EMCON to open up new horizons for engineering and manufacturing sector

Engineering and manufacturing SMEs will have the opportunity to win business from major national and international businesses at EMCON September 14.

Engineering and Manufacturing Network (EMN), which delivers EMCON, has announced that a Meet The Buyer programme will now be running at the event, which will be held at Rainton Arena, Houghton-le-Spring.

Delivered by UMi, the EMCON Meet The Buyer programme will connect suppliers with major buyers from North East England and beyond, via pre-arranged appointments.

JN Bentley Ltd, part of the global management, engineering and development consultancy Mott MacDonald, Billingham-based aluminium roof lanterns and bi-folding doors manufacturer Made For Trade, water company Northumbrian Water, Hexham-based natural botanical medical food products manufacturer Recocoa Ltd and multinational energy company SSE are among the buyers who are participating in the programme.

EMCON, which is now in its 15th year, is EMN’s flagship event. It was established to showcase engineering and manufacturing companies, capabilities and opportunities in North East England and beyond.

The Meet The Buyer session will give engineering and manufacturing businesses the opportunity to talk to buyers face to face about products and services.

In turn, buyers who register for the programme can strengthen their supply chains, discover new expertise and talent, and learn more about the solutions offered by North East England’s engineering and manufacturing community.

Registered suppliers will be provided with details of buyers’ requirements and needs ahead of EMCON, to enable them to make informed decisions when booking appointments.

UMi has delivered Meet the Buyer events across the UK and these events have a proven track record of generating new business for attending SMEs. One of its annual Meet the Buyer events, which UMi delivers for a major airport group in the UK, has generated as much as £28 million of contract wins in the last 10 years, allowing local businesses to reap the benefits of major projects taking place in their region.

Meet the Buyer at EMCON is being sponsored by partners Westray Recruitment Group, which helps companies hire across the professional, technical, engineering, industrial, manufacturing and business support sectors, and Salford Professional Development, a subsidiary of the University of Salford, which delivers in-house, virtual and bespoke accredited and non-accredited training to clients across both the public and private sectors.

Headquartered in County Durham, EMN is a long-standing cross-sector network which is dedicated to building and strengthening North East England’s engineering and manufacturing community. It has a membership stretching across the region.

Ailsa Anderson, director of development at EMN, said: “We’re thrilled to be holding a Meet the Buyer programme at EMCON for the first time in a few years – and it’s fantastic to have UMi on board to deliver this.

“Meet the Buyer will enhance the EMCON experience even further and provide a valuable platform through which suppliers and buyers can meet, have those all-important conversations, and discuss challenges and solutions.

“It’s more important than ever to localise your supply chain and reduce travel-led carbon emissions so we’re pleased to support this by highlighting the excellent engineering and manufacturing skills and capabilities that buyers have on their doorstep in North East England!”

Paul Clark, head of commercial services at UMi, added: “We are really excited to bring a Meet the Buyer element to EMCON 2023, and we are certain that local SMEs will make the most of the opportunities on offer to them.”

This year’s EMCON event will include a large-scale exhibition and networking area with more than 100 exhibitors, a Skills Zone to encourage connections between education providers and students, a Digital Zone backed by Made Smarter Adoption North East, an Energy Zone featuring exhibitors that manufacture or offer energy saving solutions and a Healthcare Zone supported by Academic Health Science Network North East and Cumbria.

The event is supported by a range of sponsors, including Gold Sponsors Manchester Metrology, B2B Injection Moulding Ltd and Business Durham, Silver Sponsors RTC, SMS Tech, Decerna, Made Smarter, CMYK and Torishima, and Bronze Sponsors Polymer Compounders and Cirrus Environmental Solutions Ltd.

Appointments for the EMCON Meet The Buyer programme will run from 9am to 4pm on September 14 at Rainton Arena. If you’d like to register as a supplier or buyer for the EMCON Meet the Buyer programme, visit www.emcon.show/meet-the-buyer/