SPE Thermoforming Division announces 2008 conference.
Press Release Summary:
The Thermoforming Division of the SPE will hold its 18th annual conference, themed Discover Your Leading Edge, The Competitive Advantage, at the Minneapolis Convention Center/Hilton-Minneapolis Hotel between September 20-23, 2008. Events include 2 full-day workshops, a ½ day workshop, and a plant tour of Wilbert Plastic Services in White Bear Lake, MN. Also, the parts competition, held in conjunction with the conference, will feature 3 scholarships given out to winning students.
Original Press Release:
SPE's Thermoforming Division Announces Details on 2008 Conference - Dates, Themes, Goals, Special Updates, Scholarships
Highly Successful Annual Conference to Attract More Exhibitors, Show Greater Diversity, Be More Global Than Ever Before
BROOKFIELD, CT (January 19, 2007) - Officers and the Board of the Thermoforming Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc. (SPE), today announced their plans for the 18th annual thermoforming conference. Outside of ANTEC (the SPE's annual technical conference) for all types of plastics processors and materials producers, the Thermoforming Conference is the largest and most successful educational and showcase endeavors staged by and for the thermoforming segment of the plastics industry anywhere in the world.
According to Thermoforming Division Executive Committee member and conference spokesperson, Lola Carere, "The next Thermoforming Conference, themed, "Discover Your Leading Edge, The Competitive Advantage", will take place at the Minneapolis Convention Center/Hilton-Minneapolis Hotel between September 20 - 23, 2008. We expect to be bolstering the trade show portion with more exhibitors than ever before, offer more technical presentations and sessions and workshops than in previous years and, with our increasingly strong ties to the European Thermoforming Division, stage the world's largest competition for quality and uniqueness of thermoformed parts.
"Not only has the thermoforming industry cut serious inroads into other plastics processes because of the benefits to be derived by the thermoforming processes," continues Carere, "but major advances over the years have contributed to its phenomenal growth. Our conference has become the thermoforming industry's premier event. We expect turnout to be the largest ever, and the number of exhibitors to hit record levels. Thermoforming companies, and the many businesses engaged in supplying the industry, from materials suppliers and primary machinery manufacturers to diverse auxiliary suppliers will not want to miss taking their place at this conference and show."
According to Thermoforming Division sources, a number of workshops and a plant tour for exhibitors and attendees have been scheduled. They include: a full-day McConnell-Buckel Workshop on Adapting to Form the Future & Interactive Troubleshooting; a full-day Strachan Workshop on Advanced Cost Saving Techniques in Thin-Gauge Thermoforming; and a special plant tour of Wilbert Plastic Services in White Bear Lake, MN. In addition, the SPE's Decorating & Assembly Division will be hosting a ½ day workshop on Innovations in Decorating Thermoforming Applications. The popular parts competition, held in conjunction with the conference, is also in the works, with 3 scholarships planned to be given out to winning students in the parts competition.
The speaking program for the Conference is now being finalized and details will be forthcoming shortly.
In other, but related news, this US-based annual thermoformed parts competition, will be prefaced by the first international parts competition being finalized now by the European Thermoforming Division in Berlin in April of 2008.
More information on the Thermoforming Conference run by the Thermoforming Division of the SPE can be obtained by contacting the Division's Conference Coordinator, Gwen Mathis at 706-235-9298 or by e-mail at gmathis224@aol.com. General information on the conference can be found at Web Site at thermformingdivision.com.
