A celebration of manufacturing in May

Australian Manufacturing Week is on again in Melbourne from 9th –12th May at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. With over 300 exhibitors and 10,000 sqm of exhibition space, it is the largest show by far we have put on over the past 23 years.

Product zones for the show cover Austech Machine Tools, Robotics & Automation, Welding & Air Technology, Manufacturing Solutions, Additive Manufacturing, Plastics Technology and a special area for Australian Manufacturers called the Manufacturers Pavilion. Given the ongoing challenges with COVID, supply chains, labour shortages, rising energy and transport costs and machinery delivery times, it is a credit to the industry that we can deliver such a quality week of events.

Obviously the Australian Manufacturing Week exhibition is the flagship for the week but there are also many other events and activities happening concurrently, truly making it a week for the manufacturing industry to celebrate.

On Wednesday and Thursday, running alongside AMW for the first time is ElectroneX, a dedicated expo and conference for the electronics industry. The utilisation and integration of the latest electronics into all aspects of manufacturing, production, assembly, design, maintenance and service is essential for our competitive future. For more information on ElectroneX, visit www.electronex. com.au

Co-located with ElectroneX, as usual, is the SMCBA Electronics Design and Assembly Conference. The speaker program for the conference can be found at www.smcba.asn.au

On Wednesday, the Society of Plastics Engineers A-NZ, is organising a seminar titled “Plastics and Medical Applications”. SPE:A-NZ has been going for over 60 years and it’s objective is to promote the scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics. It is a great fit for this week of knowledge transfer.

For the duration of AMW a Speaker Program will be on the expo floor and will have over 30 speakers covering various topics around 3D printing, new and emerging technology, research and development, manufacturing success stories and more. This Program is free to attend and is located on the floor of the AMW exhibition.

On Tuesday, the Manufacturers Pavilion has a special event for VIP’s to attend which will be followed by Exhibitor Networking Drinks. One of the Speaker Program days is dedicated to Women In Manufacturing and will be followed by a WIM VIP function on the Wednesday afternoon. We are excited to be promoting women in manufacturing, a very important step to take in the overall growth of our industry.

Thursday sees a special focus on 3D printing, or Additive Manufacturing, with great demonstrations on the floor of the expo and a networking function happy hour at the completion of the day. Overall, a great week is envisioned and I look forward to welcoming all of our readers to attend one or all of the activities going on.

Cheers