MAA meet-the-buyer meetings success

MAA members held a day of pre-arranged one-to-one virtual meetings that brought together 10 customer and 15 supplier companies. The day was aimed at two types of MAA members: lower tiers of our supply chains, smaller companies (in the flying parts/ finished components supply chains); and suppliers of "non-flying" equipment and specialist services ranging from tooling to testing and from quality management specialists to marketing consultants (sometimes considered “indirect procurement”).

Participating companies were looking for fresh ideas and thinking, new collaborations with potentially valuable suppliers right on their doorstep.

Feedback after the meetings was very positive. According to MAA General Manager Maxine Oatridge:

"For the MAA team this was a great opportunity to bring together a "supply chain in a room" so that Midlands aerospace companies could forge new relationships with other companies here in our region. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Thanks to all the buyer and supplier companies who participated!"

What feedback did we get from participants?

• 90% reported that they generally met the right contacts
• A good 50% of meetings were reported as "worth a follow-up."
• 100% said that the way the day's meetings were organised met or exceeded their expectations
• 90% of suppliers judged the B2B meetings good or excellent value for money

This is what participants told us

Overall

• Generally good
• Beats all similar events

Contacts made

• Top buyers
• It was what I expected, some good meetings
• Good contacts
• Aside from one customer, every contact was in principle able to introduce my company to new business opportunities in their organisation.
• The B2B event was a success for us; there is some scope for a few of the suppliers to potentially support our business needs and we’ll look forward to supporting this event in the future.

Organisation

• Congratulations to the MAA team for organising a very professional and well-run event. Every meeting ran like clockwork.
• Very well organised
• First MAA event (paying event) participated in. Felt it was good value for money, well structured, helpful across MAA staff through the day. Will participate in future paying events.
• Overall very well organised
• Well organised
• Organisation on the day was fine and worked really well
• Well organised
• Very well organised, ran much more smoothly than I expected it would. All the appointments ran to time.
• I thought the programme was easy to use