A recordbreaking edition in size and quality

NPE 2015 has surpassed the previous NPE record in exhibit space, according to SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, which produces the triennial NPE. Based on the number of exhibitors, booths fill more than 1 million net sq.ft. (over 106,000 sq.m) of exhibit space, the figure recorded at NPE 2000, the largest NPE on the books until now.

Exhibitors cite the success of the previous NPE in 2012 and the robust plastics industry as reasons for their strong investment in NPE 2015. Equipment companies also opted for larger booths to be able to display and demonstrate more machines. More than 600 companies are bringing their equipment at their booths and over 400 are set to operate their systems. In some exhibits, multiple machines, some of them completely integrated manufacturing cells, will run simultaneously. The show will also witness substantial growth in international participation. A record 43% of all exhibitors will come to NPE 2015 directly from outside the US—a figure that does not include many companies based in other countries but exhibiting through their US subsidiaries.

International exhibitors at NPE 2015 will come from 37 countries, including the largest contingent ever from China and substantial participation from Canada, Italy, Taiwan, Germany, India, Turkey, Switzerland, France, and South Korea.

Startup ventures take centre stage

Another major highlight of the event is the Startup Garage, which has already attracted so many startup ventures with exciting new technologies that the special exhibit for these companies has been expanded by SPI. The Startup Garage is a programme developed by SPI in partnership with the new-venture tracking firm Startup. Directory to provide startups with prominently located exhibit stations at the show. The plan originally called for a limited number of startups to be selected by show management and Startup. Directory, but with twelve startups selected and additional demand from the marketplace, SPI says it will expand the Startup Garage space and accept more applications.

Companies selected thus far will highlight innovations in bioplastics, recycling, 3D printing, polymerisation, resin processing, and antimicrobial polymers. Three of the startups report developments in the burgeoning field of graphenes—two-dimensional carbon-atom nanostructures that can be used for formulating plastics composites with dramatically enhanced properties.

"The response to our call for applicants has been met with an enthusiastic response by new companies doing exciting things at the forefront of polymer technology," according to Brad Williams, SPI's director of trade show sales and marketing. "While some of these startups propose new ways to address pressing issues involving renewable resources and waste reduction, others offer enhancements of plastics manufacture and product performance. The quality of the exhibitors so far has led us to extend the call for more."

Educational conferences on technical and business topics

The show's organiser, SPI, has lined up a broad array of educational programmes to enable visitors to maximise the return on their trade show investment. These include breakfast briefings on key markets and panel discussions on plastics design—both free to NPE attendees. These are in addition to an agenda that already includes four extensive, multi-day, paid conferences on a range of technical and business topics relevant to all sectors of the plastics and end-use industries.

SPI's Business of Plastics Conference will provide a broad menu of timely topics with business implications. The conference consists of 37 presentations in nine topic areas. Also on the agenda is the SPE ANTEC® Orlando 2015, produced by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). The annual ANTEC is the world's largest plastics technical conference, with hundreds of technical papers consisting of original content reviewed by industry peers. The SPE is also scheduled to hold its annual awards for outstanding contributions to the plastics industry to four distinguished individuals during SPE ANTEC.

Large selection of technologies and materials

Many exhibitors at this year's NPE have chosen the event to launch their products to the North American market. AGC Chemicals Americas Inc. (booth: S19054) presents a broad array of products featuring AFLAS fluoroelastomers and Fluonfluoropolymers. Representatives from AGC's FluoroCompounds Group, which focuses on the development, production and marketing of fluoropolymer compounds, will feature high performance custom compounding solutions. Fluon Filled PTFE Compounds provide enhanced deformation and creep resistance, thermal conductivity and wear performance over traditional PTFE resins. They are used for applications such as seals, gaskets and other critical parts where mechanical strength, chemical resistance and lubricity are essential. Fluon Melt Processable Compounds, based on copolymer resins FEP, ETFE, PFA, PVDF, MFA or ECTFE, which are important materials for parts and components used in automotive, industrial, aerospace, transit and appliance applications.

For the first time ever, Apex Machine Company (booth: W2042) displays its multiple printing and decorating systems. The newly developed C-9 syringe printer is a low cost solution for high quality decoration. Features include 2-colour, 360º around, 150 parts per minute. The C-40 is a medical cartridge automated ferriswheel style printer designed to handle cylindrical objects at speeds of up to 80 parts per minute. The very popular C-4000 High Speed Tube, likewise, is a ferris-wheel style but with dual lanes to handle flexible and rigid tubes from 250 to 300 parts per minute. Features include quick changeovers to accommodate for varying part sizes.

The Conair Group (booth: W2143) unveils several brand-new products, including a "next generation" material handling proofing system that uses machine vision to help prevent material contamination due to operator error. Dubbed Material Vision Proofing (MVP), the new vision system includes a motorised camera that automatically confirms that the connection between material sources and destinations has been made correctly and conveying can begin. Another product is the new ESE Series EarthSmart central chillers which are modular and scalable. To meet immediate process requirements and allow for future expansion, users can install one or more chillers and then add more modules up to a total of six for cooling capacity to 960 tonnes.
Davis-Standard, LLC (booth: W6144) demonstrates a running profile line for producing ABS 3D printing rod in line with NPE's focus on 3D technology. The rod will then be used to show how 3D printing is gaining traction as a quick and inexpensive way to make prototypes.

Another exhibit is the direct drive extruder with energy efficient technology. The direct drive technology uses a permanent magnet synchronous motor and an energy efficient heater and screw design. Davis-Standard will demonstrate how this results in operational efficiency. Another product is the MEDD extruder with DS-eVue controls, a compact extruder for medical tubing.

Presenting eight innovative applications, ENGEL Machinery (booth: W1303) demonstrates how specific requirements of five industrial branches—automotive, packaging, medical, teletronics and technical moulding—can be realised with efficient and economical injection moulding solutions. Highlights include the first composite brake pedal manufactured in a one-shot process, the new high-performance ENGEL e-speed machine, the particularly dynamic ENGEL e pic pick-and-place robot, as well as innovative service tools for an even higher level of process security and machine availability.

The INTAREMA® 1108 TVEplus® with Laserfilter is one highlight of Erema's exhibit at booth W5673. INTAREMA® TVEplus® system features a patented configuration of melt filtration with subsequent homogenisation UPSTREAM of extruder degassing, plus the efficient Laserfilter, enables processors to make high-quality end products. The recently enhanced EREMA Laserfilter is particularly suitable for the processing of materials with a high degree of contaminants such as wood, paper, aluminium or copper and fulfils requirements which conventional melt filters cannot meet. With the new scraper geometry of the Laserfilter, customers now have additional efficiency benefits such as longer screen service life and reduced labour requirements thanks to long screen change intervals.

The Maguire (booth: W5663) VBD™ vacuum dryer uses gravity to move material through three vertically arranged vessels, with the discharge of material from one vessel to the next controlled by slide-gate valves. From top to bottom, the vessels include a heating hopper that brings resin to a target temperature; a vacuum vessel in which vacuum reduces the boiling point of water, causing moisture within the pellets to volatise and be forced out of the pellet into the low-pressure environment surrounding it; and a pressurized retention / take-away hopper that is continually purged by a membrane air dryer to maintain the target level of dryness until the material is discharged. This system eliminates most moving parts, in particular the three station indexing carousel mechanism of the Maguire® LPD™ vacuum dryer introduced in 2000. Vacuum drying is six times faster than with desiccant systems, which not only makes possible much shorter cold startups but also reduces the risk of material degradation, since resin is exposed to elevated temperature for 80% less time. This remarkable drying speed is attributable to a far more efficient method for extracting moisture from resin pellets—so much more efficient that vacuum dryers reduce energy consumption by up to 60% in comparison with desiccant dryers.

Many Asian companies are also actively demonstrating their capabilities.

The LM Series of Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd (booth: W303P) features a clamping unit that adopts advanced design to make sure the platens are parallel while they are moving. The high-pressure clamping control adopts Germany Rexroth's control parts. This makes the clamping force very precise and protects the mould and the machine. By providing stable clamping force steadily while injecting, the moulding enables higher yield rate. The mould clamping stroke and the capacity are bigger than traditional machine. It makes the machine suited to produce various product types. Adopting FCS Energy Saving System, the energy consumption could be 30% lowers. The LM series' clamping force ranges from 500 tonnes to 3700 tonnes.

The JC-CX series "Multi-Layer Co-Extrusion Blown Film Machine" from Jenn Chong Plastics Machinery Works Co., Ltd. (booth: S32130) is designed based on the "Green Eco-Friendly" principle, which cleverly integrated the latest proven technologies in plastics, mechanical, electrical, and automation. The JC-CX series multilayer co-extrusion blown film extrusion line is available in three layer and/or five layer configuration producing variety of quality film for various industries. From general purpose packaging film or lamination film, of complex technical film or food packaging with high grade barrier properties, the JC-CX series multilayer blown film line has convincing solution to every customer's need. Improved pelletising system Repro-Flex with automatic speed adjustment is Polystar's main exhibit (booth: S30093).

The die-face cutting produces uniform, round-shaped pellets which are ideal for reprocessing in extrusion. It is also higher in re-selling values comparing to the square shaped pellets produced by traditional spaghetti type cutting. An improvement that Polystar has made recently features automatic pelletising speed adjustment, in which the pelletising speed is changed automatically and constantly depending on the amount of material flowing through the die head. When more material passes through the die head the pelletising speed increases, and decreases again when the system detects that less material is going through. This results in even more uniform sized pellets in despite of occasional feeding inconsistency at the front of the line. Furthermore, manual adjustment of pelletizing speed is no longer required.

The innovative gearbox for Counterrotating Parallel Twin Extruders from Sun Lung Gear Works Co., Ltd. (S33132) is with strong casing and high safety coefficient structure design , which can be operated under high torque demand. High precision gears and strong thrust bearings are equipped inside of the gearboxes to enhance transmission efficiency and absorb the axial pressure caused by the extruders. Embedded cooling and lubrication systems ensure the gearboxes to have low noise and low vibration performance. Responding to the requests of low speed and high torque, by steadily reducing the motor speed and increasing the output torque, the gearbox precisely and effectively provides the most optimised output to the extruders.