FEATURE EXHIBITION REVIEW SENSORS & INSTRUMENTATION
New technologies, interesting product demonstrations, informative seminars and exhibitors already signing up for next year. Rachael Morling finds out what made Sensors & Instrumentation 2016 another exhibition success story
O
ver two days at the end of September, exhibitors once again
congregated in Hall 3 of the NEC, Birmingham, for the 7th annual Sensors & Instrumentation exhibition. When the exhibition was created all
those years ago, the organiser, Datateam Business Media, was testing the water by introducing a show dedicated specifically to sensors and instrumentation equipment. But when launching a new show there are always the questions: Will it work? And will it meet UK requirements? The event, however, has not only gone from strength to strength each year, but it has evolved in line with exhibitor, visitor and market demands. In fact opening the event up to even more relevant product areas – and re-naming the exhibition Sensors & Instrumentation for test, measurement & control – has
have once again gained in popularity. People began to realise that if they needed to specify a product, find out about a new technology, or had an application they were working on and needed some advice, what better place to be than at an exhibition focusing solely on the products they require. Such events feature a great number of companies showcasing their latest solutions, with product demonstrations available and technical staff on hand to
follow up visit for early next week to discuss it in more detail.” Visitors to Sensors & Instrumentation 2016 were therefore able to view a wide range of products. For instance, Huba Control had a range of solutions on show, including pressure transmitters and flow transmitters. While Micro- Epsilon displayed its full range of sensor technologies – from non-contact capacitive, confocal and inductive displacement solutions, to infrared
“We have had a very busy and successful event”
Stuart James, engineering sales manager at Hornbill
“We’ve had some good enquiries from new and existing customers which is very encouraging. We’ve also had people come to the show specifically to see us, which is great”
resulted in new exhibitors and an even greater number of visitors in attendance. Despite this, however, many of the exhibiting companies return year on year – Binder, Bronkhorst, National Instruments, Huba Control, Keller and Sensor Technology, to name just a few.
VISITING THE SHOW So what do visitors achieve by attending the show? Following a short period of uncertainty,
perhaps due to people having growing workloads and little time to get out of the office/factory/lab, etc., exhibitions
answer any questions – all in the one place. Visitors can walk around the stands, touching products, trying out equipment, picking up literature and speaking to people. Commenting on this, Paul Burroughs, area sales manager for Bronkhorst UK, said: “We had a fantastic lead for an application that we’ve never been involved in before which matches our portfolio perfectly. We have arranged a
Ian Tognarelli, business manager at Emerson
temperatures sensors. Binder, meanwhile, showcased sensor connectors suitable for a range of applications; and National Instruments displayed such solutions as data acquisition hardware, and visitors could learn about its LabVIEW and DIAdem software. Visitors to Dewetron’s stand
were interested in the company’s measurement solutions, and those who stopped to speak to FLIR were able to find out about such products as the latest thermal imaging systems.
“We’ve got lots to follow up when we get back”
Yasin Frei, application engineering manager, Keller
ADDED VALUE Events like Sensors & Instrumentation offer added value to those visiting by not only being co-located with other events – this year these were the Machine Building, Automation & IIoT zone; Micro Nano MEMS; TCT; and PPMA Total – but by including specialised features such as seminars and conferences. In fact the seminars which took place over both days of this year’s event proved highly popular with visitors – and it was no surprised due to the interesting topics covered. I had the chance this year to attend a few during the event and found the presenters to be highly knowledgeable and proud to be speaking about their technologies. The first seminar I attended on Day One of the show was National Instruments’ ‘The big, the bad & the ugly: big data best practices for data acquisition’, a topic ideal for readers of Instrumentation. Those who sat in on this presentation
42 NOVEMBER 2016 | DESIGN SOLUTIONS
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