RS Components brings engineering to life with ‘RS Live’, a mobile innovation experience

RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, announces RS Live, an impressive 35-tonne mobile experience that is touring across northern and central Europe over the next 12 months showcasing innovation to customers, academic institutions and local communities. Through a series of interactive display zones highlighting the whole gamut of engineering disciplines, the aim of RS Live is to bring engineering and technology to everyone, and to capture the interest of future engineers.

RS recognises its potential to influence the uptake of engineering to prevent a future skills gap in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects, and RS Live serves as a highly engaging educational resource for children and young people across a broad cross section of ages, from primary school to university undergraduate level. The initiative, supported by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), which works to inspire and inform the engineers of today and tomorrow, provides a hands-on experience of engineering and technology through interactive training and workshop sessions. This week, Ark Burlington Danes Academy in west London was the first of many schools to experience RS Live.

Lindsley Ruth, Group Chief Executive at Electrocomponents, commented: “As a business that serves a very broad engineering community, we have a responsibility to promote the importance of engineering as an academic discipline and to nurture the next generation. RS Live is enabling us to reach out to youngsters from an early age, to enthuse them through technology in action.”
RS actively engages in educational projects in collaboration with technology innovators such as Raspberry Pi to inspire children with a fun and exciting introduction to engineering. The company also establishes formal partnerships with universities across Europe and Asia Pacific through its structured programme, RS University. RS Live takes this one step further by making technology local and accessible.

RS Live kick starts a major effort by the distributor to give customers a more personal experience, providing valuable insight into how the business operates, from engineering design and machine and panel build, to production maintenance, stores management and purchasing solutions.

Mike England, UK Country Manager and Head of Region for Northern Europe at RS, added: “We have a duty to ensure that our customers and suppliers receive the best possible service to help them achieve their business objectives. By taking our business on the road, RS Live is providing us with an extraordinary, interactive platform on which to build and cement these relationships, helping us truly inspire the next generation of engineers.”

RS Live will continue its tour across the UK for the next two months, then make its way over to Munich, Germany for the Electronica trade fair between 8-11 November 2016.