Manufacturing show puts the buyer on the line

An European Trade and Exhibition Services product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Nov 29, 2004

Exhibitions are great places to meet new people, and the Southern Manufacturing and Southern Electronics Shows (Thorpe Park 16th-17th February 2005), are no exception.

Exhibitions are great places to meet new people, and the Southern Manufacturing and Southern Electronics Shows (Thorpe Park 16th-17th February 2005), are no exception.

But thanks to the re-emergence of the successful "Meet the Buyer" event, both exhibitors and visitors to the shows now have the opportunity to meet the purchasing teams from several OEM companies of distinction.

"Meet The Buyer" organiser, Alan Fairweather of BD2, says: "Buyers at previous events have told us that the opportunity to meet up to 40 potential suppliers over the two days represents a really efficient use of their time - saving as much as three or four months of research in some cases".

He continues: "A good strike rate is achieved from initial meetings at Meet The Buyer events, leading to a consistently high proportion of orders actually being placed".

Potential suppliers participating in Meet The Buyer benefit greatly from the opportunity to fast-track their sales process.

One buyer from last year's event comments: "Meet The Buyer opens doors and provides opportunities that can be difficult - if not impossible - to achieve through a normal working process".

For suppliers too, having several high-quality prospects under one roof saves a great deal of time and expense.

Sunseeker International, BMW Mini, BAE Systems and Britannia Airways will be among the companies taking part as buyers.

Each buying team will provide a specific requirement for products and/or services they are looking to source in the future.

Among the products and services already requested by buyers are: CNC machining, fasteners, castings, hydraulic and lifting equipment, safety products, fume extraction and the subassembly of electrical and mechanical components.

Applicants are screened before the event to ensure there is real potential for successful business relationships to blossom from an initial meeting.

The final candidates short-listed by the buyers will then be given a 15min private meeting at the show, to impress the buying teams in face-to-face presentations.

Each 15min slot will be strictly controlled to ensure that appointments run to schedule, allowing buyers to meet as many as 20 candidates per day.

Complementing the Meet The Buyer event at Southern Manufacturing 2005 is a new feature which focuses on "supply chain development".

Each potential supplier company will be invited to take part in a "one minute supply chain awareness challenge".

This short diagnostic is offered on a confidential and free of charge basis, which will include a one-page report that will be forwarded to the company within five working days of the exhibition.

Entries will be evaluated by Meet The Buyer event facilitators, Alan Fairweather and Jim Unwin of BD2, and the company judged the most "supply chain aware", will be presented with two highly rated books from acclaimed business author Michael E Porter, that will further enhance supply chain performance: "Competitive strategy", Porter's original and definitive work on the nature of competition, and "Competitive advantage", the companion volume to "Competitive strategy", which looks at applying Porter's theories on competition to an individual company.

Participation in the Meet The Buyer event is free of charge for chosen exhibitors.

For visitors whose application is successful, there will be an administrative cost of GBP 95 plus VAT for each appointment.

The buyers' "wish lists" will be released to exhibitors in November and will be available to nonexhibitors on the exhibition website from December onwards.

Southern Manufacturing, now in its eighth year, is firmly established as the premier showcase for manufacturing and engineering in the south of England.

For the third year, Southern Manufacturing will be colocated with Southern Electronics 2005, giving buyers the opportunity to meet both electronic and mechanical engineering suppliers at one unified event.

Visitors can also take advantage of an extensive programme of free-to-attend technical seminars, lead-free seminars, sector-specific technology trails and the presence of numerous trade associations and business organisations.

Entry to Southern Manufacturing and Southern Electronics is free, with easy road access via junctions 11 or 13 of the M25, free parking and frequent courtesy coach transfers from Staines railway station.

Visitor preregistration for the event and seminars, is available online.