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Building a Stronger Supply Chain with SMMT’s Meet the Buyer events
The automotive sector is hugely important to the UK economy, employing over 700,000 people and investing over £1.5bn in R&D every year. The strength and capability of the automotive supply chain is a crucial factor in driving growth and attracting inward investment – a point reinforced by the publication of the Automotive Council study ‘Growing the Automotive Supply Chain’.
There is genuine interest and commitment from global vehicle manufacturers (OEMs) to source more components in the UK and in response to these needs, SMMT hosted a number of Meet the Buyer events. These events are designed to match OEM sourcing demand to local suppliers and help to retain and build supply chain relationships. View the latest investment announcements here.
SMMT’s Automotive Supplier Finder (ASF) service represents one of the largest and most comprehensive databases of automotive companies operating in the UK. Used as the primary source to find suppliers for all our Meet the Buyer events, the database is able to define companies by the products and services, quality standards and plant capabilities.
Our latest event in July 2012 was the biggest yet, with over 250 delegates registered to attend, nearly 50 purchasing personnel representing over 20 OEM and Tier 1 buying organisations and over 330 one to one appointments facilitated on the day at our venue in Cranmore Park, West Midlands. Read more in our news story here.
The regional events in Autumn 2011 helped to facilitate over 200 one-to-one meetings across all three events with over 180 attendees representing OEMs and tier one and two suppliers. Initial feedback has indicated that over 60% of companies received at least one positive lead to follow up on after the events with a handful of companies with 4 plus leads.
In April 2011, our second event hosted over 220 one-to-one appointments between over 30 buyers and approximately 80 UK tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers covering over 80 different commodities.
Our first MtB event in July 2010, saw over 90 one-to-one meetings take place between vehicle manufacturers and UK tier 1 suppliers.
Supporting the events over the course of 2011 and 2012, were some major OEM companies and tier 1 companies including the following:
Aisin Europe, Aston Martin, Bentley, Bosch, BMW Group, BWI Group, CAB Automotive, Calsonic Kansei, Faurecia, Ford Europe, Futaba Industrial and Futaba Tenneco, General Motors, Grupo Antolin, Hi-Lex Cable Systems, IAC Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Koito Europe, Kostal UK, Leyland Trucks, Mobis Parts, Nissan UK, Nissin Showa, Perkins and Caterpillar, Sanoh Manufacturing, Scorpion Automotive, Sears Manufacturing, TATA Motors, Toyota Europe and Unipart.
How to get involved as a buyer for our next event – covering production and non production, international, aftermarket buyers!
We are keen to hear from you if you are interested in being part of these events as a buyer. Please contact Nikki Huggett on nhuggett@smmt.co.uk for more information.
How to be considered for invite as a supplier in the next event – Click here to see information on how to ensure you receive an update on the next event
We ask all buyers involved in these events, which commodities/services they are looking to source from the UK manufacturers. The full 2013 list of requirements is available now from here. Revisions will be made available in the lead up to the next event. If you can manufacture any of the items listed in the UK, please do not hesitate to contact us to make sure your company is put forward as a potential supplier. Decisions on whether your company is sent an invitation to these events is left with the buyers. All of these events are by invitation only.
We encourage you to check your company profile and contacts are up to date regularly by using the industry directory editing tool available from www.autosupplierfinder.com/midedit
Next Meet the Buyer event, 23 May 2013
The next event will be on Thursday 23 May 2013. Currently over 20 buying organisations have been confirmed again this year, including some that have not attended in the past. To read the full news story about the last event click here.
We had over 20 UK automotive tier 1 and OEM buying organisations participating at the last Meet the Buyer – including Aisin Europe, Aston Martin, BMW, Bentley, Bosch, CAB Automotive, Faurecia, Ford, Futaba Tenneco, General Motors, Grupo Antolin, IAC Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Jtekt, Kahn Design, Koito, Kostal, Mobis Parts, Nissan, Sanoh Manufacturing, Scorpion Automotive and TATA Motors. SMMT’s July 2012 Meet the Buyer event was the biggest and best yet, with over 250 delegates registered to attend and nearly 50 purchasing personnel representing over 20 buying organisations. The event achieved a record number of one-to-one meetings pre-booked as well as an extra 105 appointments scheduled between the buyers and suppliers on the day.
These events are ‘by invitation only’ and once we have recieved a request from one or more of the buyers for your business to meet with them you will be sent an official invitation and be able to submit additional requests for meetings with other buyers prior to the event.
For more information on past events click here.
Interested in being considered and invited as a supplier for the next event?
Expression of interest for this event has now closed.
Interested in being a buyer at the next event?
We are hosting this event covering production, non production UK and non UK purchasing departments and Aftermarket. If you are interested in participating in this event as a buyer please contact Nikki Huggett on nhuggett@smmt.co.uk for more information.