TAIPEIPLAS 2016: Stepping into the future of plastics

TAIPEIPLAS celebrated a well-attended opening of its 15th edition on August 12, 2016. The exhibition focused its themes on five main areas that include auto parts, 3C products, medical equipment, packaging and smart manufacturing. These main themes are aimed at attracting the attention of visitors and potential buyers which are targeted to reach more than 14,000 during the show period.

As expected, aside from Taiwan-based companies, international delegations from China, Japan, the U.S., Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Kenya, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Kenya, Sainajiaer, Ghana, Italy and the U.K. came in full force to present their wide range of technologies and products for the plastics manufacturing sector.

It is particularly noticeable that an increasing number of exhibitors this year focused on providing ‘total solutions’ for customers where plastics machinery builders no longer merely pay attention to their actual production or selling only one machine, but in offering a complete manufacturing solution covering the management of the entire shop floor. These span wider coverage to help customers achieve better organization of personnel, higher production efficiency, and adherence to environment protection.

The 533 exhibitors that occupied 2,582 booths presented their technologies for the plastics industry and are as varied as the demands are. Exhibits include high performance ‘servo’plastics machineries, automation systems (such as automatic mold die change system), as well as novel modifications on the design of machineries which contribute to space saving in a substantial scale. This trend prevalent at this year's TAIPEIPLAS marks the transition of the plastics industry, where the players in the field must on hand strengthen their ability to develop know-how for sharpening the capacity of the machineries; and on the other, to align producers across the field of plastics manufacturing chain to broaden their ability in the production line through total solutions.

Many local exhibitors chose to release their new equipment/products at TAIPEIPLAS, as in doing so, they are able to introduce them exclusively to the visitors. For many, there is a more substantial meaning to this gesture. Quoting a plastics machinery exhibitor, he expressed that: "We would like the international arena to know that fascinating novelty often comes from the grass root manufacturers. We are thankful of being able to present the island’s true capacity to the wider global audience."

Thirty years to date, TAIPEIPLAS will continue to be a vital stage to examine the trends in the future direction of the global plastics industry.