 16-21 September in Germany, which is the world’s third-largest machine tool market.

Speaking at the press conference, Christoph Miller — director of exhibitions at VDW (the German Machine Tool Builders’ Association), said: “All major manufacturers of production technology will be presenting their products and services in Hannover at what is the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of industrial production.”

More than 2,000 exhibitors from 47 countries have so far confirmed their participation, of which 25 are from the UK.

They include XYZ Machine Tools, Matrix Machine Tool, Castrol, MA Ford Europe Ltd, Holroyd Precision and Filtermist Ltd.

The exhibition (www.emo-hannover.de) attracts trade visitors from all over the world.

In 2017, just under half of the 130,000 visitors travelled to Hannover from outside Germany, with around 160 countries represented.

This year’s exhibition will be highlighting the theme ‘Smart technologies driving tomorrow’s production’, and all facets of Industry 4.0 will be presented.

Mr Miller said: “What is decisive for intelligent factories is the comprehensive networking of people, plants and business processes along the entire value chain.

“We are convinced that EMO Hanover 2019 will be a ‘hotspot’ for new offerings and solutions.

“Moreover, the EMO organisers will be complementing the exhibitor’s offerings with a wide range of supporting events.”