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‘INTERNATIONAL PLASTICS DESIGN COMPETITION’ AT NPE2009 WILL SHOWCASE INNOVATIONS IN COMPONENTS AND FINISHED PRODUCTS
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., June 16, 2008: The first International Plastics Design Competition (IPDC) will provide an opportunity for designers and manufacturers of components and finished products to display their most innovative achievements before tens of thousands of plastics professionals attending NPE2009, it was announced today by The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., (SPI). The triennial NPE show is organized by SPI and will next take place on June 22-26, 2009 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
The competition is being organized by SPI’s Alliance for Plastics Processors (APP), which will issue a Call for Applicants in the Fall of this year. The APP and its predecessor, SPI’s Structural Plastics Division (SPD), have organized 36 previous design competitions, but the one at NPE2009 will be the first open to products in any end-use market, from automotive to packaging, and to entrants from any country in the world.
Many of the products competing in the IPDC will be on exhibit at a special pavilion in the new West Building of McCormick Place, while others—large-scale ones such as a concept automobile—will be displayed in the main concourses. A panel of experts will serve as judges, but there will also be one “Peoples Choice” award for the product receiving the most online pre-show votes from visitors at www.npe.org. Winners will be announced during the Plastics Hall of Fame induction banquet on June 22.
“The International Plastics Design Competition adds a new dimension to what will be, by any reckoning, the most technologically rich NPE in the 62-year history of the exposition,” said William R. Carteaux, SPI president and CEO. “As a showcase for innovative engineering, the IPDC will complement other programs and events that are also new to NPE and focused on advanced technologies. These will all be located in the massive West Building, which will serve as ‘Technology Central’ at NPE2009.”
Two components of Technology Central will be major events co-located with NPE2009: SPE’s ANTEC™ 2009, the largest plastics technical conference in the world, and Gardner Publications’ MoldMaking Expo™ conference and trade show. In addition, McCormick West will house multi-exhibitor pavilions dedicated to emerging technologies, ground-breaking innovations by companies exhibiting elsewhere at the show, and specialized sectors such as fluoropolymers and thermoforming. SPI is preparing an online and on-site system of keywords to link conference sessions with relevant exhibits and displays throughout the show, including Technology Central.
Some of the most exciting products in the IPDC will address the same issues and technologies—energy, sustainability, bioplastics, and nanocomposites—to be addressed in the new Emerging Technologies Pavilion, noted Paul Dier, chairman of the APP executive committee. “How fitting that the design award winners will be recognized at an event honoring inductees into the Plastics Hall of Fame,” said Dier. “It’s a way of linking where our industry has come from with how far we have progressed and what we will achieve tomorrow.”
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The NPE 2009 international plastics exposition will take place June 22-26, 2009 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. NPE 2006 attracted 1,838 exhibitors on 942,524 sq.ft. (87,600 sq. m) of net space; 33% of them came directly from outside the U.S. Of 64,438 industry professionals who registered to attend, 23% were internationals from 114 countries. For details on NPE, visit www.npe.org.
Founded in 1937, THE SOCIETY OF THE PLASTICS INDUSTRY, INC., (SPI) is the trade association representing the third-largest manufacturing industry in the United States. SPI's members represent the entire plastics industry supply chain, including processors, machinery and equipment manufacturers and raw materials suppliers. The U.S. plastics industry employs 1.1 million workers and provides $379-billion in annual shipments. Visit SPI on the Web at www.plasticsindustry.org.
