SouthPack Goes to Charlotte
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 4/30/2007
Canon Communications' six collocated shows for Southern advanced design and manufacturing markets, SouthPack, will move from Atlanta to Charlotte, N.C., in 2008, then back to Atlanta for 2009, and go from semiannual to annual. Canon expects Charlotte to provide a different demographic of buyers than Atlanta, while building on the show's position as a regional advanced design and manufacturing event.
The shows — Design & Manufacturing South, AM Expo (Advanced Manufacturing), ATX South (Automation Technology), SouthPack, Plastec South and Powder & Bulk Solids Expo South — are scheduled March 19–20 at the Charlotte Convention Center.
Kevin O'Keefe, Canon's vice president of events, said the multi-show event had been held twice a year since its inception in 2003. Two factors were at play in the move to Charlotte: timing and access to markets served.
Most attendees in Atlanta came from within 150 miles of the event, essentially Georgia and Alabama. O'Keefe believes the move to Charlotte will deliver an entirely new group of attendees from the 7,000 advanced manufacturing facilities located within 100 miles of Charlotte. He said key industries in the area include automotive, IT, electronics, appliances, metal fabrication and industrial equipment.
There has been significant consolidation in the U.S. manufacturing industry, O'Keefe added.
"Fewer people are doing more. While U.S. manufacturing is larger than ever and growing (in 2006 by better than 6 percent) decision makers will not travel a distance to tradeshows; the majority of attendees come from the immediate region," he said. "This is why we have positioned all of our events in the center of the market served."
O'Keefe said there is clearly strong exhibitor and market demand for a major event serving the South's advanced manufacturing industries, as the event's growth attests.
The event covers design software and rapid prototyping, assembly and automation equipment, electronic components, production and processing machinery, plastics processing, packaging, enterprise software, and automation and controls. The combined shows are expected to comprise more than 500 exhibitors and 100,000 square feet.
