About Smart Manufacturing Week
Rather than a single exhibition, Smart Manufacturing Week works as an umbrella for several linked events aimed at UK industry. Organised by Nineteen Group at the NEC in Birmingham, it groups Smart Factory Expo, MAINTEC, Design + Engineering Expo, Drives + Controls and the Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit, alongside The Manufacturer Directors' Forum. The editorial content is researched and produced with The Manufacturer, the long-established industry publication, which gives the conference side a strong business focus.
The organiser presents the week as the UK's largest festival of advanced manufacturing and engineering, and it deliberately sets out to feel livelier than a conventional trade fair, with live performers and fringe activity around the main floor. The underlying purpose is serious, though: helping manufacturers at every stage of digital adoption find the technology, partners and advice they need.
Exhibitors tend to come from automation and robotics, industrial software and data, maintenance and reliability, motion control and drives, and product design and engineering tools. Visitors are trade professionals from manufacturing businesses, ranging from engineers and maintenance teams to operations leaders and board-level decision makers who attend the directors' content.
The appeal for suppliers is breadth. Because the co-located shows share one floor, a single stand can be seen by engineering, maintenance and senior leadership audiences who would otherwise attend separate events. For companies selling technology that crosses those boundaries, such as connected maintenance systems or factory software, that mix is the main reason to take part.
Next edition
Smart Manufacturing Week 2027: what to expect
The 2027 edition runs on 9 and 10 June at the NEC, Birmingham, with the exhibition in Hall 5. Opening hours published by the organiser are 09:30 to 17:00 on Wednesday 9 June and 09:30 to 16:00 on Thursday 10 June, with VIP entry from 09:00 on both days.
Drives + Controls continues to sit inside Smart Manufacturing Week rather than running as a separate show, so motion control and automation suppliers share the floor with the factory software and maintenance zones.
Two short days put pressure on stand operations. Exhibitors running robot cells or machinery should settle power, compressed air and guarding requirements with the NEC well before the manual deadlines, and the earlier Thursday close is worth factoring into breakdown plans. Subcon runs at the NEC on the same dates, which can bring extra engineering buyers through the venue.