The second annual Manufacturing & Engineering Week draws ever closer. A multitude of events will take place as part of the event including Smart Factory Expo, Design & Engineering Expo, the Drives & Controls zone and Maintec on the 7-8 of June at Birmingham’s NEC.

Education has always been a major part of the Smart Factory experience, and this has only expanded through its integration into M&E Week. Two paid conferences, The Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit and The SME Growth Summit, are taking place but a major additional attraction of Manufacturing & Engineering Week 2023 is the free-to-attend conference programme across two Keynote Theatres and six Solutions Theatres.

The first Keynote Theatre hosts a range of opinion leaders talking, or chairing panel sessions, on a wide range of relevant topics. The full programme is nearly finalised. One keynote session, on 7th June, that immediately catches the eye is from Katherine Bennett CBE, CEO of the High-Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC). Speaking on the topic of Innovation as the Key to Business Transformation & Growth the session discusses the importance of innovation to change manufacturing businesses for the better and includes examples of how Bennett has seen this working with companies that the HVMC are supporting. 

Also, of great interest is a case study session on 8th June entitled, The unstoppable rise of Digital Twins. This session, featuring Ben Wilkinson, head of digital technology, and Nipuni Karunaratne, model factory manager, both of Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace covers the company’s introduction of a radical new business model in the 90s that catalysed the development of early analytics. This model grew over time into a connected ecosystem of digital twins and this session will explore that journey and examine the cultural, behavioural and technological factors that enabled it.

The second keynote theatre is dedicated to the Maintec event. Maintec is the longest standing exhibition for the predictive maintenance, reliability and asset management industry and throughout its long history, the event has continued to focus on uptime and the tools, innovation, technology and people that support it. RS is sponsoring the Maintec theatre and will be presenting findings from a recent survey of more than 1,000 maintenance professionals as well as the founder of RS Industria, Richard Jeffers, presenting a thought-provoking session entitled: Predictive Maintenance as a way of life – not a technology.  

Look and learn

In addition to hosting presentations on perennially important topics such as eliminating downtime, the theatre will also see several case studies presented as well as looking to the future of maintenance with papers and panel discussions on the role Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

One conference session to mention (which is taking place in the Maintec keynote theatre but would be worth attending wherever it was staged) is from Engineers Without Borders UK. Their keynote session on the afternoon of Wednesday 7th June will see the launch of a Global Responsibility Competency Compass. The Competency Compass is a must for those who are struggling to respond effectively to the complexity, uncertainty and challenges of the age. The action-oriented tool, developed through extensive consultation and testing, articulates the essential skills, knowledge and mindsets that engineers increasingly need to deliver the most positive impact on the four principles of global responsibility: responsible, purposeful, inclusive and regenerative. For those in manufacturing businesses who want to achieve something regarding their sustainability challenges then this session is a ‘must see’.

It’s not to be forgotten that alongside the two keynote theatres there are in addition six Solutions Theatres. Topics include key areas of interest: Automation & Robotics, Digital Transformation, IIoT & Connectivity, Industrial Data & AI, Innovation and Design Engineering.  

Additional free educational sessions are being hosted by the Institute for Manufacturing in the IfM Theatre. Its Masterclasses are designed to challenge and extend the attendees' thinking in relation to some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities they face. IfM uses research and frameworks developed at the University of Cambridge so those attending the Masterclasses can gain practical insights and recommendations. IfM Industrial Practitioners have extensive expertise in supporting organisations across many sectors, and so are ideally placed to answer any questions and unpick problems. The final timetable for this year’s masterclasses will be released shortly but previous strategic masterclass topics have included: Strategic Roadmapping, Technology and innovation management, Sustainability – Scope 3 emissions, Sustainability - Reducing energy waste and Digital strategy. IfM Masterclasses require advance booking, and this can be done when registering for your ticket to visit Smart Factory Expo. 

The week beginning 5th June 2023 is Manufacturing & Engineering Week with the centrepiece exhibitions Design & Engineering Expo, Smart Factory Expo, Maintec and the Drives & Controls zone taking place at Birmingham’s NEC on 7th and 8th June. Other exhibitions are also taking place at the NEC during the week and these include Automechanika run by Messe Frankfurt; Med-Tech Innovation Expo and TCT 3Sixty from Rapid News Group and Subcon from the Mark Allen Group.

www.mandeweek.co.uk