Both '+' and '&' can be used in WinSPC's Report Designer, introduced in WinSPC 8.0, for string concatenation. Both allow the user to combine two strings together to form one output string, with a minor difference. The '+' concatenates the strings as is, while the '&' adds a space between the two original strings.
For example, this: 'PART' + 'VARIABLE' would produce: PARTVARIABLE
While this: 'PART' & 'VARIABLE' would produce: PART VARIABLE
String concatenation can be used in the 'Data Field' property of a 'DataText' component. As an example in a standard WinSPC installation, see the 'Production Summary Report' report template (in the 'Legacy WinSPC Reports' report template folder).