Tom Jenkins
Hosted in the exhibition hall of the fairly impressive Ricoh Stadium in Coventry, the show itself was a fairly modest affair with only 77 exhibitors alongside a number of seminar rooms with a fairly full agenda of speakers. However, our interest was not in the speakers, but to chat with the exhibitors to see if they had any solutions that would bolster our offering in the manufacturing and warehousing verticals or could be of use to our existing customer base to complement their solution. Below is an overview of what we found.
TBAT Innovation is a niche independent consultancy working with technology/R&D focused companies, for nearly 15 years. They have a vibrant team of highly skilled and experienced individuals that come together to deliver exciting grant funding, R&D tax credit and consultancy projects for our clients.
Of particular interest is the fact that they can identify grants that may be available and reminded us that some of the work companies carry out on our customers' behalf could qualify them for an R&D tax claim.
Cloud Printing Solutions help businesses modernise the legacy automatic identification and labeling systems with next-generation label management and barcode quality control solutions that deliver high ROI's.
One particularly nice feature is the scanning of barcodes that code off a printer to ensure they are properly printed before they are applied to products. Furthermore, labels can be printed with minimal development, which could suit customers with demanding labeling requirements.
Valpak Limited
Valpak has been providing simple, innovative environmental solutions to over 4,000 customers since 1997 when the first piece of producer responsibility legislation, the Packaging Waste Regulations, was introduced in the UK.
Any company with a turnover of more than £2m and who handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year need to report their packaging figures; this system helps them do that. Primarily aimed at the big retailers, however this equally applies to manufacturers and distributors too.
We thoroughly enjoyed the UK Manufacturing & Supply Chain event. It provided a unique opportunity to network with a wide range of industries and all the delegates we spoke to were positive and engaged. It was great to see so many businesses proactively approaching sustainability. We will definitely be back next year.
Josh Remi, Commercial Manager, Valpak Data Management
They deliver the skills to completely outsource your data science projects, with the flexibility to scale resources, accommodating changes to timeline or demands.
More aimed at the M of SME, these are the guys you call on when the Power BI dashboards are no longer doing the job.
7SIGNAL crowdsources Wi-Fi experiences from actual devices on the edge of your network. Network admins and helpdesk leaders are finally empowered with the information they need to find and fix Wi-Fi issues on the first call, reducing escalations.
These guys provide the equipment and the service to be able to assess the quality of your WiFi in the warehouse or on the shop floor. We often have customers who say we want mobile NAV solutions, but the WiFi is not good enough; maybe these guys can help.
Vero is the recognised brand name for tracking and safety solutions from Harland Simon plc. Used in a growing number of warehouse, manufacturing and other industrial and commercial environments across the UK, Vero provides businesses with innovative tracking solutions coupled with the expertise required to improve productivity, profitability and safety.
Vero Solutions offer next level asset tracking using RFID, optical and location technologies. They can put sensors on a forklift or a person to ensure that the right items are picked from the right locations and feed that back to the ERP solution (such as NAV). Not a cheap solution, but the productivity savings could pay for itself in the right environment.
Qolcom is the leading integrator of secure converged networks, and mobility management solutions. Their solutions deliver reliable, high performance, secure network services for traditional computing and mobile device estates.
Qolcom delivers secure wireless solutions and managed mobility services to manufacturers including Bentley, ASM Assembly Systems, Snap-on Business Systems, Cobham, Red Bull Racing, Hyundai, Iveco, Nissan and Baxter Foods.
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