LONDON — EE Times Europe reports that Reed Exhibitions has cancelled  Nepcon 2008 electronics industry show held in Birmingham, due to a declining electronics manufacturing presence in Great Britian, and competition from National Electronics Week.

According to organizers "This has been a tough decision as Nepcon has run in the UK for 39 years, however, with so much electronic production moving to China and India, and with the entry of a new competitor which has split the market and forced many exhibitors to withdraw from exhibiting in the UK at all, we believe that we can not run an event that delivers for our exhibitors and visitors".

The "new competitor" sited is National Electronics Week (NEW) scheduled to take place in London on June 17 through 19. NEW claims to have signed up a number of major assembly equipment suppliers including Blundell, Seho, Nutek, Juki, Europlacer, PACE, Kaisertech and Fuji, which have traditionally been Nepcon's target exhibitors.

A spokesman for The SMART Group, sponsors of Nepcon, said "There is no doubt that the cancellation of the Nepcon U.K. 2008 show is a sad event, not just for SMART Group members, but for the entire U.K. electronics manufacturing industry. Whilst research shows that industry wants and needs forums for face-to-face meetings, our sector cannot support two similar trade shows".

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