Taking place on National Manufacturing Day on Thursday 28 September, the North East Automotive Expo will put a spotlight on skills and technology. Organised by the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA), the Expo, the flagship event for the region's automotive industry, generates support from major players in the sector along with a strong line up of sponsors and last year welcomed over 700 delegates.

The Technology Showcase area will demonstrate some of the innovative technology being designed in the region to support the evolution of the automotive sector. Meet the Buyer, which facilitates over 100 one-to-one meetings each year, along with numerous successful supply chain opportunities and awarded projects, will return with support from OEMs and tier one suppliers.

Alongside a planned Skills Panel to discuss future skills needs, the NEAA has partnered with Wardley Primary School in Gateshead to showcase its range of robotics. The NEAA and industry realise the importance of supporting and working with schools to boost the future talent pipeline as the automotive sector competes for skilled people.

More details and how to book a place at the Expo can be found at:
www.northeastautomotivealliance.com/events/north-east-automotive-expo-2023/

Companies in the automotive industry have always been at the forefront of innovative manufacturing practices. However, to remain there, they must continue to adapt and adopt the latest developments in technology. This approach equips them to face evolving market demands as well as supply chain challenges. For automotive manufacturers, the next step to becoming more competitive and more profitable is to integrate real-time data generation and management across all aspects of car and part production.

In a world of global markets where everything is moving faster and competition is fierce, companies need to have agile manufacturing operations to introduce products faster to market than other industry players. A key enabler to support this is Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), a network technology that can help businesses create interconnected intelligent factories.

Mitsubishi Electric has released an innovative 24VDC digital input plugin module for its FRE800 range of variable speed drives (VSDs). Developed to support setup and maintenance activities, the FRE8DS keeps the node active when the main power source is turned off. This improves flexibility and reduces energy requirements whilst enabling users to interact with the control section without for an industrial power supply.

TimeSensitive Networking (TSN) is an enabling technology for Smart Factories. The technology is ideally suited to help merge the realms of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT), facilitating the dev elopment of holistic dataled manufacturing strategies. To fully realise the benefits a TSNdriven setup, companies need to consider compatibility, the protocols used on top of TSN and network architecture.