Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to meet the same old faces, catch up, press the flesh and relive fond memories. However, exhibitors must surely be crying out for fresh opportunities to meet new and potentially lucrative customers – the kind that they wouldn’t normally see at these events.
There is a need to promote these opportunities as they can help initiate healthy synergies that span not just aerospace manufacturing, but other sectors too. Advanced materials like carbon fibre composites and new elixirs of aluminium-lithium spring to mind, as well as the growth in techniques like additive manufacturing and friction stir welding processes. Add these to the all-straddling philosophy of Industry 4.0, and the sector can see first hand how they act as conduits to encourage industry cross-pollination.
Cometh the hour, cometh the show, the 53rd International Paris Airshow - previewed in this issue - will arguably offer the best opportunity to discover more about someone - or something - that you didn’t know existed. First held at the Grand Palais, Paris, the event continues to reaffirm its leading position as the world's largest aerospace gathering.
It offers the chance to look over someone else’s shoulder and will be of great interest to the industry’s OEMs, SMEs and cluster organisations, because it fits the Airshow’s remit of gathering together an eclectic and diverse mix of the global aerospace manufacturing and engineering sector. I suppose you could call them the unusual suspects.
Mike Richardson, editor
