Innovation is still alive in plastics

Abstract

Held every three years in Orlando, the plastics trade show NPE lets attendees get up close to equipment they would otherwise encounter only on a factory floor. Machines—blaring noise and radiating heat—pop out plastic bottles and cups in booths next to the carpet-lined lanes of the Orange County Convention Center. Sleeves of plastic film multiple stories high rise from blow-molding machines. Robot arms incessantly repeat programmed routines to demonstrate their nimbleness. In contrast, the booths of the companies supplying the plastics industry with polymers and additives are equipped with machines no grander than hissing espresso makers to prepare drinks for guests. The main attractions of their outposts are racks of brochures and plastic-molded goods—car parts, bottles, and the like—screwed into the wall or displayed in Lucite cases. The show’s organizer, the Plastics Industry Association, claims NPE2018, held earlier this month, was the largest ever. Some 2,180 exhibitors were spread across