NPE
The Orange County Convention Centre will be the location for NPE 2015, the show's biggest outing to date
After its inaugural outing in Orlando, Florida in 2012, NPE will return to the sunshine state in 2015 with the largest exhibition in its history.
Based on the number of exhibitors so far, stands will exceed the 106,000 sq. m. of floor space taken at the previous record-holding edition of the show, held in 2009. Plus, with more companies anticipated to sign up, the show’s organiser, SPI, expects an additional 930 sq. m. to be occupied before the show floor opens on March 23, 2015.
It certainly won’t be a quiet return to International Drive either, with exhibitors taking supersized stands on which to display and operate more machinery and equipment. Testament to this, Milacron Inc, will reportedly have some 2,285 sq. m of floor space, constituting the largest stand in NPE’s history. Overall, more than 600 companies will have equipment at their stands, with over 400 running live demonstrations.
“With so many exhibitors operating equipment, the show floor will be a dynamic panorama of manufacturing in action,” said Gene Sanders, SPI’s Senior Vice President of Trade Shows and Conferences. “Visitors will encounter a host of opportunities to see demonstrations of the latest technologies and materials up close and to interact with equipment and product experts. It will offer buyers the rare opportunity to test before they invest.”
Exhibiting companies cite the success of the previous NPE in 2012, as well as the ongoing success of the plastics industry as reasons for such strong investment in NPE 2015. This, not least in part, has been helped by the US shale gas revolution, which has benefitted America’s economy as a whole and has played a big role in putting the country’s plastics industry in a globally competitive position. No wonder that some of the industry’s machinery behemoths are vying for a slice of the action.
Machinery aside, materials will also be taking their positions on the show floor, with a number of companies expected to launch new products, as well as show advances in polymers for the country’s burgeoning end-user markets.
SPI says as one of the largest industry expositions, it expects to attract more than 60,000 industry professionals from “every spectrum of the plastics industry and its vertical markets” from over 120 countries to NPE 2015.
Co-located events will include SPE ANTEC 2015, the world’s largest plastics technical conference; SPI’s Business of Plastics conference; a Spanish-language seminar; the new NPE3D exhibition and conference about 3D printing; the Zero Waste Zone, featuring industry recycling and sustainability efforts; and other programmes.
NPE 2015 will take place from March 23-27 at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, Florida. British Plastics and Rubber, featured media partner to the event, along with our sister brands, will be reporting live from the show.