Chester-based Rapid News Group, Messe Frankfurt and London-based Nineteen Group have announced a three-year partnership to co-locate their UK manufacturing and engineering events.

The new collaboration will see Med-Tech Innovation Expo, TCT 3Sixty, Automechanika Birmingham, Design Engineering Expo, Engineering Expo and Manufacturing Expo come together at the NEC Birmingham. The launch edition will take place for the first time on 8-9 June 2022.

Within this three-year period all six events will take place alongside each other at the NEC in Birmingham creating a compelling offering for the manufacturing and engineering community. The partnership brings huge added value to attendees and exhibitors, with a visitor registering for one event gaining access to all the individual shows, providing a united approach to encourage market innovation and trade.

Exciting new proposition
Simon Albert, managing director at Messe Frankfurt UK which organises Automechanika the UK’s leading trade exhibition for the automotive aftermarket and supply chain sector, said: “We have an exciting new proposition for the UK automotive supply chain and this partnership in June 2023 strengthens this opportunity further. These events naturally complement each other and by working together we can deliver the strongest platform for our customers to do business. Co-locating gives the market the best possible reason to take time out of their busy schedules to visit for the duration of the shows.”

Ed Tranter, event director at Nineteen Group which runs the Manufacturing Expo, Engineering Expo and Design Engineering Expo said: “Collaboration and continuous improvement is at the heart of manufacturing and engineering and the Nineteen Group. We are thrilled to be working closely with other organisations at the forefront of the sector.

As companies begin their recovery from a year of disruption, there has never been a more important time for our industry to pull together to help promote and encourage innovation and see our sectors grow.

“The shows provide the perfect platform for connections between suppliers and buyers with conference programmes to give a clear roadmap for a successful future. Co-locating these six shows is an exciting opportunity and ultimately provides more value to the communities we serve. We are stronger together.”

Duncan Wood, chief executive at Rapid News Group, the organisers of TCT 3Sixty, the event for 3-D printing and additive intelligence and Med-Tech Innovation Expo, the UK’s leading medical device design and manufacturing technology event, said: “The synergy between our group of shows delivers two clear benefits to the market and underpins the rationale for aligning our dates and access protocols.

“For the visitor the breadth of solutions under one roof at one time is unprecedented, time is precious, and these co-locations enable a prospective attendee to optimise their time out of the office.

“Equally the free flow of visitors across all the shows means that the return on investment for exhibitors is hugely enhanced versus each of us operating alone on different datelines. We are hugely excited to be working with a group of organisations who view the visitor experience and exhibitor return on investment as importantly as we do, and we look forward to next June in anticipation.”