Brexit silver lining for manufacturing business

Cannock exhibition company, Icon Exhibitions & Display has noticed a change in the structure of its client base since the announcement of the UK’s plans to leave the European Union, with an increasing number of enquiries from international companies.

Until recently, the majority of Icon Exhibitions’ clients have been UK companies looking to exhibit at venues at home and abroad, but lately the firm has seen a substantial increase in the amount of foreign companies looking to use Icon Exhibitions to design, manufacture and install exhibitions at UK venues.

Wayne Ball, managing director of Icon, said: “Since the announcement of Brexit and the resulting shifts in exchange rates, our business just seems to have become more visible to international companies, with more enquiries from businesses abroad about helping with exhibitions at UK venues.”

One of Icon’s new international clients is Chainzone Technology, a Chinese company that booked an exhibition stand at the Traffex show at the NEC in April.

Camille Tan from the traffic product department at ChainZone, said: “We needed a UK contractor, and chose Icon Exhibitions & Display based on price, service level and attention to detail. The team at Icon made working across countries very easy, by taking time to find out the necessary information and supplying a visual of how the stand would look alongside the written quotation. The extra effort they put in to produce the quote saved us time and gave us a positive indication of how helpful the team would be to work with.”

With communication by phone and email, Icon finalised Chainzone’s exhibition design for approval, then manufactured the stand at its 20,000 sq foot premises in Cannock before delivering it down the road to the NEC to build the stand in time for the show.

Camille said: “The team at Icon did a fantastic job for us, delivering everything they promised and more, including helping us deal with the late arrival of products due to a delay at customs, then helping us pack everything away into flight cases before the stand was dismantled. We’ll definitely be using their services again.”

Managing director of Icon Exhibitions, Wayne Ball, explained: “Wherever they are based around the world, all companies want the same things – a good job with great service at the right price. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Camille and the team at Chainzone. We managed everything within our control, and our years of exhibition experience helped us best manage those aspects out of our control, such as stock stuck at customs. We’ll always do everything we possibly can to ensure a stand is finished and operational in time for show opening. “

With the UK business economy set for unknown changes as a result of Brexit, Wayne Ball is keen to encourage more international companies to ask Icon to help with their exhibition needs. He says: “Who knows what’s going to happen in the next few years, so maybe selling the benefits of working with us locally to those companies that operate globally might help stabilise our business during these changing times.”