Biggest-Ever Chinaplas On Tap in May

Boasting more than 3200 exhibitors and covering nearly 2.5 million ft², Chinaplas 2015 next month in Guangzhou will be the largest-ever presentation of what is already the second-biggest plastics show on earth. In 2014, Chinaplas drew 130,370 visitors over four days, with nearly 30% (36,841) coming from overseas. This year, the show (organized by Adsale) will fill 25 exhibition halls with more than 240,000 m² of gross exhibition area—a record—including 13 international pavilions, and 11 technology- and material-themed zones. New in 2015 are four “high-tech” zones, covering industrial automation, composites and high-performance materials, color pigments, and masterbatches and additives. Chinaplas will also feature three concurrent conference events covering design innovation, automation, and medical plastics.

For Western suppliers of higher cost, higher technology processing systems, the Chinese plastics processing market is rapidly maturing. “Quality requirements in China are continuing to rise,” noted Gero Willmeroth, sales and service president at Engel’s Shanghai subsidiary. This is reflected in part by growing robotics demand in China, he said. Arburg evidently agrees and is bringing two of its new Freeformer 3D printers to the show. And Brückner Maschinenbau is targeting applications outside the “commodity” realm, showcasing highly engineered extrusion applications, including films for battery separators, ultra-thin capacitors, photovoltaics, and optical products.