Altus Reports Strong Engagement at Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2026

Altus Group, a distributor of electronics manufacturing equipment in the UK and Ireland, has reported strong engagement at Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2026

During the exhibition, the Altus team met with visitors to discuss equipment selection and process requirements across multiple stages of electronics manufacturing.

Joe Booth, CEO of Altus Group, said: “Southern Manufacturing continues to be an important exhibition for Altus because it kicks the year off rapidly with a full spectrum of known projects. This year, there is a huge appetite for investment in the UK with budget allocated, and with a clear focus on real production challenges and solving them at speed to keep up with increasing demand.”

Altus presented a broad cross-section of equipment covering some of the key trend in UK & Ireland for new manufacturing processes. Demonstrations included X-ray component counting from Scienscope International part of their full component management range, conformal coating and dispensing systems from PVA, laser depaneling technology from LPKF Laser and Electronics, and robotic soldering solutions from PROMATION USA. These processes reflect some of the most in demand process improvements as sites tackle existing manual difficulties.

Visitors also discussed Essemtec’s all-in-one SMT assembly platform, combining solder jetting and pick-and-place capability, alongside 3D Automated Optical Inspection systems from Koh Young, both of which are consistently high performers when it comes to yearly installations and in the top three processes sold in 2025.

Across the three-day event, conversations and priorities varied depending on the facility and their existing largest pain points in production. Discussions tended to focus on highly manual processes and solutions to automate with increased traceability increasingly becoming a driver alongside automation. What was consistent across the EMS sector is the excitement and anticipation of available contracts because of the boost the UK is seeing from defence spending and our skills and experience in that sector.