Competition Kills Nepcon

Reed Exhibitions and a tradeshow partner, the SMART Group, canceled the 39-year-old electronics assembly tradeshow Nepcon U.K. after its sales manager launched a competing show.

Claire Jeffreys left Reed Exhibitions in September to start Natl. Electronics Week, debuting June 17-19 at Earls Court in London. Nepcon would have taken place April 29-May 1 at Birmingham, England's Natl. Exhibition Centre.

In a statement, Reed Exhibitions officials blamed Nepcon's demise on the shift of most electronics production from Europe to China and India, as well as competition from the new Natl. Electronics Week. Reed Exhibitions said Natl. Electronics Week had split the market.

Editions of Nepcon in other markets remain intact.

Jeffreys, who worked on Nepcon for 11 years, said she expected about the same number of exhibitors at the first edition of NEW as the old Nepcon (185 to 200), but they would be different companies.

She said that, while at Reed Exhibitions, she had attempted to widen Nepcon's scope as it became clear that change was necessary to keep the show delivering what the industry needed. However, Nepcon was limited by the success of its own branding, having become known globally as a production assembly show.

“Unfortunately, Nepcon was no longer responsive to the U.K. industry,” Jeffreys said. “From day one, I wanted to represent the whole industry and offer a much wider platform with new opportunities, including those for design and components, producers and distributors. That's a much wider net than Nepcon cast.”

She agreed with Reed Exhibitions officials that manufacturing in the United Kingdom had declined during the past five years, making it difficult to sustain the current size of Nepcon, let alone grow it, without some serious re-thinking.

Now, Jeffreys added, “we're listening to the people who will make the show, and we guarantee that, if it's a good idea, we'll do it. The only people we answer to are our exhibitors and visitors.”

Reed Exhibitions did not respond to requests for comment.

Reed Exhibitions and Reed Business Information (owner of Tradeshow Week) are owned by the same corporate parent, Reed Elsevier.

Jeffreys said she expects the new NEW to span up to 4,000 square meters (43,000 square feet) and attract about 4,000 attendees. This year's Nepcon had 4,366 attendees.

SMART Group, a U.K.-based electronics manufacturing trade group, signed a joint-ownership agreement with Reed Exhibitions last November, only two months before the announcement that the show would be canceled.

SMART Group Vice President Peter Swanson called the Nepcon cancellation a “sad event” for the entire U.K. electronics manufacturing industry. He said Nepcon was a pre-eminent showcase for engineering technology in the industry for nearly 40 years that, however, faced challenges from the Internet and the profile of its target market.

Swanson also said that, once Jeffreys started a competing show, it became clear Nepcon would no longer be viable.

Nepcon was formerly held in Brighton, England's Metropole, before moving to Birmingham's NEC in 2005 for additional space and better accessibility to more of England.

“SMART Group is very disappointed that Nepcon has been canceled, I guess proving that having two large shows in the U.K. is not sustainable. As a longstanding supporter of Nepcon, I find this very sad,” said Mike Judd, a spokesperson for the SMART Group.