Strong attendance at National Manufacturing Week 2007

Exhibitors have reported that National Manufacturing Week 2007, held at the Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre in late May, was an outstanding success.

The exhibition ran for four days and attracted over 14,500 visitors, a more than 30% increase in attendance over NMW 2006. This included an estimated 20% of the visitors coming from interstate or overseas.

"This level of visitors from outside of Victoria represented a substantial upward trend compared with previous NMWs," said John Gorton, director of industrial events with organiser Reed Exhibitions.

The event brought together market leaders from a wide selection of national and international manufacturing communities. A new 'Australian made' section was also introduced to highlight Australian made manufacturing products and give smaller local manufacturers a chance to participate.

NMW 2007 also incorporated the AUSTECH machine tool technology exhibition and the MATEX materials handling and warehousing equipment exhibition, along with specialist pavilions covering automation and robotics, instrumentation and process control, welding, air and hydraulic technology, and other specialist production engineering processes.

"The Victorian edition of NMW has always been a strong show for us, but we were delighted with the number of visitors to the exhibition from interstate and overseas," said Gorton.

"Exhibitors reported strong interest from a wide range of industries, with particular emphasis on those providing manufacturing and related services to the mining, energy and resources sectors.

"There is also evidence that the ongoing skills shortage is having an impact, with many enquiries relating to robotic and automated manufacturing systems. And with manufacturing continuing to perform strongly as a vital sector of the economy - employing more than the mining and resources sectors, for example - we anticipate excellent NMW editions in Sydney next year, and back in Melbourne in 2009."

NMW is held every year, alternating between Sydney and Melbourne. In 2008, National Manufacturing Week will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, from May 27-30, while in 2009, it will be back at the Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre from May 12-15.