Successful introduction to the world of new making

On Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 September 2022, 1832 professionals from design, manufacturing and mechanical engineering & 189 creative engineering students attended the first edition of Design to Manufacturing (D2M). The networking & demo fair sprang from the previous edition of Prototyping-MNE, which brought together the Prototyping Xpo & Machineering Network Event fairs for the first time in 2020. Industrial design and manufacturing are inextricably linked in the world of new making. This was reflected at D2M with a diverse range of exhibitors as well as Expert Classes, under one roof, from all dimensions of the manufacturing and design spectrum. Exhibitors, visitors and the organization are already convinced, despite the current disruptions that visitors and exhibitors have to counter, this new format tastes like more. 

CONNECTING THE DOTS 

100 exhibitors from BeNeLux - divided into 10 technology routes - welcomed executives, decision-makers & industrial teams (from design, engineering, production, prototyping, maintenance, planning, testing, assembly, research and development) to guide them through the industrial design and manufacturing of tomorrow. The latest innovations, solutions, materials and machines had their place on the exhibition floor, which also offered the visitor a lot of additional content. This in collaboration with important stakeholders such as Howest Industrial Design Center, Agoria, Metal-Alliance.be & Flam3D. In the central learnhub plenty of knowledge and inspiration could be gained. As many as 8 neutral Expert Classes (Design, manufacturing/industry 4.0) took place there, as well as 2 highly relevant debates were hosted. The Captains of Industry debate took place on Wednesday evening, followed by the Manufacturing 4.0 "Closing the loop" debate on Thursday. All sessions & debates can still be viewed via D2M Digital. In addition, the Café3D by Flam3D and the Innovation Expostion by Howest also proved to be of clear added value for visitors in the exploration of tomorrow's manufacturing.

VISITOR PROFILE REPRESENTATIVE OF EXHIBITORS AND ORGANIZATION

Top 10 sectors (in order of importance)
Transformation, production, assembly and constructions in metal
Product design, (co-)creation, engineering and prototyping
Machine building and hightec systems & mechatronics
Transformation, production, assembly and constructions in plastics and composites
Engineering & automation services/integrators
Aeronautics & automotive
Mould making & design
Production & distribution of Machines, High-tech systems & Materials
Additive manufacturing (Metal, PVC, Composite)
Agro-industry / Agriculture / Mining

THE FUTURE

The Industrialfairs team, together with the stakeholders Howest Industrial Design Center, Agoria, the content partners XR Valley, Flam3D, Sirris, KU Leuven & the 'thinktank' of exhibitors, will draw the lines for the follow-up of this first Design to Manufacturing (D2M). There is already a shift back to the original and more optimal spring programming that Machineering Network Event used to have. A 2nd edition can thus be expected in February 2024.

The 7th edition of ABISS (6/10/22) has already taken place and the next ones are Indumation Network Event (2/3/23) & MACHINEERING 2023. The latter is the larger fair for everything relating to manufacturing technology and mechanical engineering at Brussels Expo and will take place from Wednesday 29 March to Friday 31 March 2023 in hall 8. The process from design to manufacturing also has its place on the MACHINEERING exhibition floor, albeit with a larger stand and demo area (some 12,000 m² of exhibition space). All info can be found at www.machineering.eu