There’s No tour bus, no merchandise stand selling £45 T-Shirts, and no support act.
This October, Pryor is packing up the van and taking our marking machines on the road, first to the Midlands and then to Yorkshire. Two expos in two weeks, both built for manufacturers who want to see real kit rather than a brochure.
It’s a short setlist compared to some of the bigger touring shows, but we like to think a two-date tour still counts. Both events are free to attend if you’re a manufacturer, both run 9am to 3pm, and both are the kind of room where a five-minute conversation on a stand can save months of back and forth by email. Here’s where to find us, and what we’ll be bringing.
Stop One: Made in the Midlands Expo, Walsall, 8 October
We open at the Made in the Midlands Expo on Thursday 8 October, held at the Pallet Track Stadium, home of Walsall FC. Doors open at 9am and run through to 3pm. It’s the event’s return to the venue where the very first Made in the Midlands show took place back in 2011, and this year the organisers have deliberately kept it more focused, with around 50 exhibitors and 500 visitors rather than a sprawling hall.
The theme running through the day is Backing Britain: rebuilding UK supply chains, sourcing locally, and putting manufacturers who actually make things in front of the buyers who need them. That’s a story we can tell without stretching the truth. Every machine we bring to Walsall will have been designed and built by our own engineers in Sheffield, not imported or rebadged from somewhere else.
If you’re weighing up UK suppliers for marking and traceability, or you’ve been asked by a customer to prove where your components come from, Walsall is a good place to have that conversation. Come and see the machines running, ask the awkward questions, and talk to the people who actually build them.
Stop Two: Made in Yorkshire Expo, Huddersfield, 15 October
One week later, we’re closer to home for the Made in Yorkshire Expo on Thursday 15 October at the Accu Stadium in Huddersfield, again from 9am to 3pm. It’s a bigger stage this time, drawn from the wider Made in Yorkshire manufacturing community, with around 60 exhibitors covering everything from precision engineering to supply chain services.
For a Sheffield company, a Yorkshire show is close to a home fixture. We won’t need a map, and there’s a decent chance a few familiar faces from the supply chain will be walking the same floor. We’ll have laser marking, dot peen and hand tool equipment on the stand, with our engineers on hand to talk through applications, from permanent traceability marks on aerospace components to fast product changeovers on busy production lines.
Whether you’re a production manager trying to solve a specific marking problem, a quality manager working through a compliance requirement, or simply curious what a machine built in Sheffield since 1849 looks like up close, bring the question and we’ll do our best to answer it on the day.
What to expect on the stand
We’re not bringing a stand full of glossy leaflets. Expect working machines, sample parts you can pick up and turn over in your hand, and a straight answer if something isn’t right for your application. We’d rather point you towards the right solution. And of course, Pryor Pens we can laser-mark with your name on.
Can’t make Walsall or Huddersfield?
Two dates won’t suit every diary, and that’s fine. If you’d rather see a machine mark your own parts than watch it mark a demo on our stand, we can arrange that too. Get in touch and we’ll bring a demonstration to your premises, on a date that works for you, using the parts and materials you actually work with day to day.
It’s often the better option anyway. A stand at an expo is a good place to start a conversation, but your own shop floor is the only place to see how a machine will actually behave on your line, with your parts, at your pace.
Whether that’s on the stand in Walsall, on the stand in Huddersfield, or on your own shop floor, we’d like to see you. Speak to our team to arrange a meeting at either expo or book a visit.
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