NORTH WEST COMPANIES ATTEND AUTOMECHANIKA AND DEVELOP INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS
Four businesses have presence at 2012 Frankfurt exhibition and raise their profile in Europe
PROJECT
Automechanika 2012 exhibition, Frankfurt, Germany
BACKGROUND
The Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA) Business Excellence programme, in conjunction with UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), took a stand at the Automechanika 2012 exhibition in Frankfurt. The following four North West companies exhibited:
Business Lines
Business Lines is a global market leader in wheel nut safety solutions, and originator and inventor of the world’s first wheel nut indicator, the Checkpoint.
Mini Gears
Mini Gears is a specialist UK subcontract manufacturer of gears, racks and machined parts for applications across a wide range of industries which require power transmission components.
Scorpion Automotive
Scorpion Automotive offers a range of alarms, immobilisers and tracking devices to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the aftermarket for cars, vans, HGVs, plant, marine, motorcycles, caravan and motorhomes.
Xlite
Xlite forged aluminium commercial vehicle wheels, which are five times stronger and 40 percent lighter than the standard steel equivalent, made their show debut at Automechanika
PROJECT AIM
To raise the profile of the UK’s North West automotive industry, and to gain leads for participating companies.
NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT
The reason for attending Automechanika was to raise the profile and competitiveness of the automotive sector in North West England, and for the participating companies to gain additional international business.
APPROACH
Attendance at Automechanika was funded by the Northwest Automotive Alliance Business Excellence programme, in partnership with UKTI and SMMT. Four North West companies took space on the NAA stand.
OUTCOMES
Business Lines said that overall Automechanika was extremely useful and worthwhile attending, and the company took a lot of positives from the event. The main achievements were:
- The company managed to finalise a deal to add a major new German distributor for its wheel safety products.
- It developed relationships with a number of distributors, including a potentially large contract with a key French company.
- It developed new suppliers for other areas of the company, including the classic cars, parts and restoration arms of the business.
Mini Gears said that Automechanika was an excellent networking event and that the company gained a good number of positive leads, mostly with overseas companies that they had not previously come across, the majority of which have since been followed up with visits. In particular Mini Gears met with a company at the event that they had been targeting for two years.
Julie Hawkins, Sales and Marketing Manager for Xlite Wheels, said that she mainly used the event to meet up with European distributors, one of which gave her their first order. She added that Automechanika was good for networking – with potential customers, but also with industry contacts.
Daena Hayhurst, Marketing Manager, Business Lines said “It was a fantastic opportunity to meet new customers, end users and generate exposure for our product range. We gained improved market knowledge regarding various territories of business and became aware of key strategic information for the South African market. Finally, we had ample opportunity to present new product developments such as the recently released Checklock SQ and Checkpoint Medium Arrow (MA) as well as new product which was at the time in pre-production and has since been released – the Checkthread kit.”
