Subcon, The Advanced Manufacturing Show and The Engineer Design & Innovation Show drew 4,445 visitors, attracting 58% more than in 2014 and 9% more than in 2013. These included senior production directors and managers, sourcing and supply chain directors and managers, heads of design and board level executives.

Visitors came from across industry, from high technology niche SMEs to some of the world’s most respected manufacturing organisations including leading brands such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Black & Decker, Caterpillar and Jaguar Land Rover.

During the event, around 450 exhibitors from the UK and 11 overseas countries covered every aspect of subcontract manufacturing, advanced manufacturing technology and design engineering.

Tom Mongan, general manager at Subcon Laser Cutting said:  “In all my years exhibiting, yesterday at the Subcon show has to rank up there with the best. We were inundated with good quality visitors and exceptional leads.”

Robert Glaister, commercial director at Cogent Technology, agreed, saying of The Engineer Design & Innovation Show that it was: “One of the best shows in my career”.

A common theme in comments from the show floor was the amount of business being done and orders taken. At the Advanced Manufacturing Show Emily Barker, managing director of Odin Engineering, said that the company had done more than £60,000 of business on the first day.

Tony Barker, business development director of Mechatronic Solutions added: “We are potentially looking at getting over £1m pounds of business out of this. It has been fantastic.

For XYZ Machine Tools, what was notable was the number of new companies it met at the show. UK sales manager, Martin Burton, said: “On the first day nearly 40% of enquiries were from new customers to us and on the second day we were showing about 50%. It has been a very good show for us.”

Special features designed around the needs of the visitors were busy throughout the three days of the shows. These included a high level conference, an Innovation Hub featuring the latest technological advances – such as graphene materials for the 3D printing of aerospace components – and an Advisory Drop-In Centre where visitors could get support and advice from organisations including Lloyds Bank, UKTI, The High Value Manufacturing Catapults, The Business Growth Service and The Engineering Industries Association.

The Subcon show returns to Hall 4 at the NEC from 7-9 June next year, and more than 65% of the space has already rebooked.