What: Plastics industry exposition

When: Sept. 28–30, 2004

Where: McCormick Place East, Chicago

More info: 202/974-5235, fax: 202/296-7243, www.plasticsusa.org

Sponsored by the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., the triennial Plastics USA show is expected to have more than 350 exhibitors, filling 65,000 sq ft of display space. Over 10,000 visitors, primarily from the US, Canada and Mexico, are forecasted to attend.

Information from at least half of the exhibiting companies indicates that web converters will find plenty of new developments specifically for their businesses. Twenty-nine exhibitors alone serve the flexible-packaging field. Among some of the leaders on hand will be ABB, Enercon Industries, Film & Bag Federation, GretagMacbeth, Ion Systems and Raytek.

Several concurrent educational programs will be of direct interest to converters. The SPI offers four sessions—covering automotive, extrusion, injection molding and new technology—free to Plastics USA badgeholders. Paid sessions include "Ten Fundamentals of Thermoforming," "Standing Out in the Plastics Industry" and "Co-Extrusion: Principles & Practices"—taught by Converting technical editor Eldridge Mount III.

Industry veterans agree that Plastics USA is a good local introduction to many of the developments to be shown at Germany's K 2004 fair (see below).

What: Commercial and package-printing and converting exposition

When: Oct. 10–13, 2004

Where: McCormick Place South, Chicago

More info: 703/264-7200, fax: 703/620-9187, www.gasc.org

About 40,000 printing and converting professionals will be on hand for this annual trade-show duo, which (as of presstime) had floor-space sales topping the 2003 event. Some of the 500 exhibitors were booking booths five to six times larger than in previous years, says organizer Graphic Arts Show Co.

The fifth edition of Converting Expo will, of course, be the highlight for converters with plenty of box/carton products, coaters, diecutters, hot-stamping and embossing systems, folder/gluers, slitter/rewinders and flexo-ink providers on display. On the Graph Expo side, sheetfed-offset and digital presses will abound, along with a specific Prepublishing Section for prepress hardware, software, plates and chemistries.

Due to its timing, GE/CE 2004 has the enviable ability to showcase now-commercialized breakthroughs that were only introduced at this spring's Drupa printing fair in Germany. "The US event following the international event is always better in terms of real products for real printers," says Frank Romano, Fawcett Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology School of Print Media. "There will be more products that printers can apply right now to expand existing markets or create new ones."

Save Oct. 9 into your PDA for the traditional "day-before-the-show-opens" Executive Outlook conference. Designed to make your time on the exhibit floor more productive, the day-long program provides insight into changing technologies and critical industry issues.

What: Plastics and rubber industry fair

When: Oct. 20–27, 2004

Where: Fairgrounds, Düsseldorf, Germany

More info: 312/781-5180, fax: 312/781-5188, www.k-online.de

The 16th international trade fair for plastics and rubber boasts 2,763 exhibitors from 53 countries, making K 2004 the industry's largest event every three years. As of presstime, more than 1.7 million sq ft of net exhibition space in all 17 halls of the Fairgrounds were reserved. With new site construction completed, K 2004 offers 107,600 sq ft more space than K 2001.

K is truly an international show with 62 percent of exhibitors coming from outside Germany. Of the 112 US companies, 54 plan to display their products at two special American pavilions (located in Halls 5 and 13).

Along with hundreds of different resins, compounds, additives and other materials, K 2004 exhibitors will show a broad range of machinery and equipment. All manner of blown-, cast- and extruded-film lines, winders, slitter/rewinders, test and measuring equipment, as well as materials-handling systems will be of interest to flexible-substrate converters. Some top draws: Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering, Windmoeller & Hoelscher, Black Clawson Converting Machinery, Extrusion Dies Industries, Hosokawa Alpine and CMD Corp.

What: Packaging machinery and materials exhibition

When: Nov. 7–11, 2004

Where: McCormick Place, Chicago

More info: 703/243-8555, fax: 703/243-3038, www.packexpo.com

Organized by the Packaging Mchy. Mfrs. Institute, the "largest packaging show in the Western Hemisphere" is an excellent opportunity to see converted-packaging materials running at production speeds on all kinds of packaging systems—cartoners, baggers, form-fill-sealers and labelers. It's also a chance to check out what your competitors are offering the world's packaged-goods companies in terms of the latest raw and finished materials.

More than 1,900 exhibitors from around the world will occupy about 1.3 million sq ft of display space. Fifty-thousand attendees are expected. Highlighting the event are a new RFID Pavilion, the Showcase of Packaging Innovations (an array of award-winning packages from leading associations), a Confectionery Pavilion and the Packaging Security Resource Ctr.

What: Corrugated-packaging exposition

When: Nov. 8–12, 2004

Where: Georgia World Congress Ctr., Atlanta

More info: 770/209-7292, fax: 770/446-6947, www.supercorrexpo.org

With 225 exhibitors and about 1,500 attendees expected, SuperCorrExpo 2004 may be the smallest of these five trade shows, but its highly focused content provides a unique concentration on corrugated and paperboard packaging. Organized by TAPPI and the AICC, the show combines machinery, materials and equipment exhibits, a comprehensive conference and networking events to bring boxmakers and other converting professionals together to discuss new ideas and solutions.