Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2025
Celebrating its 27th anniversary this February, Southern Manufacturing & Electronics enjoyed its most successful show to date. MEPCA were in attendance.
Situated adjacent to Farnborough airfield, birthplace of British aviation and location of the world-renowned Farnborough Air Show, Southern Manufacturing & Engineering 2025 is well at home on a site with such rich history of innovation.
A backdrop of runways with light and medium aircraft and domed hangers greeted the visitors. MEPCA (arriving by car, sadly) were delighted to attend the first day of the event, which was already buzzing on arrival mid-morning.
The exhibition hall was jam-packed with impressive exhibition stands, and we certainly got our steps in as we navigated through it. This owed more to our poor sense of direction rather than the layout or signage at the event. Luckily, there was plenty of opportunity for a pit stop for refreshments, with a festival-style enclave of food vans at the far end of the hall, along with the more conventional café and seating areas at the other end.
Our first stop was the Vision Engineering stand, which had a product launch that very day. We’d arranged a video interview to mark the occasion – a first for our editor, someone who prefers to avoid the limelight. Despite this, we made the most of the opportunity to get a first look at the new HALO 4K before the very knowledgeable Stephen Sanderson, International Product Manager, talked us through the technological departure from prior models and what 4K means to the sector.[i]
The continual traffic at the stand was a clear indication of the anticipation for the product, which didn’t let up during the time we were there and was tremendous to see. It was no wonder, given that the number of attendees reached 10,204 (a 14% increase compared to 2024).
Also receiving tremendous amount of footfall was the Waste Mission exhibition stand. When we caught up with the Waste Mission team after the event, they had this to say: “Waste Mission have been visiting the Southern Manufacturing show for many years, including when it was held in the infamous tent! The show is a truly great asset for the region with a customer base that aligns well with our own geographic capabilities.
“Since our rebrand one year ago, the show focus was on complete waste management and specifically the portal that we have launched to give our customers complete control of their waste streams.”
Growing significantly under new proprietor EasyFairs, the event featured 535 exhibitors, an impressive 12% increase on the prior year, along with 53 independently approved, open-format seminars, including a keynote address from Ben Fletcher, COO at Make UK.
Simon Farnfield, a director at Easyfairs, enthused, “We are thrilled with the resounding success of the exhibition in this our first year of ownership. The record-breaking number of visitors, increased exhibitor participation and enthusiastic adoption of our new networking technology demonstrate the show’s continued importance to a broad spectrum of manufacturing. The positive feedback we have received, particularly regarding EasyGo and Southern Connect, underscores our commitment to providing a valuable and engaging experience for everyone involved.”
[i] mepca-engineering.com/oliver-batt-interview-with-stephen-sanderson-vision-engineering-southern-manufacturing/
