CHINAPLAS 2014 Brings in a Series of Concurrent Activities

Sustainability is now the hottest trend that is highly sought-after by many forward-looking companies which see it as the way to improve their competitive strengths and the road to a better future. In recent years, plastics and rubber industries are transforming themselves to embrace greener manufacturing methods, technologies and products and taking sustainability at the heart of their corporate governance, in attempts to achieve considerable cost and resource savings as well as to fulfill social responsibility. Likewise, the user community also starts to realize the potentials of plastics, which are lightweight, durable and versatile, as an irreplaceable alternative in terms of energy and resource inputs when comparing side-by-side with other materials like metal, steel and paper.

CHINAPLAS 2014 (The 28th International Exhibition on Plastics and Rubber Industries) will take place on 23-26 April at Shanghai New International Expo, Shanghai, PR China. To promote sustainability within the plastics and rubber industries, the show sets the theme as "Greenovation – Solution to Sustainability" and features two events, namely "The City of Tomorrow" and "Green Conference" in echoing to the theme.

Ada Leung, Assistant General Manager at Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd, the organizer of CHINAPLAS, noted, "The word "greenovation" is a combination of the meaning of "green and innovation". When companies evaluate their business five years from now, sustainability shouldn’t be the things for them to neglect. The two events give the opportunities for visitors to learn the latest trends on green solutions from market leaders. They also create a perfect synergy complementing with the exhibition that brings together many new eco-friendly technologies and raw materials for the plastics, rubber, automotive, building & construction, E&E, IT & telecommunications and packaging industries at the fairground."

The City of Tomorrow
"The City of Tomorrow" features an open semi-spherical structure located at Central Square of the exhibition centre which will portray a sustainability model encompassing four aspects of manufacturing cycle, namely Green & Alternative Raw Materials, Energy-efficient Machinery, Green Solutions for Customers & Products and Recycling. Visitors can wander inside the structure, personally interact with each of the exhibits displayed in various formats for visitors to see and touch while exploring the latest green technologies and trends in the plastics and rubber industries in a fun-filled atmosphere.

Bayer MaterialScience, the leading producer of polymer and hi-tech plastics, is the exclusive sponsor for this event. Ms. Holly Lei, Vice President, China – Polycarbonates Business Unit at Bayer MaterialScience said, "Sustainability, as part of Bayer’s corporate strategy, is an integral part of our day-to-day work routines. By applying our scientific know-how, we deliver innovations that help meet the global challenges of our time." She continued "We sponsor "The City of Tomorrow" is to raise the awareness of sustainability at where we can get all parties in the industry and society involved and this show is the place to be. The sustainability is something we need to do it together and create social benefits for all stakeholders."

The company will display various kinds of exhibits ranging from electrical vehicle charging station, solar panel, eco window frame to notebook housings and soccer ball to tell the stories about sustainability contributed by plastics technology in different aspects of people’s daily life. Furthermore, Bayer’s participation at "The City of Tomorrow" demonstrates not only the green properties of plastics, but also its innovative solutions which contribute significantly in energy-efficiency and climate protection. Other companies such as Arburg, W&H, Matsui and Trexel will also showcase green manufacturing with energy efficient machinery of injection, extrusion, auxiliaries and molding. With the growing problem of waste plastics, effective recycling and the use of bioplastics are highly sought after by the industry. Good practices in Europe and America and the applications of NatureWorks’ bioplastics will be shared at the event.

Green Conference
Green Conference is the half-day event running on 24-25 April in conjunction with CHINAPLAS 2014, covering industry's hottest topics across green molding, 3D printing, plastics recycling as well as various solutions for end-of-life plastic wastes, etc. Eminent and influential speakers from Austria, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, USA, and Taiwan will share their invaluable experiences and insights.

Conference session on 24 April on "Innovative Solutions for Plastic Recycling" will delve into the latest developments of green raw materials, waste treatment methods and recycling technologies for post-consumer plastic materials. Michael Heitzinger, Chief Technology Officer at EREMA will reveal a new technology to boost recycling efficiency of difficult treated waste plastics in a just single working step. Ms. Kim Holmes, Director of Recycling & Diversion at SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association will present about how the new treatment technologies changing the landscape of solid waste management and how it can be used in tandem with the existing mechanical recycling infrastructure. Additionally, executives from Plastics Recycling Committee of China Plastics Processing Industry Association, Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) and Bayer MaterialScience will also be speaking in the conference.

"Green Molding to Halve the Cost and Double the Wealth" will be the theme of the second day conference on 25 April which will discuss about how green molding and 3D printing technologies can achieve cost and resources savings. Mr. Paris Ba at Shanghai Matsui Machinery will talk about how molding companies can harness the potentials of green molding to enhance competitiveness and productivity with less resource used. Mr. Yan Chin, Vice General Manager, Risemold Laser will share cases of how metal 3D printing technology can help manufacture precision injection mold. Member companies from the Association of Green Molding Solutions (AGMS), e.g. Frigel, Trexel and Moldex3D will also exchange their experiences in the conference.

In the light of the growing number of enterprises in China looking for opportunities to venture out to other Asian countries, CHINAPLAS organizer will hold a seminar entitled "Key to Open Up ASEAN Market" on 26 April, Saturday morning to provide audience useful information on business environment, investment information, as well as challenges and opportunities in entering the markets in ASEAN countries. Representatives of the ASEAN Federation of Plastics Industries and overseas experts will be invited to share their experiences.

With the total exhibition area spanning over 220,000 sqm, CHINAPLAS 2014 will house exhibits from 3,000 exhibitors coming from 39 countries and regions. 3,200 sets of machinery will be in display with 14 pavilions organized from Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, USA, PR China & Taiwan.

Building on the past success of CHINAPLAS, the show affords a truly international sourcing platform as a prime destination converging professional buyers and decision makers in plastics and rubber industries from around the world. It is expected to attract 120,000 visitors for this year. Leading end-users such as L’Oreal, Nike, New Balance, Toyota, BMW, Dongfeng Nissan, Geely, Lenovo, Foxconn, Samsung, TCL, Midea, HITACHI, COCA-COLA, Wahaha, DANONE, Mattel along with other buyers have already registered to the show.