With a successful MACH 2016 exhibition behind it, show organiser and trade association the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) has already got the MACH 2018 event in its sights, unveiling a website and kicking off the space ballot process.
The association has launched the MACH 2018 website,www.machexhibition.com, for the next edition of the biennial event, which will be held at the NEC, Birmingham, from 9-13 April.
Space for MACH 2018 went on sale back in April, at the 2016 show, with 3,000m² already allocated on the floor plans as MACH 2016 exhibitors took up the offer of reserving space at the 2018 event, but the ballot process is now about to start.
The first ballot is for stands in excess of 200 m² and will take place on Friday, 9 September 2016. Submissions for the first ballot will close at 17:00 on Wednesday, 7 September 2016. The second ballot for stands under 200 m² will take place on Friday, 21 October, with submissions for this ballot closing on Tuesday, 18 October.
Says MTA CEO James Selka: “The response to the launch of MACH 2018 has been overwhelmingly positive, with exhibitors keen to secure their spots at the show. We are excited to launch the new website and open the ballot process for 2018, we have every confidence that this move will further enhance MACH’s reputation as the home of manufacturing technologies in the UK.”
MACH 2018 will see the event move home for the first time in over 40 years, from NEC halls 4 and 5, to halls 17, 18, 19, 20, 6 and 7. These halls are located on the newer atrium side of the NEC complex and will see MACH 2018 occupying one single uninterrupted space on one level.
The benefits for this move are stated by the MTA as being that it “will enable MACH to provide more top quality exhibition space”. In addition, there will be more entrances to the exhibition, which will enable the flow of visitors to be distributed more evenly throughout the halls, adds the show organiser.
James Fudge, head of events at the MTA, says: “After a hugely successful MACH 2016, which saw a 10% increase in footfall and over £150 million worth of business done in five days, we have turned our attention to 2018 and how we can further improve on the exhibition, including the launch of the new website.
“The hall move will give the exhibition the chance to grow and adapt in the years to come, making sure that we retain our position as the UK’s premier manufacturing technologies exhibition.”
Note: MACH was established more than 100 years ago by the MTA’s predecessor organisation, the Machine Tool & Engineering Association, established in 1910 to take over the management of the proposed Machine Tool Exhibition in Great Britain and holding a first event in 1912 at Olympia, London – the International Engineering & Machinery Exhibition, the year in which Machinery was launched.
Today, MACH is the largest manufacturing technologies-related event in the UK, attracting in the region of 600 exhibitors and more than 25,000 visitors.
