No zones and new look

align, no matter what sector they’re from. Take sustainability as an example — we wanted to make sure that our floor plan gave attendees the best opportunity of sharing ideas and solutions to challenges like this.

“Advanced Engineering has expanded greatly over the years, starting as a specific aerospace event 14 years ago. 2023 felt like the right time to break down the walls that separated our exhibitors to fully encourage collaboration across industries and to prepare the show for a new era of manufacturing and engineering,” concluded Willis.

To ensure that visitors and exhibitors can still easily find relevant contacts, Advanced Engineering exhibitors will now be categorised by the services, products and solutions offered. They will have the opportunity to highlight all of the sectors they work in, removing any limitations created by the specific show zones. As well as encouraging visitors from the show’s established sectors like aerospace, space, automotive and composites to attend, Advanced Engineering hopes to attract visitors from newer sectors, like marine, security, rail, energy, sports and leisure, and medical.

In 2023, Advanced Engineering will welcome back a full speaker programme with representatives from some of the leading companies in UK manufacturing. Last year, attendees were treated to talks from leading industry figures from companies like Siemens, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Make UK, Rolls-Royce and Airbus. As always, attendees will be able to access all of these talks free of charge, totalling around 50 hours of free CPD accredited learning. 8 advancedengineeringuk.com

The UK Government is currently expressing concerns regarding the number of workers aged over 55 who are not in work, or unable to obtain work, in particular as a means to boost the economy and productivity.

However, research has found that those in this age range, whilst offering a wide range of skills and experience, are still often shut out due to narrow views of their age.

Offering a different viewpoint, and bucking the trend, Roger Haw, Managing Director at Sheffield based heat treatment specialist, Flame Hardeners is a firm advocate of employing older workers: “It is well worthwhile to pick up someone older who can do a good job; they give some thought to instructions and procedures and are flexible, reliable and have a good work ethic.”

A typical example of this ethos is fork-lift operator Dave Jones. Dave had spent most of his working life in warehouse work and had been driving forklift trucks for six years, until being made redundant. Prior to that he had been with a company as warehouse manager for almost 18 years, but after the company was sold, changes were made, and it moved its operations to Leicester.

At 62 Dave wasn’t confident about finding permanent work and so had been doing temporary work via an agency. As a result, he joined Flame Hardeners on a temporary basis in November last year and was then offered a permanent job after Christmas.