Thousands of smart manufacturing and engineering professionals came together with suppliers, manufacturers, and innovators in Birmingham this week.
Made Smarter Adoption were on-hand to soak up the atmosphere, connect with new SME manufacturers and deliver panel speeches to visitors from across the UK.
1) T1FNY the Terminator robot
Skynet hasn’t quite pushed for world domination just yet, but you would be forgiven for thinking so if you came across T1FNY.
The 8ft robot, inspired by The Terminator film made for a looming presence in the main exhibition hall.
Created by Podpadstudios as an exhibition prop not only did she have remote controlled limbs but used object recognition technology supplied by Microsoft to identify humans to ‘terminate’. Yikes!
2) Seeing our clients thriving
It was great to come across Liverpool-based Brainboxes who worked with Made Smarter in 2020 on a machine tended UV printer.
With an exceptionally cool stand made of lava lamps, which you could remote control, it was fantastic to see their technology in action.
It was even better to see them talking to PrintCity, an education partner of ours about additive manufacturing and a potential collaboration. Watch this space…
3) Meaningful panels on diversity
Diversity in manufacturing is a vast topic and one that needs to be taken seriously.
So, it was heartening to come across an all-female panel discussion about how to encourage more women into the engineering sector.
Natalia Adamson, Maira Bana, Natalie Collcutt all from SheCanEngineer spoke at the mentoring and career development workshops. Together they busted myths, talked about their own journeys into engineering and gave a great account of why more women should consider engineering as a rewarding and lucrative career path.
Elsewhere our colleague Claire Scott, Made Smarter Technology Adoption Specialist, did a stella job of representing the team on the Keys to Building Enduring Supplier-Buyer Partnerships panel.
4) The Innovation Showcase
Our colleagues at Made Smarter Innovation had a whole alley of great ideas this year and it was fantastic to catch-up with Knowledge Transfer Manager Dr Becky Bolton and discuss closer collaboration.
We also spoke to Carolyn Axtell, Professor of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield about their Digital Change Toolkit.
It is a great free resource to help manufacturers prepare, design and evaluate the people and organisational aspects of digital change.
To find out more about Made Smarter Innovation click here.
5) Self-powered smoothie station
Networking is a thirsty business.
So, imagine our marketing team’s delight when they came across a self-powered smoothie station. They do love a gimmick in marketing.
Simply choose your fruit, pop in some orange juice, and hop on your bike, literally, to pedal your way to a nutritious refreshment.
Not entirely sure why, but then again, why not?
6) The Made Smarter stand
Yes, we may be bias but Made Smarter had a great spot in SubCon and a very busy stand over the two-day event.
Led by our team in the West Midlands we spoke to dozens of manufacturers looking to make the next step on their digital transformation journey.
With Made Smarter advisors on-hand we made referrals into our teams across the country and got a great snapshot of the appetite for the Made Smarter programme.
Didn’t manage to catch us at the NEC? Not to worry.
Find out more about how Made Smarter can help your business with digital transformation today.