Biggest NPE in history kicks off with focus on "what’s new to what’s next"

The USA’s biggest plastics trade show, NPE, has started today (May 7), setting a new record for the event’s size and number of exhibitors.

More than 2,100 exhibiting companies will showcase innovations in plastics in the 1.2 million square feet of space on the tradeshow floor, with the exhibits covering the entire industry spectrum of materials, machinery and services and representing several vertical industries.

With an expected record number of visitors also expected over the course of the 5-day show, organisers, the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) has used the event to launch ‘This is Plastics’ – a resource created to turn plastic industry employees into ambassadors.

The initiative aims to educate and empower the US plastics industry’s nearly one million employees to communicate about plastics and some of the most-discussed topics, including safety, sustainability and the environment.

“At the moment the 965,000 men and women employed by the US plastics industry are facing difficult questions as a result of some of the negative press around littering, marine waste,” explained Wiley Royce, PLASTICS Chair of the Board upon the launch.

“We want to be able to equip the industry with the facts to be able to answer the questions being put to them with empathy and knowledge. We need to give industry the tools to answer confidently and then hopefully the right facts will be circulated amongst the public and general consumer.”

In terms of the show’s themes for 2018, they take the form of sustainability and education under the banner ‘We’ve got it Covered.’

“NPE pushes the industry focus from what’s new to what’s next, with not only our exhibits, but full conference programme and the networking forums for the exchange of new ideas,” said Bill Carteaux, PLASTICS President.

During the opening ceremony, Carteaux said that despite the emphasis put on this year’s event, key themes from 2015, such as Industry 4.0, were very much still a part of the show.

“Industry 4.0 is here to stay,” he commented. “There is certainly a lot of work going on with EUROMAP and VDMA and no question we are going to have to come up with standards to ensure that connectivity and communications is simple for our customers.”