Page 30 - Plastics News November 2019

FeAtures

70.8 % in 2016. Over 42% of all foreign visitors came from very strong follow-up business,” says Reifenhäuser. Over
overseas – travelling to the Rhine from Angola, Burkina- half the decision-makers from the industry stated they had
Faso, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Dominican come to Düsseldorf with concrete investment intentions.
Republic, Honduras, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mongolia, For visitors from throughout the world investment in
Myanmar, French Polynesia or Tajikistan. As expected, expansion ranked particularly high on the list, especially in
the experts from Asia accounted for the biggest group of extruders and extrusion lines, injection moulding machines
foreign visitors: to the tune of 40,000 experts came from as well as machinery and equipment for reclamation and
South, East and Central Asia. India was represented with recycling. The survey polling visitors at K also showed that
the highest number of visitors, while visitor attendance interest in recycling systems is noticeably higher abroad
from China and Japan was up again considerably. than in Germany.

Almost 20,000 visitors travelled to K 2019 from North Flexible materials – rubbers and thermoplastic elastomers
and South America, which corresponds to a 7% increase. (TPE) – also proved a fixture at K again. Although the
Compared to 2016, there was an especially marked elastomer segment has traditionally been smaller than the
increase in the number of guests from Brazil.i n terms plastics range at K, there was a high number of exhibitors
of guests from the neighbouring European countries Italy presenting elastomer-specific products and converting
dominated with over 10,000 visitors, followed by the processes – be it raw materials, additives or compounds,
Netherlands (approx. 9,000), Turkey (over 7,500) France special machines and equipment for reclamation and
(over 6,700), Belgium (over 6,300), Spain (over 5,100) and converting. Visitors came from all key user industries –
Russia (some 5,000). from packaging, construction and automotive to electrical
and medical device technology and agriculture. Overall,
The proportion of executives among trade visitors
registered was at an extraordinarily high level across they again awarded top marks to the ranges displayed
all national borders. Two-thirds came from top and in the 18 exhibition halls: 96% were impressed with the
middle management. For visitors within their companies ranges exhibited at K 2019, 95% confirmed they had
there are currently four targets in focus: product range achieved their aims 100% over the course of their visits.
expansion, increased efficiency, circular economy, i.e. The extensive supporting programme at K 2019 boasting
the sustainability of their products and the sustainability keynotes and high-calibre discussions such as on renewable
of their production. To the tune of 60% of visitors rated energies, material efficiency or zero-waste production
the current economic climate as “very good” and “good”, met with avid interest among the international audience,
nearly as many expect the situation to be similar over the especially the Special Show K 2019 “Plastics shape the
next two months. Future”. This year the innovative power of the material
and the industry in terms of resource-saving processes,
Machinery and equipment manufacturing, the biggest
segment at K 2019 with 1,975 exhibitors, was also digitalisation, functionality, renewable energies,
centrestage in terms of visitor interest, with two-thirds circularity and sustainability were centrestage. And
of all people surveyed mentioning this area first. 52% such critical themes as marine litter, the throw-away
said they were primarily interested in raw materials mentality associated with plastic packaging and the use
and auxiliaries, whereas for 28% of visitors semi-finished of finite resources for their production were not ignored
products and technical plastics and rubber parts were either. Proving one of the highlights was a humanoid
the major reason for coming (multiple choices possible). robot that was built during K 2019 by young researchers
from FabLab Lübeck e.V. serving as an example to show
Once again K scored points as the platform for the where developments are headed in future when additive
premieres of many forward-looking products and manufacturing and robotics are combined with cutting-
applications to a global audience. These innovations were edge materials such as plastics.
not only marvelled at but there were also many concrete
negotiations taking place and contracts concluded. “We At the Science Campus both exhibitors and visitors to
found the propensity to invest extremely high and across K 2019 were given a condensed overview of scientific
all nations. In particular, business with new customers was activities and results in the plastics and rubber sector.
very positive this year. We are also very confident about Numerous universities, institutes and funding agencies
provided opportunities for direct dialogue.

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