Contract for growth

摘要

Although consumer-facing areas of engineering such as volume automotive manufacture may be bearing the brunt of the downturn, sectors such as the aerospace, energy, medical-equipment, petrochemicals and heavy-engineering industries are still busy and actively looking to expand the volume of business that they do with subcontractors.rnThis could explain why bookings for Subcon 2009, the UK's national and international showcase for subcontract manufacturing services, are already up 20 per cent on last year. Taking place on 9-11 June at the NEC in Birmingham, the show and its exhibitors cover all aspects of mechanical and electronic manufacturing, including machined parts, plastic mouldings, circuitry, fabrication, profiling and castings.rnAccording to the organisers, there are already 180 individual exhibitors lined up to take part. They are ready to show visitors ranging from large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to higher-tier suppliers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) how outsourcing the manufacture of components can be easier and more economical than keeping the job in house.