AVEX, the UK’s largest biennial exhibition for the vending and water industries, is gearing up for its best year yet. With all aspects of the vending industry gathered together under one roof, AVEX offers its trade visitors the opportunity to seek industry-specific advice, attend free seminars and gain access to all the key suppliers in the industry.

Showcasing over 150 businesses – including names such as 3M, AG Barr, Douwe Egberts, Kraft Foods UK, Vivreau and Mars Chocolate UK – all areas of vending are covered, including the major manufacturers, leading operators and service companies.

Highlights of this year’s AVEX include the FM Vending Show, which has been specially created with facilities managers in mind; the healthy vending seminars run by industry expert 24Vend; the judging of the University Food Development Award; and an engineers’ fault-finding competition.

Show highlights
For the first time in the history of the show, there will be stands dedicated to facilities management – the FM Vending Show – which will include seminars by the Facilities Management Association (FMA) and pre-arranged ‘Meet the Buyer’ sessions. FM buyers visiting the show will have the opportunity to meet with operators face-to-face to discuss their vending requirements. Confirmed operators exhibiting include Snacktime, WISE group and COVER group. The FMA-hosted seminars will take place on the afternoon of 11 June.

On 12 June, the focus of the events programme shifts to healthy vending. This part of the show will be launched by 24Vend, with a morning conference that will include sampling a range of healthy new products across snack and beverage categories. It will also include a light, healthy networking lunch. The seminar programme will focus on how to incorporate healthy options into existing vending portfolios to attract new vending consumers as well as driving profits.

The AVA and University College Birmingham have been working together on a groundbreaking project, in which final year BA Culinary Arts students were tasked with developing healthy solutions for the vending industry. On the afternoon of the 12 June, the students will present their products for judging by an expert panel, for the chance to win the University Food Development Award.

The students were asked to create new food and packaging concepts for six different vending markets, addressing some of the key issues faced today such as obesity, recycling of packaging, allergens and government regulations regarding salt and sugar levels. The winner will be announced at the inaugural Vending Industry Awards on the evening of 12 June.

New for this year’s awards, the engineers’ fault-finding competition takes place on 13 June. Vending machine engineers will pit their wits against one another as they battle to repair the preset faults in a variety of machines under time-pressured conditions. Combining fun with expert knowledge, this session will highlight the importance of ongoing professional training and will be run by the AVA’s training partner Vending Intelligence.

Register now for your free entry to AVEX 2013 at www.avexshow.co.uk