2014-2016 Exhibitions
Asia’s largest and the world’s second plastics and rubber trade fair, CHINAPLAS, is making a comeback on 20-23 May, 2015. According to the show’s organiser, Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd, the number of exhibitors who reserved for stands at next year’s CHINAPLAS is breaking its past records.
Over 3,100 companies from over 39 countries and regions are expected to participate at the show, which will be held at the China Import & Export Fair Complex in Pazhou, Guangzhou. Many global renowned firms such as Toray, Mitsubishi Chemical, Engel, Haitian, Milacron, Hasco, Yudo, Conair and ACS have confirmed their booth booking. Spanning 25 exhibition halls, the upcoming CHINAPLAS’s gross exhibition area will exceed 230,000sqm, making it the biggest of its history, said the organiser in its press release. Thirteen international pavilions, including Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, the UK, US, PR China and Taiwan; and on-site demonstration of the latest technologies from these countries will be among the highlights of the event.
Adding to the above, various concurrent activities addressing some of the industries’ important topics such as automation, design for sustainability and medical plastics are also dedicated to the visitors. Meanwhile, innovative plastics and rubber technologies, and a wide array of raw materials in line with policies and regulations and the latest trends under 11 theme zones, namely Extrusion Machinery Zone, Injection Moulding Machinery Zone, Chemicals & Raw Materials Zone, Auxiliary & Testing Equipment Zone, Die & Mould Zone, Film Technology Zone, Plastic Packaging & Blow Moulding Machinery Zone, Rubber Machinery & Equipment Zone, Chinese Export Machinery & Materials Hall, Bioplastics Zone and Semi-finished Products Zone, are also being lined up for visitors and participants.
Ada Leung, Assistant General Manager of Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd, commented that the exhibition has served as a one-stop platform for both international and local buyers who are sourcing raw materials, machineries, as well as the solutions for their entire processing lines-from high-end and sophisticated products to cost-effective and volume production ones.
As for the booking, she said that there has already been an over-booking of certain theme zones such as film technology and packaging. Increased booking is also seen in extrusion machinery and auxiliary equipment zones. Besides several hundreds of new exhibitors, many of past exhibitors have requested for booth expansion.
Citing a study from Freedonia, packaging will remain the largest single market for plastics processing machinery. Equipment utilised in the production of plastic packaging products will expand at the fastest pace through 2017, accounting for a third of total sales revenue of plastics processing machinery, thanks to the growing demand for packaging products and increasing food and beverage manufacturing activities due to rising living standards in developing countries. Consumer products and construction sectors will account for the second and third places of sales revenue of plastics processing machinery. Injection moulding equipment will continue to be the most popular product type of plastics processing machinery, accounting for close to two-fifths of global sales revenue in 2017, followed by extrusion machinery that is spurred by an increase in the global construction activities.
Film and sheet technology is another evolving area as domestic players are rallying their R&D efforts to develop their proprietary technology, which was dominant by the developed countries. As an example, Chinese extruder manufacturer, Jinming Machinery, has partnered with German chemicals firm, BASF to jointly develop solutions for the co-extrusion film industry for local market. The company also aligned with Xian Jiaotong University in China to co-develop an intelligent controller based on System on Chip, a core technology of the blow moulding industry.
At the same time, the auxiliary equipment market is gaining momentum, with the world’s regulations in place to promote the “circular economy” and the “zero waste” policy for end-of-the life products. At CHINAPLAS 2015, it is expected to see more recycling solutions at the fairground provided by global leaders and Chinese companies. Meanwhile, machine vision inspection system also enjoys benefit from the growth of automation market to underscore a huge potential in China. Being used in conjunction with the robots, the system is widely applied in automotive, electronics, telecommunications, aerospace and military for processing tasks that need high precision. Frost & Sullivan’s research indicates that the global market for industrial machine vision inspection systems generated revenue of US$4.37 billion in 2011 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.1% from 2011 to 2016. China’s market alone will reach to US$618million (CNY 3.8billion) of sale in 2016.
Mentioning robots, industrial automation is expected to gain appeal to visitors. Rising labour costs, shortage of skilled labour, and increasing competition from other emerging Asian countries prompt many Chinese enterprises to switch to automated manufacturing. According to the latest findings released by International Federation of Robotics (IFR), China was the largest destination for industrial robots in 2013, purchasing 36,560, a fifth of the world’s total robots, with the annual growth rate of 60%. Many big corporations in China have already benefited from the move. For example, Haier, China-based multinational consumer electronics and home appliances firm, has recently laid off around 10,000 workers this year to give way to robots for boosting their efficiency and productivity. Midea, an air conditioning equipment maker, has been widely using robots in its assembly line since 2010. The company said automation has cut their labour cost by US$1.28 million in 2013.
Leung added that apart from the expanded Machinery Zone, the Chemical Zone will also house around 800 chemical exhibitors; making it the world’s biggest of its kind. There are some new joiners, such as from Middle East countries, including UAE and Saudi Arabia, to exhibit in the zone for the first time.
With the great success of last year’s concurrent activities, namely “The City of Tomorrow” and “Green Conference”, the next edition will carry forward the same theme “Greenovation – Solution to Sustainability” through a variety of activities, including demonstrations and conferences, organised at the fairground.
For more information about the event, visitthe website at www.ChinaplasOnline.com.
(PRA)
