Welcome to our NPE2024 Show Issue

Many times on this page I have characterized the North American plastics processing market as mature. I have noted that changes in technologies over the past few decades or so have been more revolutionary then evolutionary. I have also maintained, at times in exasperated fashion, that it tends to take too long for processors on this side of the Atlantic than it should to change the way they do things. Processors in North America tend to be conservative when it comes to embracing new technologies, certainly when compared to their European counterparts.

I’m not quite ready to back off on any of these viewpoints, especially the last one, but I think processors who fill the halls at NPE2024, May 6-10, in Orlando, Florida, need to soak up the new technologies on display. Some of these may be eye-popping. At the show, Commercial Plastics Recycling, NPE2024’s official recycler, will be working with machinery suppliers Conair, Weima and the Plastics Industry Association to collect and recycle 100% of the demonstration products produced on the show floor.

Some of these developments may be more on the subtle side: machines of all kinds that have a smaller footprint. In injection molding, Executive Editor Tony Deligio explains in a “megatrends” article that begins on p. 42, “Machine suppliers at NPE2024 have slimmed down their machine fleets, promising molders more output from a smaller package. Innovations in drive and clamp technologies, as well as advances in the key components that make up the guts of injection molding machines, have enabled the machinery OEMs to cut footprints as much as 30% in some instances.”

Addressing blow molding in that same article, Contributing Editor Matthew Naitove observes, “Among the 50+ displays of blow molding machinery, tooling and controls, expect to see numerous examples of “circular” technology — involving use of recycled and scrap materials. In extrusion blow molding (EBM), expect the emphasis to be on three-layer coextrusion with the recycled layer in the center between two layers of virgin resin. In PET injection stretch-blow molding (ISBM), you may encounter two-layer sandwiches with a thin virgin inner layer and rPET on the outside. Some PET exhibits (including preform injection molding) may show off capabilities to mold rPET flake without repelletizing.

In extrusion, I note in the megatrends article that blown film machinery running on the show floor will be processing more readily recyclable polyolefins. There will also be plenty of talk at the booth of compounding machinery suppliers on best practices to run biopolymers and reclaim.

Developments in machinery and materials (check out Contributing Editor Lilli Sherman’s Close-Up on p. 10) don’t happen in a vacuum. They happen in response to something the industry has to have, and chief among these “somethings” is sustainability. Sustainability comes in many shapes, sizes and flavors. If you are using “greener” materials such as bioresins or postconsumer reclaim, you can lay claim that your operation is more sustainable. If you are tapping into alternative energy sources, or making the ones that you have more energy-efficient, you can lay claim that your operation is more sustainable. If you have taken steps to reduce scrap, you can lay claim that your operation is more sustainable. If you are consuming less material to produce product, you can lay claim that your operation is more sustainable. There are plenty of other examples, but I think you get the picture.

As you prepare your trip to Orlando, check out the more than 90 new products that we have covered in this issue on pages 44-77. Take particular note of those that promote sustainability in one variation or another.

And to think, when I first heard the word sustainability applied to our industry 20 years ago, I thought it was another passing fancy.