Blundell Blog

We are off to Munich this weekend for the bi-annual beer and production equipment fest that is the undisputed biggest and best show in the world for printed circuit board assembly, soldering and inspection equipment.

As we don’t sell outside of the UK, but we buy lots of equipment in from abroad, we won’t have our own stand but our main Principals such as Ersa, Ebso, iPulse, TWS, Fritsch, PVA and Dage will all have stands there and we will be helping them out and also looking for new product opportunities.

Any UK customers who are going to Munich who would like to meet up with us are welcome to call me on 07770 603785 between Monday and Thursday of next week so that we can arrange to get together on one of our principals’ stands or in the bar if you prefer. See you in Munich.

It’s official - we will NOT be exhibiting at National Electronics Week. We should never have been on the floor plan as we did not make a firm booking. None of our customers or the contacts we have spoken to over the past few weeks are going to visit the show, so we feel that to be there would be a waste of time and money.

Earls Court in our opinion is a bad venue, and June is a bad month for a show, just before the summer holidays. The exhibition no longer has a production focus, and it’s nothing like Nepcon, which it was meant to replace. We are staying away for this year, and we have asked the organisers to seriously re-consider the venue and timing for next year if the event is going to survive.

I’ve just got back from spending a couple of days looking around the SMT Exhibition at Nuremburg, Germany. The show was slightly smaller than usual and visitor numbers were down, but most companies put on a good show and it’s an easy exhibition to get around. It was a good chance to catch up with our main principals such as Ersa, Ebso, Dage, iPulse etc and to talk with old industry friends and associates.

Although they are suffering along with everybody else from recession, in Germany they seem to be able to retain a positive outlook and they all seem very bullish about a recovery in the second half of the year. With Productronica only 6 months away, let’s hope they are right. 

My discussions with industry contacts about the National Electronics Week show at Earls Court seem to confirm our negative views on that show. Very few production equipment companies are going to be exhibiting and there does not seem to be a last minute rush for stands. Looking at the floor plan, only half the stands have been sold, and there are only 5 weeks to go.

We will have a stand at the Southern Electronics and Manufacturing Show, Farnborough Airfield this week on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th February. The southern show has grown steadily over the past few years and was very well attended last year. The stands are all small so it is quick and easy to get around in half a day if you are tight for time. It’s just off the M3 on the Surrey/Hampshire border.

The Blundell stand is C35, and we will be showing a selection of equipment for printed circuit board assembly, rework, inspection, soldering, conformal coating and cleaning. We will also be running a continuous video of our larger equipment such as pick & place, reflow ovens, wave and selective soldering and stencil cleaning.