At Shimco, we have over 25 years of experience working with the aerospace industry, providing them with solutions to their needs. As such, we are always staying connected to the industry, and informed about the latest news, topics, trends, and changes.
One of the best ways to do this, of course, is to attend aerospace industry conferences and trade shows. In general, trade shows provide an invaluable opportunity to connect with peers and customers while learning from them.
We recently attended the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA) 2014 Conference, February 4-6, and it was a great success. 33 speakers and panelists combined with 455 attendees from all over North America and Europe.
We were there as part of the Ontario Aerospace Council’s booth, and we displayed our brochures and interacted with many people in the industry. There were many learning opportunities and presentations given by major aerospace OEMs, including Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, and more. It served as a great industry update.
Shortly after that we attended Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) HELI-EXPO 2014, February 24-27 in Anaheim, CA. There were over 19,000 attendees and 714 exhibitors, along with 42 aircrafts flown in for the event.
One of the focuses of the conference was the large backlog of Boeing and Airbus aircrafts, and the debate over whether the demand is real or if it’s actually a market bubble. Other concerns were raised over the ability of the supply base in keeping up with this demand currently, while the major OEMs consider increasing production rates on certain model even more. And a common element in many of the presentations was the push to more fuel efficient planes and engines, and even changes in interior plane designs, to meet global demand now and in the future. But many of the OEMs and their suppliers are challenged by technical and regulatory hurdles as they try to bring new models or design changes to the market as quickly as they can.
There were plenty of interesting presentations at HELI-EXPO, with many of the presentations geared toward helicopter operators. We found the event to be both informative and useful; we had the opportunity to meet with companies such as Sikorsky, Airbus Helicopters and MD Helicopters, as well as with many tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers.
These two recent conferences were great ways for us to keep up with the aerospace industry and many of the people within it. We look forward to the next event!