Your conference 2021 - Steering through choppy waters

Conference dinner 18th January

Conference 19th January

All the plans are in place for us to get together again in January in Melton Mowbray for our annual Lab Suppliers Conference.

Everyone expects to be trading through some difficult conditions in 2021, so this year’s conference will focus on providing you with what you need to make the right business decisions for the year.

As well as political and economic forecasts, there will be a presentation from a senior BEIS official to clue you in on what’s happening with trade, tariffs and all things EU Exit just as everything is kicking off.

Given the vulnerability of some supply chains revealed by COVID-19, and the potential for a buy British campaign from the Government, there will be a session on how to assess your options for optimising quality and cost by making rather than buying-in components. There will also be a case study from Nidec, explaining how they made the decision to bring the manufacture of a large volume, low cost, component in house and what the impacts have been on their business.

Digital and sustainable – the new normal

In order to achieve or retain world-beating status, it is essential to identify opportunities, and avoid being crowded out of markets as customers set new minimum requirements. The Government has identified two areas as offering the opportunity to gain international competitive advantage, building on our existing reputation for quality. These are digitization and sustainable production. While sustainability has long had the reputation for being rather boring and ‘worthy’, there is Government funding available to help companies develop their products to demands made by customers who often have no idea what meeting them will entail. The issue with digitization is different – it requires skills which some companies may not have readily to hand, but with funding, recruiting such resources becomes possible.

So the third session at the conference will provide inspiring ideas and information about innovations, and the fourth will explain exactly what funding is available to you, and how to be certain of getting it.

For those with nerves of steel, there will also be a presentation on cyber-crime so you can adequately protect your company, and also make sure that your products don’t present a risk to your customers.

Once again this year we will be offering a special second delegate rate so that you can bring your key staff along to the conference and make sure that the ideas can be disseminated and acted on in your company without you having to do all the work yourself.

The rates to attend have been kept the same as last year, although we have booked an even nicer venue this year, Stapleford Park in Melton Mowbray.

To book your place click here.