This year’s Drives & Controls Show, together with allied events held at the Birmingham NEC, set attendance records, with nearly 13,000 visitors, 15% more than the last show, in 2012. The number of exhibitors also increased for 2014. “The event looked and felt magnificent,” says Ian Atkinson, managing director of DFA Media, which organised the shows. “It attracted almost universal praise from the exhibitors,” he adds. “The success was far beyond what we expected,” says Doug Devlin, sales director for the exhibition. “There was a real buzz in the halls and the exhibitors reported good numbers of high-quality leads. Both the EPTDA and Gambica pavilions were very busy over the three days and both will be increased in size to accommodate more members for the 2016 show. Exhibitors report that they made numerous high-quality contacts with potential customers. Carl Krajewski, managing director of Siemens’ UK motion and controls partner, HMK, reports 50% more enquiries on the first day of the show than the previous event. For B&R Automation general manager, Simon Goodwin “It’s been the best UK exhibition we’ve ever had in terms of leads and quality”. Another exhibitor, Lenze had set itself a target of raising its enquiry level by at least 25% over its 2012 figure, and easily exceeded this target. “We’ve had some cracking enquiries,” says marketing manager, Geoff Spear. One of these enquiries could potentially be worth £500,000 to the company. Companies that have already confirmed their intention to exhibit at Drives & Controls 2016 (also at the NEC, 12 – 14 April 2016) include Beckhoff, B&R Automation, Centa, Carter Bearings, Dunkermotoren, Eplan, E-T-A Circuit Breakers, HMK/Siemens, ILME, Leuze Electronics, LMC, Radwell International, Rittal, Tempa Pano and Wenglor.

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