Bringing Diverse Areas of Manufacturing Together

Each year, Products Finishing conducts its Top Shops Benchmarking Survey, a program designed to aid finishing shops in measuring their key operating metrics against others in the industry. The program was launched in 2015 and has been a great success in helping finishers identify optimal shop floor practices and improve operations and business procedures. Hundreds of shops participate annually, resulting in a wealth of data and statistics that proves invaluable for assessing areas of improvement, such as finishing technology, performance and practices, business strategy, and human resources.

For years, the success of the program has been leading Products Finishing toward the launch of a new finishing industry event based on the Top Shops program. The idea has always been to offer an opportunity for shop owners, executives and managers in the finishing industry to gather for an exchange of ideas and practices for running their operations in a more efficient and profitable way. In 2020, an executive summit was planned, but, like many of the year’s conferences, the event was ultimately canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

This year, the idea has grown into something even more compelling. Gardner Business Media (Cincinnati, Ohio), the parent company of Products Finishing, has announced an inaugural Top Shops Expo + Conference (TSEC) that will bring several sectors of manufacturing together. As an extension of the annual Top Shops Benchmarking program, the TSEC will combine three days of exhibits, education and networking designed to deliver a range of supply chain solutions to North American durable goods manufacturing businesses.

Top Shops Expo + Conference will debut October 12-14, 2021, at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. The aim of the event is to raise the profile and redefine the potential of North American manufacturing by providing participants unique insights and business solutions in three key areas — business improvement through the reporting of Top Shops benchmarking data; technology transfer via exhibits and technical presentations; and North American-based production sourcing, reshoring and onshoring by way of business networking in the Top Shops Sourcing pavilion.

The event will mark the first time all Gardner Business Media Top Shops programs — Modern Machine Shop, Plastics Technology, CompositesWorld, and Products Finishing — will be presented together, creating a manufacturing industry opportunity for learning, collaborating and networking. The event features technical conferences, technology displays, a sourcing pavilion and awards, as well as a host of networking opportunities. Exhibitors and attendees will have the ability to source parts, spec new technology, sell products and services, and solve business problems.

“The past year has reinforced and refocused the power and potential of North American durable goods manufacturing. It has also introduced some of the challenges and opportunities present in the industrial supply chain,” says Dave Necessary, Gardner Business Media. “Top Shops Expo is a platform to continue growing North American industrial production by getting manufacturing together. Not just getting companies and people together, but providing an environment that brings together data, technology and business information that make progress possible.”

Connecting Finishers with Key Areas of Manufacturing

Products Finishing will play a prominent role at the Top Shops Expo + Conference with a robust conference program designed to share best business and leadership practices and discuss trends and key areas of concern that are affecting the finishing industry today.

Products Finishing publisher, Todd Luciano, explains the Top Shops program and the brand’s presence at the event: “Since its debut, Products Finishing’s Top Shops benchmarking program has helped thousands of coating businesses benchmark and improve their operations. With the Top Shops Expo, we’re introducing additional ways for North American finishing businesses to not just better know, but to better grow their businesses by connecting them to more data, more technology and more business development opportunities.”

Some of the opportunities for finishers at the Expo include:

• Product Finishing’s Top Shops Technical Conferences: Data and technical presentations based on the annual Top Shops surveys
• Machining Technology Displays: Innovative product and process technology vendors of machinery, software, materials and more
• Sourcing Pavilion: Leading contract manufacturing companies displaying production and service capabilities from product design and prototyping to scale production to post-processing and finishing
• Top Shops Awards + Networking: Annual Top Shops awards program and a range of business networking events
• Additive Manufacturing Expo (AME): Top Shops Expo will co-locate with the annual Additive Manufacturing Expo. Exhibit hall registrants will receive complimentary access to the AME show floor.

Additional event details including registration, technical programs and special events are available at TopShopsExpo.com.