News
Come Next Fall, Chicago or Orlando?
The Assembly Technology Expo show hadn't even drawn to a close before the battle began heating up over where exhibitors will put their trade show dollars next year.
In one corner is the incumbent AT Expo, now run by a new owner, L.A.-based Canon Communications. In the other is the SMTA trade association, which is launching its own event in 2007.
SMTA and Reed Exhibition, the previous owner of AT Expo, were paired since 1999 and had cobbled together a solid and growing, if somewhat broadly focused, event just outside Chicago. However, when Canon purchased AT Expo from Reed earlier this year, the former decreed that going forward, it would sever a large incentive (read: guaranteed money) that had provided SMTA with as much as a quarter of its annual operating budget.
For SMTA, the lack of certain funding made AT Expo less attractive than going it alone. Thus, SMTA's board is opting to move its technical conference, SMTAI, to Orlando and adding an expo focused on electronics assembly. The new show launches next October.
Most exhibitors in Chicago expressed surprise at the impending divorce, and no clear preference has yet emerged. Some voiced concern about the growing number of shows. Others countered they'd prefer several regional shows to a single annual event. Many pointed to Canon's decision to colocate its National Manufacturing Week event with AT Expo next year as a step in the wrong direction, as the 40,000 or so expected attendees would dilute the electronics assembly audience, while also making it even more difficult to secure hotel space (hello, Rockford!) and other amenities. Still others yearned for the event to move – but to Las Vegas.
In response, director of marketing Dan Cutrone told me Canon has secured some 3,000 hotel rooms within the village of Rosemont for next year's show, which will cover "100% of the needs of the attendees." He also called erroneous suggestions that Canon simply pulled the plug on the SMTA. "[F]or SMTA to achieve that revenue platform in other ways … [w]e looked at how we could further reduce the cost: Free marketing, free hotel, free registration services, and SMTA would keep 100% of the [conference] revenue." And if SMTA were to change its mind, Canon would welcome the trade group back, he said.
All things being equal, I would rather see trade show revenues go into the pocket of the organization that will dutifully reinvest those monies in the industry: SMTA. But it's not that simple. The pricing schedule SMTA has set up is highly competitive, but a trade show goes way beyond its past experience of technical conferences and tabletops, and there are understandably questions about just how they are going to pull this off. While at this writing it seems highly unlikely, I think it would be in the best interests of the industry for the shows to remain as one for now.
Agents of change. Think lead-free is oh-so-last-July? Think again. Sessions on lead-free at SMTAI were absolutely brimming. Unfortunately, the popularity of those sessions tended to overshadow the event's unusually strong management program.
For years I've heard numerous complaints about the reported "inability" of the U.S. to compete with low-cost labor regions, or how other locales (read: the EU) engage in unfair trade practices. But I did sit through a first-rate session at SMTAI that brought together a handful of the brightest and sharpest proponents of how American companies can compete.
Two highlights of the five-hour program were:
Bill Eagen, leader of Deloitte Consulting's Outsourcing Advisory Practice, who revealed that while outsourcing remains an effective strategy for smaller (less than $10 billion in revenue) businesses and especially those in the $500 million range, the mix of unanticipated costs and problems often outweighs the benefits for companies above $10 billion in revenue. Through a comprehensive survey, Deloitte found contractors have problems creating an economic model that can sustain changes in the customer's business. In short, while contractors handle the basics well, they tend to lack flexibility, to the frustration of customers. Governance, he says, "is critical."
Dr. Aroon Tungare, who heads Motorola's advanced development lab, followed him with a discussion about how intellectual property and innovation may be used to realize a sustainable competitive advantage.
The only downside was the attendance: Just a handful of folks showed up. However, when I expressed my dismay to session chair Matt Holzmann, president of Christopher Associates, he replied: "Don't concentrate on the numbers. Push 'change.' " Keynoter Tom Borkes was even more succinct, observing that "whining is not a value-added activity."
Fair enough. And the next time someone starts griping about China or India or Taiwan or the EU, I'll be sure to ask what they've personally done to change it.
