Advanced Engineering 2026 | Birmingham, UK
Innovation in manufacturing is rarely valuable simply because it is new.
For engineering businesses facing pressure to increase productivity, develop skills, reduce waste and introduce greater levels of automation, the more important question is whether new technology can solve the problems already affecting production.
That will be a central focus for Vericut at Advanced Engineering 2026, taking place at the NEC Birmingham on 4–5th November 2026.
Bringing together more than 9,000 engineering professionals and over 400 suppliers, this year’s event will explore subjects spanning advanced manufacturing, R&D, clean energy, AI and automation, skills development and the wider UK engineering supply chain.
At Stand Q140-19, the Vericut team will demonstrate how CNC simulation, verification, optimisation and post-processing technologies can help manufacturers turn those broad ambitions into practical improvements on the shop floor.
Solving the problems behind the innovations.
Manufacturing innovation is often discussed through the technologies themselves: AI, automation, digital twins and increasingly sophisticated CNC equipment.
For manufacturers, however, those technologies ultimately must address far more familiar challenges.
Can an expensive machine spend more of its available time producing parts?
Can a complex NC program be understood before the operator presses Cycle Start?
Can more of the uncertainty normally encountered during prove-out be moved away from the physical machine?
Can cycle times be improved without simply asking tools and machines to work harder?
And as manufacturing software becomes increasingly sophisticated, can engineers access the knowledge they need without adding further complexity to their role?
These are the kinds of real-world questions Vericut will be exploring with visitors at Advanced Engineering.
Vericut independently evaluates the final, post-processed NC program using a digital representation of the CNC machine and its manufacturing environment.
Machine kinematics, tooling, holders, fixtures, stock, workholding, and control behaviour can all form part of the simulation, giving manufacturers an opportunity to identify problems before they consume physical machine time, or put equipment and components at risk.
Innovation that makes capacity work harder.
One of the most significant manufacturing challenges is not necessarily acquiring more capability, but extracting more value from the capability a business already has.
Once a program has been verified, optimisation can reveal another layer of opportunity.
Vericut Force Optimization analyses physical cutting conditions throughout the toolpath and adjusts feed rates according to factors including cutter engagement, chip thickness, cutting force, material and machining conditions. Importantly, the programmed toolpath geometry remains unchanged; the feed rate is adjusted based on what the cutter is actually experiencing.
This distinction matters because a program can be completely safe to run and still be inefficient.
Conservative feed rates may protect a cutter through the most demanding section of a toolpath but leave machine capability unused elsewhere. Conversely, isolated periods of excessive loading can affect tool behaviour and process stability.
The opportunity is therefore not simply to make machining faster, but to make cutting conditions more appropriate and predictable across the complete NC program.
These improvements deliver significant cost savings. UK turbine component manufacturer ELE Advanced Technologies reduced cutting tool costs by an impressive 20% per component and cut cycle times by 11% using Vericut Force.
Making AI more useful to manufacturing expertise.
AI will be another prominent part of the Advanced Engineering conversation, with AI, Digitalisation and Automation forming one of the event’s dedicated 2026 tracks.
Vericut’s approach is grounded in a practical question: where can AI genuinely make skilled manufacturing work easier?
Programming and production decisions still depend heavily on specialist knowledge and experience. Rather than attempting to remove that expertise from the process, Vericut is using AI to make it easier to access.
Vericut Assistant is built directly into Vericut and provides context-aware, step-by-step guidance in response to natural-language questions. Users can ask how to complete a task, understand unfamiliar functionality or navigate more advanced workflows without leaving the software to search for information elsewhere.
Vericut Intelligence extends that access through a web-based knowledge resource, while AI-assisted guidance is also being introduced within Icam Post.
For manufacturers facing skills shortages alongside increasingly sophisticated production technology, the value of AI may therefore be less about replacing knowledge and more about helping people reach trusted knowledge faster.
Supporting skills as machining becomes more complex.
That connection between technology and expertise is particularly relevant to another of Advanced Engineering’s central themes: People and Skills.
As CNC machines, controls, programming environments and automation become more capable, engineers are being asked to work with greater levels of complexity.
Digital verification can support that transition by allowing programmers and manufacturing teams to investigate machine behaviour without physical equipment, understand how the final NC code will be interpreted, and build greater confidence before production begins.
AI-assisted guidance, such as Vericut AI, can complement that process by reducing the friction of learning unfamiliar functions and accessing product knowledge.
Technology, in that context, does not remove the importance of the skilled engineer. Instead, it gives the engineer more information with which to make better decisions.
What to expect from Vericut at Advanced Engineering 2026?
Visitors to Stand Q140-19 will be able to meet the Vericut team and discuss practical applications across CNC simulation, verification, optimisation, post-processing, digital twins, AI-assisted workflows, and automated manufacturing.
Rather than approaching those conversations from a technology-only perspective, the team will encourage manufacturers to bring their own production challenges.
Whether the priority is reducing prove-out, protecting valuable equipment, improving cycle performance, or understanding where AI can provide meaningful assistance, our starting point is the same: What problem are you trying to solve?
Advanced Engineering 2026 takes place at NEC Birmingham, Halls 3 & 3a, on Wednesday 4 November from 09:00–17:00, and Thursday 5 November from 09:00–16:00. Visitor registration is free.
About Vericut.
Vericut® sets the global standard for CNC simulation, verification, and optimisation software.
Since 1988, Vericut has helped thousands of manufacturers eliminate machining errors, reduce scrap, improve efficiency, and increase confidence in production.
Today, it supports leading aerospace, defence, automotive, and motorsport organisations across the globe.
