NORWALK, Conn., May 20 -- NEPCON East/Electro and Assembly East 2004 attracted 4013 manufacturing industry professionals -- a 14 percent increase from the 2003 event, according to its producer, Reed Exhibitions. The two-day event was held May 5-6 at the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston. In addition to the two shows, attendees were able to visit Vision Show East, which was held concurrently. Kelvin Marsden-Kish, vice president of Reed Exhibitions, said, "Attendees came to the event looking for the latest products and technologies available to help them assemble products faster, better and with less. Many came with jobs in hand and specific applications to be addressed. There was steady traffic on both days, and the feeling among the 227 exhibitors and attendees was that there was more business activity than in recent years." He added, "Our exhibitors were very happy, and I was encouraged with the buzz on the show floor and to see the amount of business being conducted. The event definitely reflected an upswing in the Northeast manufacturing economy and benefited from the co-location with The Vision Show East." Several exhibitors expressed similar thoughts. "This show went beyond my expectations," said Jim Johnson, sales manager of LPKF Laser & Electronics. "The quality and quantity of the attendees was impressive." "Our presence at NEPCON East was a great success," said Cliff Bockard, vice president of sales and marketing for Global Automation. "It was the first show in recent years where customers brought specific applications and parts to be evaluated. As a bonus, our lead count for the first day surpassed the total leads of any other show that we have done in awhile." "We are a regional company and we find that it works best for us to do one big show," said Joe Wilkinson, applications engineer for Axis New England. "This is the best show in the industry, very high tech and the best show I can remember in the past few years." Deborah Nightingale, PhD, of the MIT Lean Aerospace Initiative, presented the keynote speech, "Transforming the Lean Enterprise Value Stream." She explained that lean manufacturing is "about people and processes efficiently delivering value to every stakeholder." She shared how applying lean principles to all production and management levels is required to achieve value for the total enterprise. The NEPCON East and Assembly East will be held May 4-5, 2005, at the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center For more information, visit: www.nepconeast.com