Businesses attending Durham Oktoberfest in October are being given the chance to meet buyers from some of the North East's most high profile employers - and to potentially secure work from them.

The Meet the Buyer event at this year's Durham Oktoberfest gives new and growing SMEs the ideal platform to put themselves on the radars of those bigger companies they want to supply to.

Among the businesses that have already confirmed attendance as buyers at the event are: Nifco, Tinsley Special Products, AKS Precision Ball, Ebac, Heerema Fabrication Group, Faurecia, Northumbrian Water and Parker Hannifin with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Bill Marley, Chairman of East Durham Engineering Forum and Meet the Buyer co-ordinator, commented: "Each year the calibre of businesses involved in Meet the Buyer gets stronger and stronger and this year is no different.

"What makes the event such a success and one of the highlights of Durham Oktoberfest is that we match the participants with suppliers of their choosing. It's very targeted and the ideal platform for them to meet those businesses which provide a service they are genuinely interested in. And of course for smaller companies there is no better way for them to put themselves in front of potential customers."

Other businesses and organisations that have registered for Meet the Buyer include the MOD, Durham County Council, Narec and NEPIC.

Helen Parkins, Procurement and Supply Chain Manager at Hartlepool company Heerema Fabrication Group, explained their decision to attend the event as buyers: "We participate in a number of events in the region but for us, Durham Oktoberfest is the most fruitful because we can meet suppliers which are best suited to what we need. We can see in advance who has registered and decide which ones provide services we're interested in, so I would definitely recommend it."

Andrew Curley, Strategic Buyer at Team Valley-based Parker Hannifin, which employs some 380 people in the North East and 55,000 globally, also spoke about the event: "I attended Durham Oktoberfest last year as a delegate and felt it was something we needed to be involved in. As a company we're always looking to procure services locally, particularly from other manufacturing firms, and this event is the ideal way for us to do that.

"The North East is a hotbed of talent and for multi national companies like ourselves, it's the perfect way to network with firms we are genuinely interested in working with."

Business Durham has been confirmed as one of the gold sponsors of the event and other packages are still available.

Bill Marley added: "Durham Oktoberfest is the region's biggest and best engineering and manufacturing event and is certainly regarded as one of the highlights in the business calendar. Exhibitor spaces are filling up fast and there are already 15 companies and organisations on the Meet the Buyer register, so I would say to those companies interested book up now to avoid disappointment."

Meet the Buyer is free for those companies who register as a buyer.

To find out more about Durham Oktoberfest and how you can get involved, either as a Meet the Buyer participant, exhibitor or sponsor, visit www.durhamoktoberfest.org.uk, email info@durhamoktoberfest.org.uk or call 0191 3037772.

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