Twenty hours 1-to-1's with Italian aerospace buyers

Ten MAA members held a total of over 20 hours of 1-to-1 meetings with 17 procurement leaders at 5 key Italian aerospace customers on the MAA-UKTI trade mission to Turin and Milan. According to one MAA company, “everywhere we visited we were welcomed with open arms and at levels within the businesses that we would not normally be able to access.” (See additional feedback below.)

Last week’s MAA-UKTI trade mission, organised in collaboration with the Torino-Piemonte and Lombardy aerospace clusters, introduced a representative excellent group of Midlands suppliers to the purchasing teams at Alenia Aermacchi, AgustaWestland, Avio, UTC Aerospace Systems (Microtecnica) and Secondo Mona.

The MAA participants held 1-to-1 meetings with all five companies, learned valuable information about the customer’s purchasing challenges and strategies, toured two factories, visited new technology projects and networked with the Italian cluster hosts at two excellent networking events.

According to MAA chief executive Dr Andrew Mair, who led the three-day mission: “This trade mission was another resounding success for our members, following 2012’s MAA all-day meetings with Safran companies at the British Embassy in Paris. Working closely with UKTI and with our Italian cluster counterparts, we were able to open new doors, lay foundations for new relationships and offer superb business opportunities for the Midlands.”

Feedback from the MAA participants

Excellent 1-to-1 meetings with five Italian customers

• The selection of companies visited was a good mix of Prime, Tier 1 & Tier 2. 
• Everyone on the trip had at least 2 which were of interest.
• We gained access in all cases to otherwise unreachable contacts.
• The organisation of the 1-to-1 meetings at the five Italian customer companies was perfect, well organised, enough time to give full company presentation and have business conversation, good number of participants from the Italian companies, team from Italian companies well selected.
• The quality of information gained from the visits and the opportunity for meetings with such companies would be difficult to achieve independently.
• Everywhere we visited we were welcomed with open arms and at levels within the businesses that we would not normally be able to access. 

Well targeted trade mission 

• From a strategic perspective the area, clusters and companies visited was a good fit.
• Selection of companies visited was very good, the right number of UK participants, good support from the clusters, good networking opportunities. 

Well received by Italian customers and clusters 

• The welcomes received by the Piemonte aerospace cluster in Torino and the Lombardia cluster in Milano including the British Consul were really good -- impressed about this.
• The people from both Piemonte & Lombardy cluster were very welcoming, interesting to speak with and provided useful information. In particular the UK Consul appeared genuinely interested and the visit to the Consulate was interesting and of value to understand what resources may be available to assist UK business with Italian companies. 

Well organised

• The organisation by MAA & UKTI, both from selection of visits and practical organisation was very good.
• Good communication before the mission, good timing for each visit, logistics well organised 
• The organisation of the mission was excellent. 

Good value for money 

• As far as “value for money” is concerned I would be happy to see other missions like this one.
• As always measuring a tangible ‘value’ of such event immediately the event is over is difficult. However, given the level of organization that has gone into the MAA-UKTI Trade Mission and the contact made with the companies and cluster representatives, I would say that the mission provides very good value for money.