"Plastics Industry Merger & Acquisition Trends"
In his role as a managing director for private equity bank Goldsmith Agio Helms, Blaige puts together many plastics industry deals. He will offer his in-depth insights into the financial ebbs and flows that affect such transactions, and share his firm's analysis of the frenzied pace of plastics M&A activity.

"Case Study: Strategic Alliances and Cultural Integration"
Kaplan's small injection molding company operates as the U.S. affiliate of Japan's Sansyu Group, and has applied and refined Sanysu's injection micromolding technology in this market. Here, he shares some of the secrets of developing the types of close cross-cultural working relationships that can translate into a successful strategic business alliance.

Growing Your Business: Acquisitions, Alliances & Globalization
There are many ways to expand your business, and the members of this panel have ample experience in growing via acquisition, merger, joint venture and the targeting of overseas markets. Each method has its positives and pitfalls. Get tips from the experts to help you identify and apply what will work best for your own company.

Economic Overview
In its annual plastics industry economic forecast in June, CIT Group projected U.S. plastic product shipments would continue to grow during the next three years, to an estimated record $144.8 billion in 2002. Paslawskyj, one of the report's authors and the only three-time PN Executive Forum presenter, will update key economic indicators for the U.S. plastics processing and machinery sectors, while also assessing factors impacting global plastics trade trends.

SPI Economic Report (SPIER) Update
This summer the Society of the Plastics Industry trade association released its most recent update of an in-depth report that details the plastics industry's impact on the U.S. economy. The SPI Economic Report, or SPIER, paints an impressive picture of America's fourth-largest manufacturing industry. Anderson, who spearheaded the project, outlines the depth of data available - now online as well as in print - and suggests how you can apply it to your economic and political advantage.

Styrenics Outlook
The global polystyrene market is showing signs of improving. In North America, the supply/demand balances suggest a well-balanced market in the next 12-18 months, but recent slowdown in sales have some questioning whether conditions will improve next year. Higher prices and a slower economy seem to have had a negative effect on growth. The longer-term outlook of a tight market has raised interest to add capacity, which could once again create a cycle.

PVC Outlook
Schneider, the top executive at vinyl resin producer Borden, will discuss the underlying fundamentals of the PVC industry in the face of continually dynamic market forces. With vinyl reaching historic production levels in 1999, he will review how the drive for further integration along the vinyl chain and industry consolidation will affect the PVC market in 2001 and beyond.

Medical Market Panel
Medical product makers and the plastics processors that supply them face constant challenges related to costs, materials choices, product designs and government regulations. In this session, a leading healthcare OEM, two medical processors and materials supplier debate the hottest trends, biggest hurdles and newest processes.

Automotive Market Panel
Tier 1 auto suppliers these days are shouldering much more design, development and assembly responsibility as the automakers push these duties down the supply chain. This, in turn, means new challenges for the processors that supply these mega-suppliers, as this trend ripples downstream. Hear about the latest in design and product trends as well as in supplier relationships from three of the industry's leading auto component suppliers.

Polypropylene Outlook
Polypropylene's exceptional demand growth has been exceeded only by the capacity that has been added by the industry over the last few years. This, coupled with the worst energy crisis to hit the United States in the last 10 years, is leading to a wild roller-coaster ride for both PP producers and converters. What does 2001-02 hold for polypropylene? Get the word from a senior official with one of America's largest PP resin producers.

PET Outlook
Global PET supply/demand, at least on paper, continue to point toward oversupply and strength by PET buyers. But new tariffs imposed in West Europe and lack of aggressive competition in the United States have helped those regions return to higher profit levels, while Asia is still mired in oversupply. Meanwhile, demand growth has apparently slowed in the U.S., and all eyes are on the birth of beer in PET. Will there be enough resin in the right location to satisfy the brewers?

Polycarbonate & Nylon Outlook
Global polycarbonate demand remains high, driven particularly by double-digit growth in optical media products, while capacity is just about sold out. Supply will remain tight for the next two years in spite of additional capacity coming on stream in 2001. Continued high growth for nylon ETPs, meanwhile, has caused tightness in various parts of the production chain, but there should be adequate supplies in 2001. Nylon's pricing trend remains upward due to high raw materials increases.

Polyethylenes Outlook
After a record run up in demand and price of polyethylene last year, 2000 was supposed to be a correction year. But the market has continued to soar. How much of a correction can we expect? How long will it last? What effects will higher energy costs and changing global trade patterns have on the North American market? Inventory - who's building, who's trimming? These issues, and more, in a comprehensive PE industry overview.

"Managing Outside the Box"
The always outspoken, always entertaining Bemis has a unique management style, to say the least. He walks the walk when it comes to such issues as empowering shop-floor workers, providing for disabled employees and finding unusual ways to motivate staff. Listen and learn, as he challenges senior executives to think and manage "outside the box."

Packaging Market Panel
With globalization and consolidation rampant in this key plastics sector, one needs a scorecard to keep pace. Ernst & Young's Ken Brooks provides one, and suggests what structural changes are likely to happen next. Frank McNabb, meanwhile, is one of those effecting such change, as he treads the acquisition trail to rapidly build Plassein into a film star, and Amcor PET's Nina Goodrich examines the prospects for rigid packaging.

Telecommunications Market Panel
Few sectors are more dynamic or offer more growth potential than that for mobile, wireless and personal communications. Tap into this market's fast-moving design and business trends via this panel, which features a processor, an independent industrial designer and two of the OEMs - Ericsson and Motorola - that are synonymous with telecom.

"Scaling the Great Wall: Dealing with the Opening of China"
IBM veteran Painter spent four years building up Big Blue's operations in China, and now is working via his own company to qualify and streamline supply-chain networks on the mainland, with a view to linking them with Western partners. Get an insider's view of the perplexing challenges and potential rewards of doing business in China as it prepares to join the World Trade Organization.

E-Marketplaces Update
Caruso and his colleagues at the respected AMR Research Inc. closely track e-business trends, particularly as they relate to manufacturing and supply-chain management. Hear his unvarnished views on the current state and likely fate of the many online exchanges and e-marketplaces that have exploded onto the scene virtually overnight.

Customer Relationship Management - What e-CRM Is and How It Can Help You
Most of the e-business buzz has been about auctions and e-commerce, but the Internet also can provide profound benefits in other, more fundamental areas, such as customer relationship management. Gee outlines the various forms that e-CRM can take, and suggests how to leverage it to your advantage.

OEM Supply Chain Panel
By compressing design, product development and communication time, the Internet is reshaping the dynamics of supply-chain relationships. In this panel moderated by BtoB magazine editor Ellis Booker, execs from major plastics-consuming original-equipment manufacturers share their experiences to date and their visions for how the Web might impact their supply chains in the future.

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