Branded as the UK’s biggest manufacturing show, Smart Factory Expo 2019, held at the Exhibition Centre, Liverpool, certainly was true to its word and with the support of Symetri, a company that helps businesses work smarter with leading-edge technology and services, Solinear was delighted to be involved.
What is Smart Factory Expo?
As the Smart Factory Expo website explains, this is a stage for digital-savvy manufacturers to meet with world-class solutions providers and their partner ecosystems, digital manufacturing specialists, tech start-ups, consultants, and a selection of award-winning manufacturers that are setting the pace for entire industries. Smart Factory Expo goes on to describe the event as ‘more than just an expo – it’s THE festival of manufacturing!’
Smart Factory Expo 2019
2019’s Smart Factory Expo anticipated attracting 6,000 visitors, drawn from progressive manufacturers throughout the country. The event featured over 150 cutting edge exhibitors with eight visitor zones: Smart Factory, Digital Transformation, Internet of Things, Industrial Automation, Manufacturing Innovation, Cybersecurity, Field Service and Supply Chain & Logistics. Innovation Alley highlighted the UK’s ground-breaking manufacturing technology start-ups and opened up the industrial ecosystem to early-stage businesses. In addition to the exhibits, stands and demonstrations there were 200 free-to-attend speaker sessions held in Solutions Theatres spread across the exhibition floor and, as if this wasn’t enough Smart Factory Expo 2019 promised much more to eager visitors keen to discover what is happening now and in the future of digital manufacturing.
Who is Symetri?
Evolving from an expert in CAD software to a strategic business partner supporting their clients at every stage of the product or building development, Symetri works with businesses to tailor digital BIM, product design and lifecycle solutions to help them work smarter and do more with less.
Solinear, Symetri and Smart Factory Expo 2019
Kevin Doherty, Account Manager at Symetri, stated that “The Smart Factory Expo is an integral part Digital Manufacturing week, an annual celebration of UK Manufacturing, and the expo offers the chance for companies to highlight how disruptive technologies that form part of Industry 4.0 are being applied to real world business problems.” Symetri was invited to join the Autodesk stand at the Expo where they had the opportunity to showcase a customer case study in their area within the main stand. Kevin approached Solinear following a meeting with Andy Moore, our Design Manager, where he explained the adoption of Additive Manufacturing (also known as 3D printing or Rapid Prototyping) has addressed a key business challenge whereby the difference between a building’s ‘as-designed state’ sometimes differs from its ‘as-built state’ resulting in some challenges when it comes to fitting pre-cut sections of our profiles. Solinear was delighted to provide physical samples of the profiles and additively manufactured inserts and from this Kevin built a story board around the business challenge, it’s associated costs, along with a schematic of how additive manufacturing had enable Solinear to quickly develop a solution to this problem and the resultant cost savings.
Results
Andy Moore, our Design Manger and one of our Designers, John Lowery-Brady (pictured) attended the event and found it to be a fascinating and enlightening experience with the opportunity to witness the latest additively manufactured technology at work, overall well worth a visit. At the show there were other examples of additively manufactured parts on the stand however they were geared towards space exploration, sport or automotive applications so having a more relatable example helped visitors to make the connection between the technology and the benefits it can bring. Kevin concluded “Typically, companies consider Industry 4.0 out of reach of a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) yet Solinear’s willingness to invest in this technology and the return that it had delivered in such a short period of time was a really positive example of how accessible these technologies are.”
For more information regarding Smart Expo visit: www.digital-manufacturing-week.com/page/expo
For more information regarding Symetri visit: www.symetri.co.uk/
For more information regarding Autodesk visit: www.autodesk.com/
