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Drives Show attracts exhibitors from Estonia to China

02 February, 2012

One of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing motor-makers, Regal Beloit, is one of the latest companies to sign up to exhibit at the upcoming Drives & Controls Show in April. Other exhibitors are coming from as far afield as Estonia, India and China.

US-based Regal Beloit has been expanding aggressively in recent years with a string of global acquisitions including the Dutch motor suppliers Rotor and Dutchi, Australia’s CMG Engineering group, the motors business of the US manufacturer AO Smith, and the Chinese motor-maker, Hwada. Regal Beloit’s brands include Marathon Electric, Fasco, Leeson and Unico. Its sales have mushroomed from $760m in 2005 to around $2.8bn last year.

Another major signing for the NEC show is IMO Precision Controls which will be returning to the exhibition for the first time since it exhibited at the Drives Show when it was held in Telford during the 1990s.

Other exhibitors that have been added to the line-up
recently include the safety equipment supplier Bernstein, Adlington-based Fairport Engineering Group, the computer-aided design specialist, CADline, and the current sensor manufacturer Power Electronic Measurements.

The show is also attracting increasing numbers of international exhibitors with the latest signings including the Estonian motor manufacturer, Smart Motor Devices, the Danish integrated motor specialist, JVL, the Indian motor manufacturer Mechtex, and the Wonder Motor Company from China.

For the first time, the Drives show will have two seminar theatres simultaneously offering a wide-ranging programme of presentations and panel discussions across all three days of the show. The new Energy and Safety seminar theatre will feature presentations and discussions involving experts from industry and trade bodies such as Gambica. Topics to be covered will include drive chain management, green energy, programmable safety, motor controls, and government incentive schemes. The programme includes a panel discussion on safety engineering after EN 954-1.

In the second theatre, experts from industry will be discussing topics of vital importance to the motion engineering and automation sector. Companies making presentations will include Control Techniques, Eplan, HMS, Leuze, Moog, Pilz, Red Lion and Schaeffler.

Running alongside the Drives & Controls Show will be a string of other industry events including the Air-Tech compressed air show, the Ifpex fluid power exhibition, the Electrex electrical engineering show, and the Mach manufacturing technologies event. Together these shows are expected to attract about 40,000 visitors, creating the UK’s most significant engineering event in 2012.

A newcomer this year is the Plant and Asset Management Exhibition (Pamex), covering the maintenance and management of physical assets. Exhibitors will include Fluke, Flir, Techni-Measure and the smartphone monitoring pioneer, Schad.  A series of seminars linked to the show will cover topics such as condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and thermography.

The Mach show is expected to attract about 450 exhibitors who, between them, will be demonstrating about 5,000 tonnes of working machinery. For the first time, there will be a direct link between the halls housing the Drives & Controls and Mach events.

The shows will take place at the Birmingham NEC from 17–19 April (with Mach running from 16–20 April). You can register to visit the Drives show via its Web site, which contains an up-to-date list of exhibitors. If you are interested in exhibiting, please contact Doug Devlin on 01922 644766 or via email at doug@drives.co.uk.