Southern Manufacturing 2019 is the biggest ever

Given its impressive exhibitor list, Southern Manufacturing 2019 maintains its ranking as among the finest marketplaces for industrial technology, engineering products and services in Europe. Aided by an encouraging 26% rise in overseas firms taking part this year, Southern Manufacturing offers visitors the opportunity to meet a considerably broader selection of vendors than they would ordinarily expect to see at a domestic trade show. This opportunity to tackle a number of procurement challenges at one event has long been among Southern’s greatest benefits and it’s one that remains top of the reasons to attend.

The show’s extremely broad range of exhibitors covers pretty much every aspect of industrial enterprise. A small selection of the products and services on show includes working demonstrations of CNC machine tools and machining centres, robotics and automation, additive manufacturing technologies, electronic components, CAD/CAM tools, advanced adhesives, fasteners and joining technology, laser cutting, labelling and marking, metrology and test equipment, and handling and storage solutions amongst many others. The show is also a prime marketplace for engineering services ranging from contract electronics manufacture to precision engineering and machine building.

Along with a record volume of exhibitors anticipated, the show’s newly-forged partnerships with several influential industry organisations, like Composites UK, the Confederation of British Metalforming, Farnborough Aerospace Consortium, The British Gear Association, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and the Gauge and Toolmakers Association, has given a new focus to the show’s aerospace and high-technology manufacturing profile. The involvement of these organisations has been particularly beneficial to the show’s ever-popular free technical seminar programme, enabling visitors to learn about the latest technical advances from some of the leading authorities in their respective fields. Running in two separate lecture rooms, dedicated to manufacturing and electronics respectively, the hour-long sessions include both technical and business topics and address an array of issues confronting manufacturing enterprises today. From large scale 3D printing, composites, advanced manufacturing and Industry 4.0 to discussions of life after Brexit for manufacturers, the 2019 programme genuinely offers something for everyone.

On the show floor, as usual, Southern 2019 will host an excellent array of working machinery exhibits from premium brands such as Yamazaki Mazak, CMZ, Haas Automation, Mills CNC and many others. Bystronic demonstrates its Xpert 40 press brake with Mobile Bending Robot. The robot is offered for feeding the press brake, making it into a lightweight, automated bending cell for manufacturing 3D sheet metal components. Bruderer UK will highlight its range of high speed presses, plus a selection of affordable pre-owned presses that have been refurbished to a excellent standard.

Whitehouse Machine Tools showcases the Brother Speedio M140X1 five-axis, 30-taper mill-turn centre, to be demonstrated with the newly-available Feedio robotic component handling system. The plug-and-play automation system, which can be retrofitted to increase the production efficiency of any 3- to 5-axis machining centre in the Speedio range, communicates with the Brother control via a Profibus interface. It is supplied with an ABB 6-axis robot and the manufacturer’s smart teach pendant incorporating a customised Speedio page.

Advanced manufacturing is well represented at Southern Manufacturing 2019, with leading hardware vendors such as Laser Lines and Creat3D, and specialist services providers such as Industrial Plastic Fabrications and Digits2Widgets (D2W), a manufacturer of quality models, functional prototypes, time-sensitive short runs and end-use engineering components en masse. D2W’s London-based facility houses a range of additive manufacturing capabilities including selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereolithography (SLA).

The theme of advanced manufacturing and Industry 4.0 is strongly echoed across a wide spectrum of firms taking part this year. Examples of hardware on show include new entry-level robotics from Igus and Hepco Motion’s GFX system, developed in collaboration with Swiss mechatronics firm, Stäubli, and German automation company, Beckhoff. Heidenhan showcases its Industry 4.0-compatible StateMonitor software, which runs on a PC, tablet or other mobile device and enables a user to capture, visualise and evaluate the status of connected machine tools and the current jobs being run. Other software being shown for 2019 includes ANSYS Discovery Live, a ground-breaking new solution incorporated into its well-known SpaceClaim platform that enables the extended design team to all work together to get new products to market faster via a simple ‘access-to-all’ interface and agile design process.

The range of components and OEM parts on show at Southern Manufacturing is truly vast. New exhibitor Canvys is a specialist in OEM and custom display engineering, designing and manufacturing display products for a wide variety of industries and applications. Major components distributor Easby Electronics returns for 2019 with its impressive catalogue of electrical and electronic components. TDK Lambda launches a new range of power supplies, along with new sensor technologies being launched by RDP Electronics and BT2000.

European manufacturer, WDS Component Parts manufactures and supplies more than 20,000 components to an array of markets globally including OEM Machine Build, Aerospace, Defence, Motor Sport, Marine, Automotive, Rail and general MRO. Elesa UK will be highlighting more than 600 new products added to its latest catalogue of machine components and hydraulic accessories. IMI Precision Engineering will be exhibiting its recently launched ISOLine, a new range of ISO VDMA pneumatic cylinders and Excelon Plus, a new range of modular air preparation equipment made in the UK.