Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly said EASTEC in West Springfield is moving to Hartford every other year.
The purveyors of the East Coast’s largest manufacturing convention, attracting some 11,000 visitors, will start a new event in Hartford next year.
In May 2012, instead of putting on the EASTEC trade show in West Springfield, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers will put on a manufacturing conference in the Connecticut Convention Center.
The EASTEC trade show has been held in West Springfield every year for the past 32 years.
That event will be replaced by Mfg4 next year, a conference focusing on specific needs of aerospace, defense and arms, medical and energy manufacturing. The anticipated attendance for the event is 6,000.
Mfg4 will then be held in Hartford in all even-numbered years, and EASTEC will be held in West Springfield in all odd-numbered years.
This year’s EASTEC show is expected to attract 11,000 attendees and more than 500 exhibitors. The event started on Tuesday, finishes Thursday, featured speakers from Pratt & Whitney and debuted 130 new products from a variety of manufacturers.
The Connecticut Mfg4 event will be focused more on conferences and education, and will be smaller than EASTEC, said Lori Ann Dick, spokeswoman for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.
The Connecticut program for the event will be developed in conjunction with Connecticut manufacturers Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Kaman Aerospace and GE Energy.
Mfg4 will be targeted to shop owners, engineers, vice presidents of engineering and manufacturing, supply chain manager and program managers.
The Hartford event will be held May 8-10, 2012. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers heads back to West Springfield forEASTEC in 2013, before returning to Hartford for Mfg4 in 2014, in the alternating-year cycle.
