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Subcon show provides a 'one-stop-shop'

UK's Subcon subcontracting exhibition will offer visitors a single point of
contact for all their subcontracting requirements and an exceptional
opportunity to build new sourcing partnerships.
News from: Centaur Communications

Edited by: Manufacturingtalk Editorial Team on 26 April 2005

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Subcon, the UK's only exhibition dedicated to subcontract manufacturing
services, will offer visitors a single point of contact for all their
subcontracting requirements and an exceptional opportunity to build new
sourcing partnerships.

Subcon 2005 will be held at the NEC, Birmingham, from 24th to 26th May.

Over 120 companies and organisations will be showcasing their services at
the show, with the services on offer will ranging far beyond the traditional
areas of machining and sheet metal work.

Although subcontractors from these established areas are naturally
well-represented, they are complemented by companies offering services such
as electrical and electronic manufacture, design services, castings and
forgings, plastic and rubber components, mould making, assembly, medical
engineering and even nanotechnology.

Subcon is truly international too - with representation from Europe,
Scandinavia, Turkey, India and the Far East.
This years event see more than twice as many exhibitors from Spain, for
example, as well as new exhibitors from Turkey, France, Scandinavia, China
and the USA.

These overseas companies are complemented by a number of specialists from
the growing area of strategic sourcing services - one of which, Shakespeare
International, is even offering visitors the chance to win a free trip to
Shanghai.

According to Stan Hardy of the Confederation of British Metalforming, one of
the speakers in the Subcon seminar programme, companies who see China and
other low wage economies as a threat should instead open their eyes to the
opportunities they present.

'Although China has and will continue to distort the global market and
economy, even UK companies can trade successfully by exporting to China;
entering joint ventures with Chinese companies and subcontracting to Chinese
companies'.

'The growth of China's middle class and its disposable income has created a
consumer demand which the Chinese economy cannot satisfy with some
surprising results for UK OEMs and their component suppliers,' he says.

Another speaker, Jay Bal of Warwick Manufacturing Group, agrees and says
that UK-based subcontractors can use their skills to add value and knowledge
when OEMs want to source from low-cost markets.

'They are never going to be able to compete on price,' he says,' but they
can act as a vital intermediary - interpreting and policing requirements -
as well as adding high value finishing operations to semi-finished products
coming in from overseas suppliers'.

'The cost of these part-completed components could be scarcely more than the
cost of the metal would be here.' Subcon's specially-commissioned programme
of free seminars focuses on best practice in supply chain strategy,
maximising the benefits of the global market and exploiting the benefits of
new technology.

The Keynote presentation is a master-class in using supply chain improvement
projects to implement lean processes from a global tier one automotive
industry supplier, Collins and Aikman, which supplies car interiors to the
worlds leading manufacturers.

Automotive supply chain issues are also addressed in a series of
presentations from the SMMT's Industry Forum and Warwick Manufacturing
Group's International Automotive Research Centre, while Jafar Tall of the
SBAC looks at the supply chain initiatives of the Aerospace Innovation and
Growth Team.

Other presentations focus on supply chain issues in healthcare and the
threats and opportunities of international sourcing.

All these seminars are free and available on a 'first-come, first-served'
basis.

Visitors can take part in as many sessions as they wish.

Demand for these sessions is certain to be high, but visitors can be sure of
a place by pre-booking on the show website.

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