Last week several of the team headed to the NEC for the latest instalment of the fenestration industry’s very own exhibition. The FIT (Fabricator and Installer Trade) Show is designed to showcase the very best the industry has to offer in terms of new products and provide a platform for networking and knowledge acquisition and once again it did that really rather well.
The first FIT Show was held back in 2013 and since then it has more than doubled in size and successfully relocated to the NEC from its original home in the Telford Exhibition Centre.
This time around, the organisers had made skills and training a key focus in response to the industry’s widely acknowledged skills shortage; and had even created their own Skills Thursday with a whole range of seminars taking place on the final day and plenty of signposting to help businesses find the right training route. This was broadly welcomed and some of the seminars were well attended but it was a shame to see so many empty seats at many of them when the topics were really useful.
Overall though, it has to be recognised that visitors still generally go to exhibitions to see something new, and we were certainly no different. For us, there were a couple of interesting new aluminium window systems being launched targeted at the light commercial sector where we do so much of our work and lots (and lots) of new smart tech. The industry has clearly recognised that there is viable demand now for smart window and door locking systems and we took away a sense that ‘smart ready’ is a phrase which will be working its way into commercial specifications over the coming months and years.
We had probably expected a greater emphasis on sustainability and recycling than we actually saw and some of the big PVC-U systems companies were conspicuous by their absence, but overall it was a very interesting show, well organised and well supported by the industry.
The late night Tuesday innovation – imported directly from Fensterbau in Germany – gave people plenty of time for some relaxed socialising, and the gala dinner on the Wednesday evening was a success once again, although I’ve no doubt the organisers will be reviewing their choice of entertainment for next time.
On the opening day of the show, the organisers made the announcement that FIT will become an annual event from next year. We’ll wait and see whether that proves to be the right decision in the long run. The pressure will certainly be on exhibitors to accelerate their new product development programmes because innovation is what ultimately drives the show and what dictates whether people like us are prepared to give up a day in the office or out on site to attend.