The Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute Limited (AMTIL) and Reed Exhibitions Australia (RXA) recently signed an extension of their Partnership Agreement. This agreement ensures the co-location of their respective trade exhibitions, Austech and National Manufacturing Week, until 2021 and is a great outcome for the industry in general. It continues a relationship which goes back to 2000, when Austech and NMW first co-located in Sydney at Darling Harbour.
Australian advanced manufacturing is undergoing one of the most exciting transformations in its history. The advent of new technologies, such as 3D printing with metals, advanced materials such as composites and graphene, digitalisation and the Internet of Things, has meant that there is a great deal of education, support and promotion needed to highlight the benefits of these technologies.
Austech runs every two years in Melbourne, and is the only show specifically targeted at the metalworking, machine tool and ancillary market – being held in Australia in 2019. The product sectors covered by Austech include CNC machine tools, sheet metal fabrication equipment, special purpose machines, laser cutting marking and engraving, additive manufacturing & 3D printing, digitalisation, inspection & measurement, automation & robotics and general engineering.
National Manufacturing Week runs every year, alternating between Melbourne and Sydney and showcases sectors including manufacturing technology, equipment and services covering electrical, health & safety, automation, robotics, air technology, welding, engineering, materials handling, electronics, process control & instrumentation.
Currently, the two shows take up 15 bays at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre covering 22,500 sqm of space. Austech Exhibition Manager, Kim Banks, says “Austech and National Manufacturing Week provide a great forum for showcasing products and services to some of Australia’s most influential customers. We pride ourselves on the high calibre of visitors that the shows attract. Key decision makers such as company owners, directors and general managers make up a large portion of the total visitor numbers at the combined shows. We are really pleased to be working again with RXA to deliver this important event.”
2019 will see some key initiatives from the past few years at Austech continue. The Manufacturers Pavilion is a showcase of Australian SME manufacturers that make up the supply chain into larger OEMs or that have their own individual products and services. With the support of OEMs wanting to expand their local supplier links and organisations such as the Industry Capability Network, this area is one of considerable growth and a great opportunity for Australian SMEs to network and market themselves.
AMTIL also has an agreement with the Rising Media Group to run Inside 3D Printing Melbourne, a conference which covers 3D printing innovation. The 2019 event will have a strong focus on metal 3D printing and the advances in the speed of this technology.
And finally, the advancements in the areas of digitalisation, the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 will be highlighted in a new expanded area of the show and will feature technology displays, on the floor speaker programs and interactive demonstrations. I think this is an exciting new area for our show and one that is sure to grow and become a major part of Austech moving forward. How we gather data, analyse it and use it to improve our knowledge and manufacturing processes will be critical to being globally competitive.