Plastics industry: demand unbroken

From sports cars to consumer goods, from eyeglass lenses to packaging materials to yoga mats. More and more products today are made of the high-tech material plastic. End-user demands for precision, durability and weight are increasing in parallel with the demand for low-cost items. At Fakuma- International Trade Fair for Plastics Processing, from October 16 to 20 at the Friedrichshafen Exhibition Center, a high-quality range will once again meet unbroken demand in 2018.

The international plastics industry is doing very well. More and more products today are manufactured with the help of plastics or composites. The simultaneously increasing demand for ever higher performance and highest quality requires constant readiness to innovate and constantly new developments. This is also evident at Fakuma. Whether injection molding or extrusion, thermal forming, foaming or 3D printing – in Friedrichshafen, raw material producers, machine builders and manufacturers of technical parts will present what they have to offer in terms of innovations along the entire value chain. “Numerous exhibitors are taking advantage of Fakuma, the world’s No. 1 event for plastics processing by injection molding, to present their innovations to a wide audience for the first time,” confirms project manager Annemarie Schur.

At Fakuma 2018, private trade fair organizer Schall GmbH & Co. KG will once again be relying on the proven combination of technical innovations and practical application. A philosophy that leads to success at all Schall trade fairs. After all, the latest developments, for example from universities and scientific institutes, are only as valuable as their usefulness in industrial applications.

Speaking of new developments: The fact that this industry meeting brings together everything that is globally renowned in the field of plastics processing is evident from the increasing internationalization of this trade show, which is always fully booked. Trade visitors, experts and decision-makers came from more than 120 countries to the last Fakuma 2017. The call of about 1900 exhibitors was followed by 48,375 experts to the border triangle of Germany, Austria and Switzerland at Lake Constance. And the trend is upward. In addition to numerous participants from Germany and Europe, the proportion from the Asian region in particular is increasing.

One of the big issues driving the plastics world is efficiency. In terms of energy-saving processing steps, electrified and thus more economical machines, and efficient processes. Challenges that users want to get to grips with include increasing digitization. But material efficiency is also a recurring aspect in times of lightweight construction and climate change. Also on display in October will be solutions that are driving many of the plastics processing industries: innovative recycling, digitized processes and “green” materials.