30th CHINAPLAS expanding on adversity

Despite general beliefs that the slumping economy would bring harshness and challenges to the industry, CHINAPLAS 2016, which closed on  April 28, achieved remarkable results beyond all expectations. Both exhibitors and visitors actively participated and the dynamic business atmosphere prevailed, bringing infinite business opportunities.  

CHINAPLAS, Asia's No.1 and world's No.2 plastics & rubber trade fair, was held from April 25 to 28, 2016 at Shanghai, PR China. The number of visitors totalled 148,575 in four days, setting a new record since its debut in 1983, according to the official statement from the show's organizers. The second show day saw the peak of visiting numbers at a headcount of 54,823. Compared to the show held at Shanghai in 2014, the number of visitors this year increased by 13.96%; and compared to 2015 in Guangzhou, the increase is 15.84%.

As CHINAPLAS is well-recognized by the plastics & rubber industries as well as their downstream sectors globally, and the gradual improvement of the living standards of many developing countries keeps stimulating the demand for consumer goods and packaging, the number of overseas visitors this year reached 39,454, setting a record that represents 26.55% of the total. The ten regions topping the chart are Korea, India, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iran, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, among over 160 countries and regions.

Apart from the significant growth in the number of visitors, CHINAPLAS 2016 also achieved record heights in the show scale in terms of exhibition area and number of exhibitors. The show covered an exhibition area of over 240,000 sq. metres with a participation of 3,335 exhibitors from 39 countries and regions, of which 35% were overseas exhibitors and 14% joined CHINAPLAS for the first time.

Feedback from both exhibitors and visitors were very positive and encouraging. The exhibitors are generally satisfied with the visitor quality and their participation results. Most of them agreed that the participation of CHINAPLAS 2016 exceeded expectations as the visitor profiles are getting more international, and so is the trade fair itself.

Mr. Stephan GREIF, CEO of Demag Plastics Machinery (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., expressed that CHINAPLAS 2016 made him proud for several reasons: The number and level of interested customers were as high as the waves in a tsunami. The company has never met so many customers from the Middle East, India, South East Asia, Russia before in the show, and there were customers from China, Europe and the States as well. Customers demonstrated an astonishingly high level of interest and technical knowledge.  On the other hand, the technology standard of the machinery, automation solutions and other equipment exhibited is comparable to those in Europe, and it has been a pleasure for them to find that CHINAPLAS had become on a par with K Show in Germany in terms of organization, safety and visitor behavior.

CHINAPLAS 2016 was considered as a fruitful trip by Ms Kelly XIE, Head of Tomra Sorting Recycling China, TOMRA Sorting Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., after her meeting with a lot of new customers. “With the introduction of the Recycling Technology Zone, customers with specific recycling needs were able to locate us, and existing customers could find us with ease.”

“It was a great chance to meet many customers and end-users in our booth. It was very pleasing to know that lots of visitors were interested in our automotive mock-up, as we consider the mock-up of LG Chem to be one of the great attractions in the fair,” said Mr. Jake Youngjoo CHANG, Senior Manager of LG Chem.

Satisfaction towards CHINAPLAS 2016 was also expressed by Mr. GAO Rong Biao, General Manager of Zhejiang DEMARK Machinery Co., Ltd. “We met plenty of professional visitors who mainly came from mainland China, South America and the Middle East. They were interested in injection blowing machines, plastic containers, blow molds, etc. Not only did we meet a great number of potential buyers, but also were we able to enhance our company's brand image in CHINAPLAS.”

Mr Ian TOH, Commercial Director, Asia Pacific of NatureWorks also gave positive comments. "This is the 30th CHINAPLAS and we see that the show grows and improves over time in terms of the number and quality of visitors, the management, and the efforts of the organizer to promote a greener plastic industry. We are very pleased with the business leads and opportunities being developed. CHINAPLAS is really a great platform to meet existing and potential customers. "

In addition, CHINAPLAS also received encouraging feedbacks from the end-users of different industries. With one accord, they discovered many innovative, automated and green solutions to help their companies make a breakthrough.

"I have visited CHINAPLAS at least 10 times, and I was very happy to see the integrated solutions in the Automation Technology Zone,” reflected Mr. Xiaosheng WU, Engineering Manager of Memtech International Ltd. – Nantong Memtech Technology Co., Ltd. “The production of automotive interior demonstrated by Demag in hall E7 impressed me very much. The fibers embedded within the mold, meanwhile far infrared preheating, injection molding and after treatment processes were displayed together this year while in the past, these were presented separately. The integration brought me some new ideas, and I believe it would become the future trend. By visiting CHINAPLAS, you can benefit more than you see.”

Mr. Jianjun CHEN, R&D Manager of Shanghai POVOS Enterprise (Group) Co., Ltd. – a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillip, a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillip, said that his visiting experience was better than he had expected. “It broadened my knowledge in the field of materials. I found some high strength and high temperature resistant materials, PBS materials, food grade materials, etc., which are widely applied in a lot of components and parts. These technologies are useful to our product development.”

During his visit, Mr. Jian HUANG, Chief Engineer of Yonggao Co., Ltd. found the output of LeanEx 90-30 model displayed by Battenfeld-Cincinnati (Foshan) Extrusion Systems Ltd. is 800kg/h for HDPE. “Extrusion equipment with high capacity will be the development direction in the future,” projected the Chief Engineer. “Currently, with the furtherance of lead free stabilizer, exhibitors develop and present the latest and most advanced products steadily. CHINAPLAS is able to help us capture the necessary improvement and development direction of raw materials, equipment and automation.”

“We have not only seen many efficient environment-friendly film blowing machines, bag machines, solvent-less laminator, but also reserved equipment on-site. We come to visit CHINAPLAS every year, and can always discover some new technologies and innovations to inspire us,” commented Mr. Xuecheng ZHANG, Production Director of Hunan Jingxin Technology Co., Ltd.

Mr. Jibo GAN, Vice Chief Engineer of Shanghai Fuyao Bus Glass Co., Ltd., said, “In CHINAPLAS I got to know a lot of injection corollary equipment and they did broaden my horizon. I hope we can apply them to our practical operation, and improve efficiency, save labor cost and optimize quality with automatio n.”

Meeting the challenges
To cope with the demand of enterprises and challenges they will face, CHINAPLAS 2016 set ‘Greenovation for a Smart Future' as the show's theme, and focused on the topics of innovation, automation and green technology, according to  Ms. Ada Leung, show organizer's representative. She also stated that in order to cater for the market trends and buyers' needs, and bring forward-looking and innovative inspiration to the industry, many concurrent events such as ‘Design x Innovation', ‘Industry 4.0 Conference' and ‘The 2nd Medical Plastics Conference' were held during the show.  

At CHINAPLAS 2016, there were more than 40 kinds of ground-breaking technologies which were newly launched either in the world or Asia, according to Ms. Leung.  It implied that exhibitors recognized CHINAPLAS as an important platform for the release of new technology. CHINAPLAS is not only a platform for sourcing and technology know-how exchange, but also a value-added, professional and technology-oriented trade fair. The development trend of CHINAPLAS is well-matched with the technology upgrade and specific needs from downstream high-end buyers.

Next CHINAPLAS will be held on May 16-19, 2017 at China Import and Export Fair Complex, Pazhou, Guangzhou, PR China.