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K2016) Sustained strong demand for lightweight packages with high functionality

Maximum product protection with the minimum input of materials, decorative design to stimulate purchase, and resource efficiency in production, storage and transport – the requirements are very diverse. K 2016 will present innovations in design, production and applications for a huge variety of packaging materials and production methods. This article examines the trends in packaging and takes a brief look ahead to the highlights of actual exhibits at the fair.“The packaging of tomorrow is smart and geared to specific target groups and convenience.” That is what was written five years ago in the packaging sector report of IG Metall and IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (trade unions for the metalworking, mining, chemical and energy industries). And nothing of this will change in the coming years either. For in its most recent report “The Future of Global Packaging to 2020”, Smithers Pira in Leatherhead, UK, has again identified re-closable convenience packages, extended shelf life, easy-open packages and on-the-go packages as the outstanding trend themes of a sector that continues to show overall growth. The world market will grow, Smithers Pira claims, by 3.5% from USD 839 billion in 2015 to USD 998 billion in 2020. This momentum in the packaging market is being driven principally by Asia but also by Western and Eastern Europe, with growth being stimulated among other things by advancing urbanisation and the subject of sustainability.Packages are required in almost all sectors. While usually protecting the product and facilitating storage and transport, they can also help to differentiate products at the point of sale and thus constitute a selling point. In the past, packaging solutions have been consistently brought into line with market requirements and customer needs. Examples of this are distinctive crystal-clear bottles for household, and body and hair care products, sparkling high-quality plastic flacons for perfumes, special deep-drawn trays for electronics articles providing protection from electrostatic discharge and designed for product insertion by robot, and foldable transport boxes and stretch films for securing loads in trucks, to name but a few.The food industry enjoys high attention and market importance within the packaging sector. In Europe countries alone, some 60% of foods still spoil, and this figure could be reduced significantly with appropriate packaging. What is more, according to a publication by packaging market researchers Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung (GVM), product protection is always also climate protection, which in a turn is a subject of social relevance. The carbon footprint for the production of a new food to replace one lost due to inadequate product protection is usually much larger than that for the production of a suitable package that prevents spoilage. Individual prints that can be produced effectively at the press of a button are among the decorative trends in the industry (image: Krones)The packaging sector continues to boom – and with it the requirements it has to meet, its possibilities and the innovative solutions. Its sheer diversity cannot be covered exhaustively in a single article, so only a selection of topics and examples have been picked out in the following without any claim to being comprehensive.One subject repeatedly mentioned in connection with plastics packaging is health, although many different aspects are again concerned here. It goes without saying that each protective packaging benefits consumer health by shielding the food from external influences of all kinds. In the beverages sector in particular, there is a trend towards adding health-promoting substances to drinks that need special protection. Examples of this are fruit juices with high vitamin contents and sports and fitness drinks with special dietary supplements. KHS Plasmax GmbH in Hamburg has developed its Plasmax technology so that these drinks stay fresh in bottles for a long time. In a low-pressure plasma process, a roughly 50 nm layer of pure silicon oxide, i.e. glass, is deposited on the inner wall of a PET bottle. The drink thus keeps for longer, is protected from external influences and its vitamins and additives are prevented from escaping. Unlike the rival multi-layer bottle, the Plasmax technology is slightly more elaborate, but the cost of materials per bottle at about 1 cent per bottle is significantly lower. The main benefit of the Plasmax process is that the bottle can be fully recycled.Another trend in the beverages sector is towards healthy drinks containing chunks, e.g. water with chunks of Aloe vera and milk and yoghurt drinks with fruit chunks. This calls not only for the matching bottle geometries, but also for bottling technologies capable of cleanly and precisely metering solid particles. As one of several specialist machine manufacturers in this area, Krones AG in Neutraubling is offering under its Dosaflex label special metering systems for lumpy products up to a size of 3x3x3 mm with a metering accuracy of ±0.3%. And on the subject of milk and yoghurt drinks, there is a distinct trend here to an expanding product spectrum. However, since dairy-based drinks have an only limited shelf life, Holland Colors NV in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, is presenting at K 2016 its new Holcomer III solid additive that permits the production of PET monoloyer packaging solutions for UHT milk as it yields 100% protection from UV radiation and up to 99% protection from visible light. The obvious advantage of this solution is its monolayer structure which lends itself better to recycling than the multi-layer equivalent.Light weight as a perennial themeThe weight of each package solution continues to be important. A great deal has happened in this area in the last few years. The ideas and savings potentials are many and varied: the omission of package outers, flexible rather than rigid or semi-rigid packages, new designs and the reduction in wall thicknesses. From 1991 to 2013, packages thus became 25% lighter overall. In 2013 alone, 1 million tonnes of plastics was saved worldwide as a result of weight reduction, despite the growing expectations on functionality. And, taking PET again as an example, not only have the wall thicknesses been reduced, but the base design has also been optimised. The new thread design alone saves 2 g of plastic per bottle. To optimise the bottle base, Creative Packaging Solutions Ltd. in Balcova-Izmir, Turkey, has developed its Mint-Tec process in which, after creation of the preform, a ram extends into the latter – without touching the neck – and gives the base its desired shape.Recyclable design from the outsetThe trends cited for beverages as examples also apply to practically all other areas of the food sector. Weight reduction is always top of the wish list. This is of course because weight reduction is associated with savings of material and reduced cost. However, this is not the only reason. Growing in prominence, as it is demanded increasingly by legislators as well as by consumers, is resource conservation. Closely associated with this is the scope for package recycling. In Germany today, almost all household packages are reutilised, with more than half (56%) being recycled rather than being incinerated for the energy content. About 20 years ago, the figure was only 3%. In the case of PET bottles, the rate is much better, with 98% undergoing material recovery and being returned to the production cycle. Consequently, each new bottle produced today contains about 25% regranulate.The reutilisation rates for packaging wastes could be upped still further if packages were given recyclable designs from the outset. As a polyolefin processor, Dr Michael Scriba, Managing Director of mtm plastics GmbH in Niedergebra, is acutely aware of the problem areas. In his view, pure-grade plastics should be used wherever possible, and not paper-plastics composites nor too heavily pigmented or chalk-filled polyolefins. In addition, PET should be preferably used for bottles rather than for deep-drawn trays, to name just a few of the preconditions for improved package recyclability. Deep-drawn IML trays have advantages over injection-moulded ones, as they can be produced faster and thinner and therefore more cheaply (image: Illig)Films have been becoming thinner and more functional for yearsAt over 40%, films represent the most frequently encountered plastics packaging, being used mainly for foods but also, for example, in bubble wrap or stretch films for protecting goods. In the film products area, there is also a marked trend towards increasingly thin and functional solutions. Functionality can be achieved with suitable additives, although most commonly with multi-layering. The demand for more and more layers has thus culminated in so-called nano-layer arrangements of 33 layers and more. Today, 3- and 5-layer films are standard products, not least so that less expensive materials can be used for the middle layer.Barrier films are usually composed of 7 and more layers. This year at K 2016, Hosokawa Alpine AG in Augsburg is presenting an 11-layer film-blowing line for high-barrier films which also has an extra-compact design. Thanks to functional layers, multi-layer films usually have the advantage of being less thick than mono-products. While retaining its functionality, the film’s thickness can also be reduced by stretching. Especially for this, Reifenhäuser Blown Film in Troisdorf will be showing at the trade fair the Evolution Ultra Stretch unit that is installed right on the blowing tower. Thanks to the stretch unit, compression bag films for nappies can be produced 50 rather than 70 µm thick and silage stretch films with an unchanged range of properties 19 rather than 25 µm thick – a thickness reduction of 30%. This in-mould-labelled cup, the production of which will be demonstrated live at K, weighs only 10.7 g thanks to injection compression moulding (image: Netstal).Efficiency a big talking point in injection mouldingIn the production of injection-moulded packaging materials, thickness reduction and savings of material are also big talking points as well as optimising cycle time and boosting efficiency. This will be very evident at this year’s K when Netstal Maschinen AG from Näfels in Switzerland, for example, is exhibiting a high-performance an injection moulding machine with an electric welding unit that outputs over 43,000 round lids per hour with a weight of 7 g per item. In-mould labelling (IML) has long been one of the well-known decoration methods for injection mouldings. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery GmbH in Schwaig is exhibiting its El-Exis SP 200 – probably the fastest machine for the production of decorated cups with a cycle time of less than 2 s.A process for making injection-moulded packaging items even thinner and lighter is injection compression moulding (ICM), which is becoming increasingly established in the industry. This process differs from conventional injection moulding in that shrinkage is compensated for without injecting additional material in the holding-pressure phase. Instead, the ICM process makes use of a compression cycle, i.e. displacement within the mould. This makes savings of material of up to 20% possible. At the fair, Netstal will be demonstrating the production of a PP margarine package weighing just 10.7 g.Industry demonstrates immense innovative powersAs already mentioned, it is impossible to cover all the trends and news in a single article, but here are a few all the same:• It is important not to overlook the growing interest in the production of food packages with biodegradable plastics – new products are coming increasingly onto the market here.• Direct printing is a process in which plastic packages as well as their lids can be printed directly without a sleeve or label. In digital printing, the printed image can be modified and applied directly at the press of a button – so individualisation is writ large in this area. Each item could be given its own print.• At K 2016, several injection moulding machine manufacturers will be showing an application for injection blow moulding, a technology with which an injection moulded preform is blown directly in a multi-station mould and, if desired, overmoulded as well. Highly attractive package solutions can be produced in this way.• For injection-moulded and deep-drawn packaging items, the ibt process of Cavonic GmbH in Engen is a way of applying a glass-like layer in the low-pressure plasma process and thus improving the shelf life of foods such as fruit spreads, baby food and dairy products in transparent mono trays.• With the appropriate machine equipment, deep-drawn IML trays can be more cost-effectively manufactured than injection-moulded ones. Illig Maschinenbau GmbH &Co. KG in Heilbronn builds thermoforming systems capable of producing lighter trays faster and thus generating production costs of EUR 43.80 for 1,000 units compared to EUR 51.60 for the same trays manufactured by IML injection moulding.Those interested in packaging materials can expect just as many new ideas at K 2016 in October as the packaging industry at interpack 2017 six months later.http://www.k-online.com

Ms.Kang 2016-09-29

K2016) North America: Digital Design and Automation Influence Molding Productivity

Trends shaping the North American plastics industry include growing use of advanced digital design and manufacturing software and increased automation of production. Recent developments give companies throughout the product chain more ways to optimize operations, speed products to market and increase competitiveness.Software has long played a role in product and mold design, and automation has always been a way to increase production efficiency. What is different now is that more design software incorporates high-tech features such as 3-D simulation and analysis and even virtual reality imaging. These capabilities help users develop and rapidly fine-tune the manufacturability of parts and molds before money is spent cutting steel.In automation, the trend is primarily one of molders adding increasingly affordable robots to their lines. For years robots were large, fast, specialized systems that were costly to acquire and required expertise to program. In what can be called a “democratization of automation,” the cost of many robots has been declining, making them ever more affordable. Programming is also simpler – in many cases it can be done with a smart phone or tablet computer. And in one advance, “collaborative robots” have been developed that are safe enough to work alongside humans and simple to program.A number of factors influence the gains in design software and robotics. One is the digital revolution that promotes the connectivity of machines and data throughout a factory. Another is the growth of advanced materials that may combine counterintuitive properties like high strength and light weight. Since unconventional designs are often required to realize the potential of these materials, engineers need software that allows them to develop innovative shapes.Rethinking DesignExamples of suppliers that pursue advanced digital design and manufacturing capabilities include Siemens, whose NX PLM Software provides multiple features and program offerings. NX software is a platform to which designers, molders and toolmakers add on integrated software for applications throughout product development.Among the programs are design capabilities with 3-D simulations; software that calculates warping, cooling, shrinkage and deformation in tooling design; manufacturing software for mold development; costing tools; NC software for machines; CAM software for production; and quality control software.Siemens says that NX software reduces design time an average 30%. Paul Brown, senior marketing director for the NX Product Engineering Unit, says that software integration lets users move seamlessly from concept to design qualification, mold development, and machine production. The efficiencies and cost savings in moldmaking especially can make companies more competitive with offshore mold sources.Design and Mold SimulationsAnother vendor of advanced software is Dassault Systémes. Through 3-D simulation programs such as Catia, materials software like Solidworks, and Delmia, a “digital twin” program for building production lines, Dassault provides integrated capabilities that reduce product development time – 20 to 50% in the case of Solidworks, says Lotfi Derbal, senior product portfolio manager.Solidworks allows simulation so designs can be optimized before investments are made in molds and manufacturing. In mold development, Derbal says engineers can trial cooling channels, balance components, check flow and assess part quality.Catia supplies 3-D simulation programs that are process oriented, says Fabrice Agnes, engineering portfolio management director. These include Plastic Mechanical Designer, which allows rapid iterations of designs, compensates for features such as grills, ribs, reinforcements and bosses, and shows how changes affect filling, flow and other operations. Another application, Mold and Tooling Designer, allows experimentation with inserts, ejectors, cooling systems, parting lines, parting surfaces and other mold features.A recent development, which could be displayed at K2016, is Functional Generative Designer, software that allows optimization of the cooling system of a mold, whether it is made by conventional machining or by additive manufacturing (3-D printing), to improve part production and properties.Friendly RobotsMost robots are fast, repeatable and consistent. They also operate away from personnel for safety. “A robust robot that is able to move fast is not suitable to work beside humans,” says Sonny Morneault, U.S. national sales manager of Wittmann Battenfeld, which sells robots and primary equipment like injection presses. Morneault sees growing demand for robots, mostly machine-side systems that place inserts in molds, label parts and perform high-speed part removal.There is also a trend toward collaborative robots – lightweight platforms for assembly, loading and unloading, and packaging, which interact safely with humans. A few companies make them. One is Rethink Robotics with two models, Baxter and Sawyer. They are low cost, lightweight, and are programmed by teaching them arm movements and pressing an “enter” button on a pendant. Baxter has two arms, 7 degrees of freedom. Sawyer has one arm with 7 degrees of freedom. Each lifts up to 4 kg.Workers wheel the robots around a plant. Features include: location recognition and automatic set-up for jobs; spring-powered actuators for force control; arm sensors that measure spring deflection during motion and adjust the arm motor to compensate for it; and self-programming. They also have sensors that detect if a worker comes too close; if so, the robots stop operation. The company says the return on investment with the robots is usually only months.Conventional robots are becoming more versatile. One area cited by Morneault is in the collection and transmission of production data. He notes, however, that few customers use this technology, and then only for internal use.Source : k-onlineAdvances in design software and robotics offer just a snapshot of the activity underway in the North American plastics industry. Yet the impact they are having and the potential they create for developments such as the Factory of the Future and other productivity-enhancing trends is considerable. These capabilities, which will be on display at K 2016, could well lay the foundation for greater levels of productivity and economy the industry will continue to require.www.k-online.com

Ms.Kang 2016-09-23

K2016 presents unique abundance of innovative applications and complex exhibits

K 2016 presents unique abundance of innovative applications and complex exhibits Tailored materials, efficient use of resources, zero-defect production, generative production methods and digitalisation are only some of the many technological trends featured by this year’s trade fair. No other trade fair in the world presents polymer materials as well as plastics and rubber processing machines, technology and equipment in such an abundance and at such a superior quality level as the K flagship fair in Düsseldorf/Germany. There is no other exhibition that shows such a wide variety of top quality and complex exhibits. It was on good grounds that Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, called the last trade fair in 2013 “the largest plastics factory in the world”. K 2016, the competitive trade fair for the international plastics industry, will once again provide a comprehensive overview of polymer technologies at the leading edge of global development.Tailored and application-specific, functional materials Since the 1990s, no essentially new polymers have made it into industrial-scale production – apart from a few biopolymers. Hence, processes such as the modification, additivation and functionalisation of polymer raw material with the aim of creating tailor-made compounds for specific applications or for producing specific properties, have become the lynchpin of all industrial polymer material production. Currently, the main focus seems to lie on the approval of materials that come into contact with food or drinking water and of materials used in medical applications. Another important objective for tailor-made materials: sufficient chemical resistance to substances such as cosmetics or other chemicals, and stability against continuous operating and peak temperatures, which are common in electronic or lighting systems. In addition to an adjustable thermal conductivity, many applications also require adjustable electric conductivity or electric resistance. The same applies to rubber-based applications: tasked with meeting the exacting requirements of certifications for drinking-water applications or providing reliable flame-retardancy in materials, compounders have been applying major technical expertise to their blend formulation processes. Rubber applications operated in close proximity to combustion engines must withstand increasingly higher continuous operating and peak temperatures as well as aggressive media. Not only electric vehicles require highly efficient tyres with improved traction and minimised rolling resistance.More efficient use of resources brings new challenges The call for a responsible and careful use of finite resources and their restrictive consumption is not just a widely expressed popular demand, but also an economic necessity. This involves the efficient use of material, i.e. polymer materials. Selecting a material-specific and production-specific design of the final product is often the first step towards making production processes more efficient.There have also been major improvements in the energy consumption of plastics processing machines. Nonetheless, manufacturers of large processing machinery, most of all injection moulding machines as well as compression moulding machines, extruders and blow moulding machines, still identify potential for reducing their machines’ consumption rates. They are moving closer to the physical limits and are minimizing the energy required for plasticizing the material. The Euromap 60 standard for measuring the energy consumption of machines offers processors a modicum of transparency. For situations where high energy consumption rates are unavoidable, machine manufacturers have developed components that recover energy from processes such as the deceleration of machine movements and accumulate it for other driving processes. Used in connection with technical equipment and installations, heat recovery systems have become part of the standard initial equipment of new facilities and have also been retrofitted in many existing facilities.Nowadays, most machinery and equipment manufacturers have come to understand that better material efficiency and availability often have a more positive effect on processors’ overall efficiency than minor energy savings. Although energy reduction seems to dominate the public domain, practical solutions that reduce mould changeover times are currently all the rage: quick-clamping systems, fast changeover systems, adapter solutions and systems that automatically detect any newly installed mould. All of these products can improve a machine’s availability while widening the supplier’s production range. This applies both to plastics and rubber injection as manufacturers of rubber processing machinery have also started to improve their equipment’s product changeover flexibility, increased the level of automation and made processing procedures more transparent. Analogue to the benefits of hot-runner technology for injection moulding of thermoplastics, cold-runner technology frequently results in material savings during elastomer injection moulding processes.Zero-defect production still top of the agendaThe objective of many plastics processors, zero-defect production aims at eliminating the waste of valuable raw material. Many systems can contribute to this. The elimination of edge trim as well as the automatic reduction of the thickness tolerances for plastic film, sheet and profiles as well as that of rubber seals, for instance, makes extrusion processes more resource-efficient. Strategies involving simulations and the analysis of current data during active process also aim at preventing the production of defective items. For injection moulding processes that allow the detection of defects during the active production, a variety of separating strategies are available. These are based on quality criteria that were measured or automatically determined during the active production process. Processes that only allow the detection of defects on the finished part, increasingly operate with optical systems such as cameras.K is the unrivalled dominion of lightweight engineering In mobility, lightweight engineering is widely considered as the key to energy and fuel reduction. “There is virtually no plastic product that is not also a lightweight engineering application,“ Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Hopmann recently commented on the minimum weight and performance profile of polymer materials. Still, machine manufacturers as well as producers of plastics and reinforcing agents, institutes and plastics processors make every effort to develop reliable techniques for the large-scale production of lightweight components particularly for mobility applications such as cars and aeroplanes as well as for individual industrial applications.There are numerous, virtually infinite combinations of special production methods particularly for reaction and injection moulding techniques that strive to find suitable solutions for the large-scale production of lightweight components. Despite the fact that many international shows and conferences deal with the subject of lightweight engineering or fibre composites, no other event provides a more profound overview over the many ways in which reinforcing fibres with a matrix polymer material can quickly produce weight-optimised components with maximum process capability than the K trade fair in Düsseldorf.Metal-plastics hybrids and every combination of fibres with matrix polymers are on show here. Thermoplastics, thermoset, bio-based polyurethane matrixes are being combined with glass, carbon and other synthetic or natural fibres so as to meet the current requirements and demands of modern applications. Production units for lightweight components are often set up by many partners, as production involves a range of different ingredients, from reinforcing fibres and automated handling of flexible materials right through to machines and equipment for the frequently multi-staged production itself. The matrix materials must comply with flame-retardancy regulations while providing superior mechanical properties and flowability, and fibre and matrix material must provide sufficient bonding properties.Digitalisation offers new production opportunities The use of digital equipment alongside production processes, also called “industry 4.0”, allows plastics processors to analyse data from their own production in order to collect information and practical intelligence from their processes. At this year’s K, machine and software manufacturers have gone to impressive lengths to offer attractive products for plastics processors. The range of products on show will most likely involve new concepts for accelerating production start-up procedures and for improving the flexibility of production processes as well as service products for pre-emptive maintenance, spare parts supply and quality management. In the long term, data collected during practical production processes will also be used to adapt production equipment such as machinery, robots, dies and moulds to the actual requirements of day-to-day operation and to optimise their design for practical application specifications.Thanks to digitalisation, process-related improvements in live operation have a major potential for boosting production efficiency: it is now easier than before to combine moulded part design, construction and material properties with the different options provided by mould engineering and enhance these with the intelligence accumulated from process-controlled and temperature-controlled production procedures. Hence, simulation with intense feedback between production and development has become increasingly important. Generally speaking, many suppliers are striving to cater to the increased demand for more production and process transparency by intensifying the interaction between IT and classic production technology.Plastics production, lot size 1Productions with shrinking lot sizes are the result of lean storage concepts and a rising demand for just-in-time deliveries. One particular presentation, which was shown at K 2013, put the additive production of thermoplastic parts firmly on the industrial map and straight into the minds of many plastics processors. Even if these generative production methods are still limited to amorphous thermoplastics and do not yet allow the use of fillings and reinforcements, they still provide food for thought, particularly as modern consumer tastes and fashion trends seem to change with the weather and the individualisation of plastic products has presented the industry with a new challenge. On the one hand, this development increases the chances for the mould-less production of components and a lot size of 1, on the other hand, it also increases the interest in faster changeover concepts for standard production methods such as injection moulding. The latter are increasingly dominated by quick-change systems for moulds and media, changing cavity inserts or complete ejector packages to make frequent product changes more efficient.Human-machine interfaces with intuitive operationNew opportunities in IT technology have also had a visible impact on control systems for modern plastics processing machines. Keys, buttons, and switches in classic formats have been superseded by soft, structured multi-touch operating panels with or without central press-twist control elements already established in modern vehicles. The new look of the classic human-machine interfaces is intended to provide a more intuitive operation and also applies the familiar operation logic of smartphones, iPads and tablets to industrial control tasks. As many production technicians have to be trained for their tasks, machine manufacturers and plastics processors welcome this new approach and hope to attract new staff members to their company by facilitating their work with easy, intuitive control systems. These new systems, they hope, will help new recruits discover their personal career opportunities in a modern, growing and future-proof industry.http://www.k-online.com/cgi-bin/md_k/lib/pub/tt.cgi/K_2016_presents_unique_abundance_of_innovative_applications_and_complex_exhibits.html?oid=90880&lang=2&ticket=g_u_e_s_t

Ms.Kang 2016-09-21

Touchpoint 3D fab+print at the K 2016

Ms. Kang 2016-09-19

K2016) Gamma Meccanica brings to K a GM 65 Compac recycling line

http://www.adsalecprj.com/Publicity/MarketNews/lang-eng/article-67023919/NewsArticle.aspx

Ms. Kang 2016-09-05

K2016) Bioplastics Business Breakfast 2016

At the World’s biggest trade show on plastics and rubber: K’2016 in Düsseldorf bioplastics will certainly play an important role again.On three days during the show from Oct 20-22, 2016 bioplastics MAGAZINE will host a Bioplastics Business Breakfast: From 8 am to 12:30 pm the delegates will have the chance to listen and discuss highclass presentations and benefit from a unique networking opportunity. The conference will be at the Congress Center ON the fairgrounds. The trade fair opens at 10 am. Admission starts at EUR 249.00 - free access to K'2016 included. Programme: Bioplastics Business Breakfast 2016http://www.bioplasticsmagazine.com/en/events/breakfast/index.php(Programme - http://www.bioplasticsmagazine.com/en/events/breakfast/programme.php)

Ms. Kang 2016-08-31

K 2016 enters into the hot phase

Topic of the Month In October, some 3,100 businesses from the plastics and rubber industry will again be presenting trend-setting products, processes and practical solutions. Tailored materials, efficient use of resources, zero-defect production, generative production methods and digitalisation are only some of the many technological trends featured by this year’s trade fair.Demographic growth, urbanisation, rising energy consumption, dwindling resources and climate change – there are a host of challenges to master. The global situation calls for creative minds, innovative technology and high-performance materials. From 19 to 26 October, the international plastics and rubber industry will be meeting at K 2016 in Düsseldorf and presenting its solutions. The global flagship fair for the sector and industrial applications, K unites central industry trends and future trends at a single venue. It has become established as the innovation and business platform not only for raw materials producers, manufacturers of plastics and rubber machinery, and processors, but also for stakeholders from the key user industries.Plastics and rubber branch at a glanceK 2016 has been booked out for months. Some 3,100 exhibitors from almost 60 nations will be taking part and showing their products and services on more than 170,000 square metres of net exhibition space. Werner M. Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, has no doubts: “Nowhere in the world can one experience the full breadth of raw materials, processing and application equipment as completely as at K in Düsseldorf. This is the premier platform for the global plastics and rubber industry, and each company aims to present itself here with forward-looking innovations. Another unique feature is the high internationality of exhibitors and visitors. This ensures, firstly, that trade visitors can expect an offering of world market standard across the board. And, secondly, exhibitors here have access to industry experts from over 100 countries and come together with potential customers that they would not otherwise meet.”Plastics and rubber with excellent global growth perspectivesAgain, the strongest contingent of exhibitors comes from Europe, especially from Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France and Turkey, but there is also an impressive number of participants from the USA. At the same time, K is a clear indicator of changes in the global market: over the past years, the number of Asian companies and the exhibition space booked by them has been rising steadily, and this year, particularly China, Taiwan, India, Japan and South Korea will be impressing visitors with their strong presence. Since K welcomes highly diverse companies from all over the world, the spotlight is not only on the industry’s major talking points – such as energy, resource and materials efficiency – but also on niche segments.As always, K 2016 will occupy all the exhibition space at Messe Düsseldorf, with products and services on show in all of the venue’s 19 halls. The industry’s core business areas:•machines and equipment,•raw materials and auxiliaries,•semi-finished products, technical parts and reinforced plastics and•serviceshave been neatly grouped in the various halls.Machines and equipment – world premieresThis year, international machine and equipment manufacturers, K’s largest group of exhibitors, will be presenting an abundance of world premieres. Occupying about two thirds of the exhibition grounds, exhibitors from this particular group will be showing their products in halls 1 to 4 and halls 9 to 17. Engineers and machine manufacturers from all over the world are already working flat out so they can present live demonstrations of new complex production units in October. K 2016 provides a unique opportunity for drawing global attention to innovations, as no other event anywhere in the world attracts such an international and expert audience. Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Chairman of the K 2016 Exhibitors Council, is very confident that the fair will give the industry a shot in the arm. “An abundance of innovations promising genuine customer benefits have already been announced in the run-up to the fair. I am particularly excited about the new developments we can expect under the heading of Industry 4.0. The possibility of supporting production with digitalisation and the interlinking of machines in the production process offer plastics processors new opportunities for accelerating production start-up and making production more flexible as well as enhancing quality assurance and maintenance. I am sure that there will be much of great interest in this area at K 2016.”Raw materials and auxiliaries – materials of the futureRaw materials and auxiliaries specialists will be presenting the leading edge in polymer science: materials with superior resource efficiency that help to achieve a better balance between economic and ecological performance. In addition to the optimisation of standard polymers, this year’s major topics will centre on additives and fillers, biopolymers and functional polymers as well as on self-reinforcing polymers.Semi-finished products, technical parts and reinforced plastics– a growth marketThe industry is noted for its strong innovative powers and a broad diversity of products. There is a greater emphasis than ever on energy- and resource-efficient products, as they are capable of satisfying the most challenging requirements. Suppliers of raw materials, semi-finished products and technical parts will be exhibiting in halls 5 to 8b.Finger on the pulse of advancing technologyK 2016 represents the industry’s complete value chain in an unparalleled breadth and depth. Rubber also plays an important role here. Though small compared to the plastics industry, it is of major importance to key user industries and is highly innovative. The Rubber Road in hall 6 is a permanent fixture at K, and 12 companies will be participating in this “shop window” of the rubber sector. For all visitors interested in elastomer technology, there will again be a Rubber & TPE Pocket Guide at K 2016.K has always had its finger on the pulse of technological development. This is borne out not only by the presentations at exhibitor stands, but also by the supporting programme, which provides real added value for visitors. The special show, the Science Campus, Bioplastics Business Breakfasts, the Design Chain Conference, 3D fab+print and the plastics training initiative focus on specific aspects and industry-related issues: the perfect opportunity to gather strategic information.Special show “Plastics shape the future”The special show “Plastics shape the future” will spotlight how polymer materials have shaped the appearance of our modern world – not just functionally but also in terms of aesthetics and sustainability. This event deals with economic and environmental performance as well as addressing problems such as marine litter.Presentations and an innovative stand design will be prominent features of the special show in Hall 6 that comprises VIP keynotes, introductory presentations, events and panel discussions. Throughout the entire trade fair, school and university students will also be welcome to express their ideas on shaping the future. At “Plastics shape the future”, there will be theme days for the first time, i.e. each day is assigned to a certain theme and offers a variety of talks and a central round of discussions on the theme in question:•Wednesday, 19.10. Plastics Industry 4.0•Thursday, 20.10. New materials•Friday, 21.10. Lightweight construction•Saturday, 22.10. Marine litter•Sunday, 23.10. Youth and training•Monday, 24.10. Plastics Meet Design•Tuesday, 25.10. Resource efficiencyThis special show, a project of the German plastics industry spearheaded by PlasticsEurope Deutschland e.V. and Messe Düsseldorf, will be enhancing K’s exhibition offering for the 9th time in succession.Science Campus: dialogue between science and businessThe Science Campus, a forum where businesses and universities can exchange information, also provides K 2016 exhibitors and visitors with a comprehensive overview of scientific activities and findings in plastics and rubber research. Since its launch in 2013, the Science Campus has gained in size and has recorded a rising number of participating universities, institutes and funding agencies. At the heart of the upcoming Science Campus will be four central issues that are expected to dramatically affect the development of the industry’s markets for the next few years. These are:•resource efficiency,•digitalisation of the value chain / Industry 4.0,•new materials, and•lightweight construction•as well as science education. Scientists from the K 2016 Innovation Circle and teams from their institutes will prepare and present information on the central topics. Beyond the Science Campus, these topics will also be reflected elsewhere at the trade fair in the exhibits at exhibitors’ stands, the special show “Plastics shape the future”, and in the Innovation Compass.3D fab+printFew technologies are giving rise to as much discussion as 3D printing. All over the world, additive manufacturing methods are inspiring users in the design and packaging industry, aerospace and automotive engineering, dental and medical technology, and machine and plant manufacture. Naturally, K 2016 will also be shedding light on this special technology. Three years ago, Messe Düsseldorf launched the 3D fab+print brand in order to spotlight this important subject – not only at K, but also, for example, at drupa – no. 1 for print and crossmedia solutions; at MEDICA – World Forum for Medicine; and at COMPAMED – High Tech Solutions for Medical Technology. In cooperation with KCI Publishing BV, the www.3dfabprint.com portal presents state-of-the-art technologies as well as visions and exciting best practices. At K 2016, all exhibitors showing solutions from the additive manufacturing segment will be presented in a dedicated brochure.Bioplastics : potential and opportunitiesOver the past few years, bioplastics have garnered immense attention as a complement and as an alternative to conventional plastics. Looking ahead, the industry is currently debating the pros and cons, and the future role and market potential of bioplastics – both bio-based and biodegradable plastics. Anyone wanting to find out more about the potentials and possibilities will have plenty of opportunities to do so at the stands of exhibitors at K 2016. Moreover, “bioplastics Magazine” in cooperation with Messe Düsseldorf will be hosting three events to take a closer look at this particular topic : every morning from 20 to 22 October, the latest information will be presented and experience shared at the Bioplastics Business BreakfastsDesign Chain ConferenceLaunched at K 2013, the Design Chain Conference met with very positive feedback. This time, the Design Chain@K conference hosted by Crain Communications will again provide insight into practical and technical aspects of innovations in the design chain. The event gives designers and materials producers a chance to show how polymers are used in different product applications. The programme includes examples from the automotive and medical industries, consumer electronics and packaging.Top marks from visitorsJust how important K is for the industry is demonstrated not only by the number of exhibitors and the quality of the offering, but also and especially by the trade visitors. In October 2013, a total of 218,000 visitors from more than 100 countries came to Düsseldorf, and organisers of K 2016 expect similar numbers this year. More than half (59 per cent) came from abroad, with the largest groups of international visitors coming from the Netherlands, India, France, Belgium, the US, Italy and the UK. The experts’ verdict was clear: more than 90 per cent of them were very impressed with the abundance of information, innovations and technical solutions. Visitors awarded top marks for the density of innovative products and the presence of market leaders. And this applies not only to manufacturers of plastic and rubber products. K is well known and appreciated among ultimate buyers from the various user industries who regard the event as an important source of new ideas for their sector and their products.Smarte online servicesThe web portal www.k-online.com, in particular, will be keeping everyone up-to-date before, during and after the fair. K 2016 exhibitors are already presenting themselves and their portfolios in the exhibitor database. This service provides visitors with a valuable tool for searching for companies, products and information.Extremely convenient is the opportunity for visitors to purchase their tickets online, download the associated codes or print them out at home. The main benefit of eTickets is that they cost less. Day tickets will be available online for EUR 49, compared to EUR 65 (at the gate). Three-day tickets cost EUR 108 online, and EUR 135 at the gate. For travel to the exhibition centre, the online ticket also doubles as a local public transport ticket.With the K app, visitors on the move also have access to important information.Looking at the future – as of 19 October 2016With the highest information density in the world, K is a business and information platform that looks to the future. Business and research are working hand in hand to provide visiting experts with an insight into the perspectives and scenarios that will shape the future of the plastics and rubber industry.All of this awaits you as of 19 October.See you there...!http://www.k-online.com/cgi-bin/md_k/lib/pub/tt.cgi/K_2016_enters_into_the_hot_phase.html?oid=90818&lang=2&ticket=g_u_e_s_t

Ms. Kang 2016-08-31

Moldex3D (Hall 13 A94) - Your Destination for Success at K 2016!

Moldex3D is delighted to announce that we will be returning to exhibit at K show from 19-26 October in Germany! At K 2016, we will demonstrate our Moldex3D simulation capabilities, discuss the latest CAE technologies, and explore possible solutions to help you manufacture better plastic parts. We cordially invite you to stop by our booth (Hall 13 A94) and find out what we can do to meet your mold design needs. Don’t miss out on this valuable opportunity to enhance your production efficiency, reduce costs and gain global competitiveness!Come Join Us at Molding Innovation Tech Forum to Power Your Innovation Forward! Moldex3D Molding Innovation Tech Forum, a series of booth presentations on the latest industry CAE simulation applications, brings you all the leading experts from around the world at K 2016. Come join us with your questions and get solutions that power your innovation forward! Detailed schedule coming soon! Hall 13 A94 – Let’s Meet up at K 2016! Moldex3D professionals will be present in Hall 13, Booth A94 to provide you a comprehensive understanding of plastic injection molding simulation technology. For more information and updates, please stay tuned to Moldex3D website and newsletter. We hope to see you there!http://www.moldex3d.com/en/

Ms. Kang 2016-08-31