Silverstone Park businesses team up with STC at additive manufacturing’s TCT 3Sixty show

Silverstone Park businesses Silverstone Composites and the Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC) will have a significant presence at next month’s TCT 3Sixty industry show when they partner the Silverstone Technology Cluster (STC) in hosting the event’s VIP Lounge.

The show, on 7-8 June at the NEC, Birmingham is the UK’s definitive and most influential 3D printing and additive manufacturing exhibition, attracting around 5,000 visitors.

Silverstone Composites MD Marcus Trofimov said:

“This will be our first time at TCT 3Sixty and we see it as an opportunity to help start growing a network of other companies that can share ideas and problem-solve.

“That could even be companies from other clusters collaborating with those in the STC to create more partnerships and more business for each other.”

He added: “Additive manufacturing is a crucial part of our business moving forwards.

“As a composite company that manufacturers carbon fibre lightweight components, we realise that additive supports the manufacturing industry hugely.

“However, we don’t feel there are enough companies really supporting that so we’re looking to help drive the cross-over and merging of additive manufacturing into composites.

“TCT 3Sixty is, we believe, a way to help showcase some of the things that we can do but equally get other companies in the STC to support us, such as the Digital Manufacturing Centre which is a big part of the additive cross-over, KWSP (also located at Silverstone Park) and Mackart which specialise in composites.

“We want to promote that more because additive is being pushed in other directions but probably not composites as much as it should be.”

Joining Silverstone Composites in supporting the STC’s presence will be fellow cluster members the DMC and Mackart.

STC CEO Pim van Baarsen commented:

We’re really excited about attending TCT 3Sixty for the first time – although this will be a ‘toe in the water’ exercise, we feel it can benefit our members greatly and we want the Lounge to be a place for people to meet, connect, relax and use it as their base for the show.

“The show focuses on additive manufacturing – it’s an area in which we have members who are highly active and we are keen to help them collaborate and explore the opportunities.”

The STC was launched in early 2017 to promote and support the high-tech business activity within an hour’s drivetime radius of Silverstone Park which is a founding member of the organisation.

Since, the STC has attracted a membership of around 160 members – the vast majority operating in advanced engineering, manufacturing, electronics and software development.

In November, with support from Silverstone Park, it will again host the VIP Lounge at the Advanced Engineering Show inside Birmingham’s NEC.