The World Economic Forum recently published a report on the state of the machine tools industry. Its conclusion states that due to factors such as complex macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, including exposure to currency volatility, sovereign debt pressures and emerging protectionist policies of many countries to gain access to emerging and prosperous new markets, the trend is leaning heavily towards more localised manufacturing supply chains. 

In 2015 IES added Machine Tools Saudi Arabia Exhibition to its portfolio of highly successful events to help manufacturers meet their customers in this hugely influential market.  This year MTE, the Saudi Arabia Machine Tools and Machinery Exhibition, will be held in Dammam from October 17 to 19. 

With a strong participation of foreign companies evaluating and investing in Saudi Arabia, the 2015 edition, the first of its kind in Dammam, welcomed 126 of the most important names in the machine tools industry. Exhibitors came from 25 countries; they gathered in Dammam, the capital of the Eastern Province of the kingdom, and set out their stalls. Three days of the IES inaugural MTE 2015 exhibition generated over $9.5 million of business in the sale of machinery and machine tools. Proud of such a success, and in order to build on its strengths, IES has expanded the show and will run it concurrently with Saudi International Oil & Gas exhibition (SAOGE), which will be held in the adjacent hall. The main end-users of the machine tools industry are oil and gas operators. The possibility of doing business will be higher than ever and the company is expecting over 10,000 visitors

The World Economic Forum report went on to say that globalisation of manufacturing has been a key driver of higher-value job creation and a rising standard of living for the growing middle class in emerging nation economies. This has dramatically changed the nature of competition between emerging and developed nations as well as between companies. Recent research shows that manufacturing has been immensely important to the prosperity of nations, with over 70 per cent of the income variations of 128 nations explained by differences in manufactured product export data alone. This ties in well with Vision 2030 and the Saudi strategy to invest in “Made in Saudi.”

GLOBALISATION

The World Economic Forum report forecasts that digital technology and free trade proliferation will continue to enable the flattening of the world and the globalisation of manufacturing supply chains. Their vision is that the dominant factors that shaped the disaggregated supply chains that one finds today will not be the same as those that carry one through the next several decades. For instance, 3D printing is changing the shape of manufacturing and just-in-time deliveries. The global environment is changing.

This year MTE will run concurrently with the Saudi International Oil & Gas exhibition (SAOGE)

Many emerging economies used by multinationals as locations of low-cost labour, have developed significant manufacturing and innovation capabilities permitting them to produce increasingly advanced manufactured products. At the same time, these economies have begun to experience a corresponding escalation in wages and costs, following in the footsteps of their developed nation counterparts. Greater prosperity and higher wages are helping drive an increased ability, and desire, to consume by these growing middle classes, making them much more an exciting market of new consumers and much less a source for low-cost labour. 

With the seeds planted by these multinationals, and the opportunity to serve these new markets, powerful new competitors are growing every day. This will profoundly reshape manufacturing supply chains over the coming several decades. 

Saudi Arabia is one of the top 10 fastest growing economies in the world and the largest and most influential economy in the Middle East. It is considered a wealth of business opportunities with a series of multi-billion-dollar projects. Foreign companies are flocking to the kingdom to take part in this development and with good reason.  

With consistently high demand amongst the leading Saudi manufacturers, traders, service companies and distributors and their international partners for attendance at MTE, the exhibition provides the perfect platform for companies not only to position themselves in the market but to critically evaluate the commercial, policy and above all technological innovation that is available.

MANY SECTORS

The following is a list of sectors that attended MTE in 2015 and which have signed up for MTE 2016: Lathes,  Milling Machines, Machining Centres, Flexible Manufacturing, Transfer and Special Production Machines, Drilling Machines, Precision Tools, Workpiece and Tool Holders, Metrology, Quality Control, Tool Grinding Machines, Automation, Components, Refrigeration, Lubrication, Waste Disposal, Accessories, Grinding Machines, Surface Technology, Honing, Lapping, Polishing Machines, Heat Treatment, EDM, Sawing Machines, Sheet Metal Working Machines, Forming Machines, Industrial Electronics, Robotics,  Software, Gear Cutting  and Welding.

MTE 2016, the only machine tools and machinery show in the Eastern Province, provides an opportunity to meet and strengthen business relationships with both private and public companies, research institutions and government agencies. All of these decision-makers will gather for the event.   

The IES team offers international expertise for companies wishing to expand current business interests in Saudi Arabia within the machine tools sector. Through its offices and representatives in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy and the UK, the team provides extensive guidance, market intelligence and support.