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US organiser acquires MTEC and Machine Building shows

10 May, 2007

A Californian exhibition organiser and magazine publisher, Canon Communications, has bought four UK industrial exhibitions – including MTEC and Machine Building – for an undisclosed sum from their previous owner, Devon-based Trident Exhibitions. Canon, which already owns and organises the co-located Medtec and 3C exhibitions, says it "plans to further develop, position and promote the shows" for the UK’s design and manufacturing industries.

The four exhibitions which have changed hands are:

º Machine Building, Drives & Automation;

º MTEC, which focuses on sensors, measurements and instrumentation technology;

º IPOT, Machine Vision and Displays Technology; and

º Practical Vacuum, which covers vacuum technology and semiconductor processing.

The shows, held each February at the Birmingham NEC, will continue to run alongside Canon’s Medtec UK medical equipment show (previously known as MDT) and its 3C exhibition covering cleanroom, contamination and control products. Canon says that "even without a formal organisational structure, the de facto co-location has successfully demonstrated the natural affinity and synergy between and among all six events". The company predicts that the next two-day event, scheduled to take place on February 13 and 14, 2008, will be "the largest design and manufacturing event in the UK".

The acquisition takes Canon’s total tally of trade shows to 43, most of which are US regional events. Its US national exhibitions include National Manufacturing Week, the Advanced Manufacturing Expo, and the Electronics Assembly Show. Canon also publishes more than a dozen specialist trade magazines covering the medical manufacturing, design, pharmaceutical, packaging, and plastics industries.

Canon’s chief executive, Charles McCurdy, says that the integration of the February shows "will position the overall exhibition as the leading event serving the UK’s advanced manufacturing markets". The company already organises similar co-located events in the US. "Acquisition of the Trident shows will enable Canon to bring this market-proven concept to the UK and, in doing so, create the largest design and manufacturing event in the country," McCurdy declares.

Trident will continue to run its three regional instrumentation shows, but it is expanding into the consumer market with a series of Stitch and Creative Crafts shows as well as an antiques fair.

"It is obviously sad to say goodbye to exhibitions we have known and developed over the years," says Trident’s managing director, Helen Thewlis. "However, we will still keep our involvement in the market through our regional shows".




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