Advanced Factories 2027: how to make the most of exhibiting

Advanced Factories is the trade fair and congress on automation, industrial robotics, artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0, organised by Nebext at Fira de Barcelona. The 2027 edition is announced for 31 March to 2 April 2027 at the Gran Via venue, once again alongside AMT (always check dates and rules on the official website). This guide does not describe the fair: it explains how to prepare your participation so that every contact at the stand gets a follow-up.

What you can see in the exhibitor list

When the official website was consulted on 1 November 2026, the linked exhibitor list was the 2026 edition's; the 2027 list had not been published yet. That list can be filtered by sector (process automation and manufacturing, industrial robotics, machine vision, sensor technology, metrology and quality control, additive manufacturing, components, consulting and services) and each entry shows the stand. For 2027, the organiser expects more than 770 exhibiting companies and more than 36,000 professionals.

Even though it is last year's, the list is useful twice over: it tells you who you will share the hall with (competitors, partners, integrators) and helps you decide whom to invite to your stand. When the 2027 list is published, go through it again.

Who usually walks by the stand

Plant and operations managers at manufacturing companies who want to automate or digitise a specific line.
Production, maintenance and R&D managers, comparing technical solutions.
Engineering firms and integrators, who run projects for others and specify equipment.
Technology centres and universities.
Public bodies that promote industry.

According to the visitor profile published by the organiser, they come from sectors such as automotive, aeronautics, capital goods, metal, electronics, energy, rail and machinery manufacturing. If you are one of the machinery manufacturers exhibiting, that audience includes both your customers and your automation suppliers.

A timeline for Advanced Factories 2027

November to mid-January: decide your goal (meetings, quotes, distributors), go through the list and choose your target accounts.
Mid-January to early March: a window to build the full system (page, stand kit, messages) with margin for printing. For a 31 March fair, that is about 10 to 4 weeks before.
March: tests, team briefing and invitations to your target accounts. Note: Easter 2027 ends on 28 March, three days before the fair; have everything printed and tested before the holidays.
31 March to 2 April: capture with permission and daily alerts to your salesperson.
April and May: 30-day follow-up and report.

Capturing contacts with permission

At a technology fair many visitors come to compare: they collect information from several stands and decide weeks later. A QR code with a useful offer and a short form with a consent box give you their contact details and the basis to write to them afterwards (how to do it step by step). This is not legal advice: check the consent wording with your adviser.

Offer ideas for this fair

An integration sheet: which equipment, robots or software your product works with.
An application case (with the customer's permission) with before-and-after data.
A short checklist to prepare a project: which line data to have at hand before asking for a quote.

Segment the follow-up

Writing to a plant manager is not the same as writing to an integrator or a technology centre. Prepare a short version of your first message for each and apply the 30-day sequence. If someone replies, the sequence stops and a person on your team takes over. Automation projects usually take time to decide: the goal for the first month is to open a conversation, not to close an order.

What you can do and what we can do

If you exhibit at Advanced Factories 2027 and want lead capture and follow-up ready, we set up your trade fair lead follow-up with your brand, your catalogue and your messages, from the stand page to the 30 days after. If you are already back and have the cards, we do the follow-up only. If you manufacture, this is how we approach customer acquisition for manufacturers.