Guangdong Yizumi Precision Machinery Co. Ltd., the Chinese company that bought the intellectual property of the 135-year-old HPM, is preserving two key historical pieces of equipment from the closed-down HPM factory in Mount Gilead, Ohio.

CEO Richard Yan said the plan is to send a vintage HPM apple press to Yizumi's factory in Foshan, China. The company will make reproductions and display them in prominent locations at Yizumi facilities.

"Every factory will have one to demonstrate the glory of HPM," Yan told Plastics News senior reporter Bill Bregar at NPE2012 in Orlando, Fla.

Yizumi made headlines at an auction in Mount Gilead in 2011 when it topped another bidder to get HPM's intellectual property and customer lists. But at NPE2012 in Orlando, Yan said Yizumi also picked up some other key HPM icons: an original apple press that graced the lobby for years and a 1937 injection molding machine with a plaque saying it was one of the first HPM presses sold in the Chicago area, to Santay Corp.

The 1937 press will go on display at Yizumi headquarters.

HPM was founded in 1877 to make apple presses. The old press had a tag during the auction. Now the apple press is in storage in Marion, Ohio, at Bivouac Engineering and Service Co., run by former HPM President William Flickinger. Last fall, Yizumi bought Bivouac, which specializes in HPM injection presses.

Flickinger is now president of HPM North America.

(... and thanks to Bill Bregar for today's post).

There was plenty to write about at NPE2012 -- we've posted about 150 stories on PlasticsNews.com, with more to come, plus some fun blog posts.

But you -- the Plastics Blog readers who attended the show last week in Orlando, Fla. -- must have some stories to tell, too.

So why don't you share a few?

Tell us what made an impression at the show. What did you think of Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center?

Was NPE better than ever, or did you miss Chicago and McCormick Place?

A funny thing happened on the way to Orlando airport. At 6:30 am today, on the day after the NPE2012 show wrapped up at the Orange County Convention Center, Plastics News' Robert Grace piled into a metered taxi at the Rosen Centre Hotel.

Here's his first-hand report:

The first thing the driver said to me was how happy he was that our show, meaning NPE, had taken place here this week. "This city really needed it." He said it was the biggest show ever at the OCCC, and that he'd never seen anything like it. He met a lot of nice people this week, he continued.

I started to explain how that this was the first time for NPE in Orlando, and that previously it had been held ... "in Chicago", he said, finishing my sentence. He knew the back story about the NPE show! Go figure.

My driver was a Haitian-born resident of Orlando for the past 20 years. About a year ago a lack of work caused him to be laid off from his construction job, where he had helped to build some of the longest bridges in Florida and Mississippi. He had been driving a cab for only 10 months, but he likes it. He meets interesting people.

I shared with him some of the background about why the show moved from McCormick Place, saying how many exhibitors were really fed up with the strict union rules that made logistics expensive and frustrating. He was incredulous, and said "that won't happen here."

He thanked me for being here, flashing a gold-toothed smile, and said that NPE had "helped put food on the table for a lot of families." I gave him a healthy tip and he appreciatively said he was really looking forward to NPE returning to his home town in three years.

Unbelievable. But it was symbolic of the sort of warm reception that many show attendees experienced throughout the week at NPE. It's nice to feel wanted, and to be respected. And that bodes well for all of us in 2015.

Hydraulic hose supplier Pirtek came to the rescue of a fellow NPE exhibitor whose blow molding machine ground to a halt following an 'O' ring breakage.

Hamish Champ, my colleague on the Plastics News show dailies this week, and the editor of sister newspaper PRW, reported this item from NPE2012:

Jamie Vokes, Pirtek's national sales manager, said he had been approached by a staff member of the blow molder - who he declined to identify - at the Pirtek booth.

"Their machine had broken down and they were pretty keen to get it back up and running as quickly as possible, for obvious reasons," he said.

Vokes said he put in a call to Pirtek's local office in Orlando and luckily one of the company's service trucks happened to be in the area.

"The truck came to one of the NPE parking lots where we grabbed the 'O' ring and then went to the blow molder's booth and fitted it. From the first approach to us on our booth to getting the machine going again was less than an hour," he said.

Vokes said this was the first time at an NPE where Pirtek's services had saved the day for a company, although they had experience of helping out companies at previous NPEs during the build up process.

"Sometimes companies turn up and as their setting their machines up they realize they've left the odd hose back at the plant. We can help in those situations, and we're happy to do so," Vokes said.

Are you starting to feel like everyone in the plastics industry is at NPE this year?

Registration for NPE2012 reached 54,820 on April 4, at the end of the third day of the show, according to organizer the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.

As a benchmark, consider that registration for the entire five-day show peaked at 43,000 in 2009.

The next NPE is scheduled for March 23-26, 2015, in Orlando, Fla. That's well ahead of Easter Sunday, which will fall on April 5 in 2015.

That's something for all the out-of-town visitors to Orlando to keep in mind as they battle the spring break crowds at the airports and on the highways.

At NPE2012 this week you can shake the hand of Vince Witherup the politician--not the auxiliary machinery executive.

Witherup retired from Conair Group Inc. in 2007, after a long career. He was Conair's vice president of development. His first day as Venango County Commissioner was Dec. 10, 2010, when he was appointed to fill an unexpired one-year term through 2011.

"'I realized pretty quickly that there's so damn much to learn on this job that if I did get appointed, I'd run for re-election to a full term," he recently told Plastics News senior reporter Bill Bregar.

Witherup, a Republican, won election to a full term in November of 2011. His term runs from 2012 through 2016.

Witherup is attending NPE2012. He has served on the NPE executive committee since 1976.
Don't be surprised if Witherup pitches Franklin as a place for your next new factory. He was born in the western Pennsylvania town. He has always been interested in local issues, but had no time with all the travel for Conair.

Witherup and the two other county commissioners oversee a $50 million budget and 400 employees. Venango County has a population of about 55,000. "The job is really administering that budget and running the county as you run a business, actually, with a whole bunch of handcuffs," he said.

Witherup saw a newspaper article about the unexpired term, which opened up when one of the commissioners died.

"I missed the mental part of the job," he said. "I'm learning stuff now that I never knew it really existed. I really did it to give back to the community."

Witherup said he still does some consulting for Conair.

(Thanks to Bill Bregar for contributing this item)

Increasing availability of natural gas in North America has the potential to make a big difference in the plastics industry in the next decade. But how exactly will it change?

North American processors may be salivating over the prospects for plentiful, inexpensive polyethylene. But will that perception of shale feedstocks become reality?

Speakers at the IHS World Petrochemical Conference in Houston touched on the topic this week, and Alex Tullo, senior editor for Chemical & Engineering News, wrote about it in his "The Chemical Notebook" blog.

The post, "Petrochemicals, Front And Center," notes that "petrochemical executives may be exuberant about the prospects of feedstocks from shale, but they are also realistic."

Plastics News has reported on expansion plans related to shale gas from Formosa Plastics Corp. USA, Nova Chemicals Corp., Chevron Phillips, Dow Chemical Co., Shell Oil Co. and Westlake Chemical Corp.

But announced projects don't always get built. That's typical in the boom-and-bust cycle of the chemical industry.

Tullo quotes two executives at the conference who say that not all of the crackers that are currently on the drawing board will get built -- at least not on their current schedule. That makes sense.

The location of some of the new capacity also has the potential to change the North American plastics industry. Shell Chemicals, for example, is looking at Monaca, Pa., for its new capacity.

Tullo cites comments on the topic by Ben van Beurden, executive vice president of Shell Chemicals Ltd. Tullo writes that there is "a big advantage being close to the converters -- customers would enjoy quicker delivery and less working capital tied up in inventory."

That seems likely. I asked Frank Esposito, Plastics News' senior reporter who covers materials suppliers, and he pointed out that there is a large number of packaging and rotational molding firms in the Midwest that could benefit from lower PE shipping costs from western Pennsylvania, compared to current suppliers in the U.S. Gulf Coast.

And even if new capacity doesn't necessarily result in lower resin prices, Esposito said the new North American PE capacity would mean more reliability of supply.

Consider the short-term impact on pricing of Gulf Coast hurricanes, for example -- wouldn't new capacity in the Midwest temper those fluctuations?

I expect to hear more comments from the materials sector on shale feedstocks next week at NPE2012 in Orlando, Fla. Probably not any new capacity announcements, but certainly more talk about what the future holds for plastics processors.

Take this as a sign of Orlando, Fla.'s interest in the plastics industry -- specifically NPE.

The Orlando Sentinel posted a story last night about NPE2012, saying North America's largest plastics show "could become the next undisputed heavyweight champion of the region's convention industry."

Sara K. Clarke's story, "Orlando faces test with huge plastics trade show," looks at the latest numbers and makes the case that NPE2012 could "initiate Orlando into the ranks of those very few travel destinations capable of handling even the largest industrial trade shows."

"Other manufacturing, other heavy-equipment trade shows will see the success of [NPE] and, I believe, based on that success, Orlando will be in a stronger position to compete for that business for years ahead," Gary Sain, president and CEO of Visit Orlando, the local convention-and-visitors bureau, told the Sentinel.

The story does a nice job of framing what NPE means to Orlando -- and what the new location potentially means to the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc., the show's owner.

"Part of the challenge will be convincing the trade group that the show will continue to draw the industry's Midwest-based crowd despite the added travel distance to Orlando, compared with Chicago," Clarke wrote.

SPI is counting on Orlando to help draw an international crowd -- but she's absolutely right about the importance of keeping the tried and true Midwest attendees, too.

The story quotes Gene Sanders, SPI's senior vice president of trade shows and conferences, saying that this year's show registration may approach 60,000. If so, that certainly would be a sign that the new show location is a hit.

There are a few paragraphs at the end of the story that may give readers pause.

The story notes that SPI "hasn't signed a contract for its 2015 show," but "wouldn't object if Orlando became the event's new long-term home."

"We hope that the show just knocks it out of the park and we'll be back there in '15 and '18 and '21," Sanders said. "That's our goal."

When I first read that, I thought it was odd that SPI has not signed a contract for 2015. SPI has been saying for three years that both the 2012 and 2015 shows will be in Orlando.

But it would go too far to assume that means SPI will be looking for a new home for NPE in three years.

In fact, I've been assured by SPI that nothing has changed -- the group still plans to hold the 2015 show in Orlando. The final agreement just hasn't been signed yet.

So Orlando can feel free to "knock it out of the park," as Sanders put it, without worrying to much about being pulled from the lineup in 2015.

As far as 2018 and 2021 are concerned ... well, it's a little to soon to worry about that!

In keeping with my "countdown to NPE" theme, I spotted an item today with good tips for exhibitors at any trade show.

The source is Mike Thimmesch, director of industry relations for Skyline Exhibits, who wrote "18 Hidden Rules of Trade Shows" for Trade Show News Network.

Some of my favorites:

• The larger the crowd of people already in your booth, the more other people will want to visit your booth.
• The person who complains the most about the value of trade shows is usually the one who knows (and tries) the least.
• The more fun trade show attendees have in your booth during the show, the more serious business you will do after the show.
• The more years you exhibit at the same show, the more you will have repeat customers visit you in your booth.
• The faster you follow up your trade show leads, the greater the sales you will generate from that show.

Seems like common sense, right? But why do so many exhibitors ignore these tips?

I know a lot of marketing specialists read the Plastics Blog. Please share your thoughts about Thimmesch's tips, and offer a few of your own.

Not only is the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. giving out awards to cool products in its triennial International Plastics Design Competition at NPE 2012, but from the same crop of nearly three dozen entries will emerge the winner of the 12th IDSA/Plastics News Design Award.

The judges (for that award only) are a trio of industrial design experts - Augusto Picozza, ID director at Jarden Consumer Solutions in Boca Raton, Fla.; Sean Hagen, principal and director of research and synthesis at BlackHagen Design in Dunedin, Fla.; and Michael Paloian, founder/president of Integrated Design Systems Inc. in Great Neck, N.Y.

That award, co-presented by the Industrial Designers Society of America, aims to shine a light on the often-unheralded work of the industrial designer in the product development process.

Below is a video with more information on the International Plastics Design Competition.

And don't forget to vote online for your favorite via the People's Choice Award.

We're just about three weeks away from NPE2012, so it seems like a good time to kick off regular blog commentary on the show.

Let's start with some random observations:

• There's still some confusion about the show dates. NPE2012 kicks off with some events on Sunday, April 1, including a golf tournament and the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s 75th anniversary opening gala featuring the Plastics Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The expo dates are April 2-5. Note that's just four days -- unlike previous NPE shows, there's no exhibition on Friday this time.
• Is there still confusion about the location, too? I hope not -- by now, everyone should know that NPE is at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. But we did get a chuckle a few weeks ago when we got an email from exhibitor that closed with "See you in Chicago!"
• Attendances estimates are all over the map. I've heard comments from some exhibitors who expect lower attendance. But the numbers appear to point to a strong show, especially compared to NPE2009 -- held in the depths of the Great Recession. According to SPI, visitor registration numbers are ahead of NPE2009 by 10 percent and NPE2006 figures by 8 percent. Room reservations are way ahead, too.
• Anecdotally, it seems that NPE exhibitors will have a lot to talk about this year. I've been flooded with emails and calls trying to set up meetings with our reporters at the show. Good thing we'll have 14 editors and reporters at NPE, plus a photographer and a videographer. Bring on the news!
• We're now to the point that companies with long-planned NPE exhibits will have a hard time making last-minute adjustments. For example, when extrusion major Gloucester Engineering Co. Inc. announced this week that it has acquired blown film specialist Future Design Inc., our story noted that the firms will exhibit separately at NPE.

We'll see you in Orlando, and in the meantime watch the blog for more NPE updates.

I confess, the Plastics Blog enjoyed having a favorite son candidate in the 2012 presidential race.

I know people say Mitt Romney has a plastic personality, but it's just not the same.

But now Jon Huntsman Jr. is out of the race, and he's even -- sort of -- returning to the plastics industry. In the past week we've had stories on him joining Huntsman Corp.'s board of directors and, more recently, agreeing to give the keynote speech at NPE2012 in Orlando, Fla.

But don't expect Jon Jr. to come knocking on your door selling polyurethane resin.

One reason people run for president is for the publicity. Let's put it this way: How many people outside northeast Ohio knew Dennis Kucinich before 2003?

Before announcing his candidacy in June, Jon Huntsman Jr. was a "who's he?" candidate.

Now, after campaigning in the population-light states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Huntsman is a household name all across the country. His gig speaking at NPE even got a mention today in The Washington Post's "In the Loop" politics blog.

The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. often gets big names to speak at NPE, but it's rare to recruit one who gets a mention in the Post.

I fully expect that Huntsman's speech in Orlando will be a rehearsal for a primetime spot on the podium at August's Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Conventional wisdom says Huntsman isn't a natural choice for vice president. Utah's not packed with electoral votes, and if Romney is the nominee, I don't think the Republicans will be pushing an all-Mormon ticket.

But, depending on the results in November, Huntsman could be on his way to a nice head start on the GOP primary race for 2016.

Today Plastics News senior reporter Bill Bregar wrote about the decision by Morrow County, Ohio, Prosecutor Charles Howland not to file charges against Christopher Filos, the former owner of the now-shuttered HPM machinery company.

Because so many readers are interested, I'll also share some additional detail -- this copy of a Jan. 24 letter from Howland to Randa Wagner, editor of the Morrow County Sentinel, explaining the decision.

The letter starts below, after these links to the Plastics News story, "No charges against HPM's Filos," and the Sentinel's version, "Hopes for felony charges against former HPM owner fade for county prosecutor."

Re: Theft of Employee Benefits at HPM

Dear Ms. Wagner:

Beginning in January of 2010 the Morrow County Prosecutor's Office has been investigating the theft of employee benefits at HPM. In January of that year, the Mount Gilead Police Department executed a search warrant for employee records held at HPM. The result of this search produced thousands of documents.

With limited funding we were not able to hire an accountant to sift through these records. A local accountant was of great help to us in reviewing the financial records. In addition to the local accountant, we were able to enlist the aid of the United States Department of Labor. This federal agency was kind enough to send us a Senior Investigator, Ms. Theresa Schlecht.

Early last fall, Investigator Schlecht sent us a three page memorandum concerning the theft of employee benefits. The investigator compiled the records she analyzed consisting of over 100 pages of records and presented those records to the Prosecutor's Office. In a nut shell what happened at HPM is as follows:

1. On May 1, 2009, Chris Filos entered into contract with Anthem to provide health insurance for thirty-six employees and eight former employees. Mr. Filos paid Anthem $30,000 for the first month's premium. Mr. Filos did not make any payments to Anthem for the months of June and July 2009. Anthem then canceled the health insurance effective May 31, 2009.
2. During the months of June and July 2009, HPM employees and eight former employees paid a total of $22,123.56 for health insurance. For the current employees these funds were paid out of their paychecks. The former employees were sending in payments for Cobra coverage.

3. The funds paid by the employees and former employees were not returned to them or used for health insurance purposes. Instead, the funds were used to pay for other expenses of the business.

The Morrow County Prosecutor's Office sent out letters to thirty-six employees and the eight former employees, who were the alleged victims in the matter. The purpose of the letter was to set up a meeting for January 18, 2012 to determine whether the victims wished to pursue charges. Out of the forty-four letters, we received six responses. Three alleged victims appeared for the meeting and two out of the three alleged victims lived outside of Morrow County.

I had hoped that at least fifteen or twenty would show up so that the case would continue to be in the felony range. Of that group we were hoping that they would elect four or five individuals to speak on the group's behalf at the grand jury. Without the participation of the victims, we cannot go forward.

Individually, the amounts taken were small. The events had occurred three years ago, and the victims have moved on with their lives. Unfortunately, the State of Ohio will be unable to go forward prosecuting the alleged theft of $22,000 from 44 victims.

The Morrow County Prosecutor commends the efforts of all those people and agencies that participated in the investigation of this matter. The investigation of HPM involved the efforts of the Mt. Gilead Police Department, a local accountant and the United States Labor Department. It was a very good effort by our local police department and a local professional working with a federal agency to complete a difficult investigation concerning an allegation of financial misconduct. The Morrow County Prosecutor's Office thanks all of those agencies and people involved in the investigation.

Sincerely,

Charles S. Howland
Morrow County Prosecutor

We've seen this story hundreds of times -- which type of bag is better, paper or plastic? Frequently the coverage is not complimentary to plastic.

Toronto's The Globe and Mail deserves credit for bringing some balance to its Feb. 1 report, "Which is greener, paper or plastic? You might be surprised."

The story focuses on what types of bags local retailers use, and how some of them explain the decision to their customers.

The story isn't entirely pro-plastic, despite what the headline may imply. But Augusta Dwyer covers both the pluses and minuses of the different options in a balanced way.

That's good for consumers, who need facts to help make decisions -- not one-sided lectures.

Toronto retailers have been using fewer plastic bags since 2009, when they were required to start charging consumers 5 cents per bag.

That's resulted in a 75 percent drop in plastic bag use, according to the story.

Journalist and author Harold Johnson has posted a column on the perils of plastics pollution that's worth a look, even for readers who are unapologetically pro-plastics.

You may remember Johnson -- he's the writer who researched and debunked the oft-cited statistic that plastic debris kills 100,000 marine animals a year.

He's also author of The Flotsam Diaries blog, where he records all the trash he picks up on a quiet beach in Saco, Maine..

Johnson's latest column appeared in The Portland Press Herald's "Maine Voices" section,

The headline: "In Maine and around the world, oceans, shores filling with plastic." Obviously he's not a big fan of single-use disposable plastics.

"We have filled our households and our lives with stuff we use for a month or a day or five minutes, but which persists for a dozen lifetimes," he writes. "The average American goes through 220 pounds of plastic a year."

He anticipates the argument that plastic pollution is a result of improper disposal, saying: "Garbage has always escaped from the waste stream. (Not to mention from windstorms, floods and worse disasters.) It always will. Despite our best efforts. Now that most garbage is plastic, every escapee adds to the persistent fouling of our shores and waters."

Johnson has a point. Remember the dramatic video footage of the tsunami striking Japan last year, sweeping away everything in sight?

Plastic pollution is already a serious problem -- Johnson knows from his own beach clean-up routine, and he also cites Columbia University research that estimates at least 73 million pounds of plastic now floats in the world's oceans.

Johnson's solution to the problem is simple -- he's an advocate of the philosophy that I'll call "use less stuff."

"Plastics certainly have their benefits and their place. But our gross overuse of them has polluted nearly every last pristine, remote place left in the world, as well as our own backyard. It's time to change the game," he writes.

Could there be another solution? Truly biodegradable plastics could help, although I don't expect them to be more than niche materials for the foreseeable future.

And I believe stepped up efforts to recycle single-use plastics can help. In the United States, at least, there's a lot of room for improvement in recycling nearly all plastic products. As Johnson notes, that wouldn't completely put a stop to the plastics litter problem.

But it would be a good start.

How's this for a pro-plastics message: "Open up your eyes to the generation of plastic and see how it affects every part of your day."

That line comes from "Wake Up! It's the Plastics Age," the big winner in the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s first student video contest.

The video was submitted by Jason Paris of the Pennsylvania College of Technology. The prize: An iPad2 with 64GB, Wi-Fi +3G; $2,000; and a three-day trip to NPE2012 in Orlando, Fla., iincluding round-trip air transportation and hotel accommodations, one NPE2012 Expo Pass, and two Universal Studios Tickets.

The contest was created to celebrate SPI's 75th anniversary. College students (undergraduate and graduate level) studying in plastics programs were invited to submit original videos that honor plastics' innovation.

"We were extremely impressed with the videos we received. They will all help to spread the good news about how plastics benefit our society," Washington-based SPI said in a news release announcing the winners.

Second place goes to "The True Meaning of Plastics," submitted by Angela Beltran of the University of Akron.

And third place goes to "Plastics," submitted by Emily Bowser & Meghan Stefanko of Penn State-Behrend.

Our sister newspaper Crain's Chicago Business has a report on what went wrong in the city's convention business, resulting in McCormick Place losing several events, including the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows.

Among the findings: internal memos from the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, (the agency known as McPier that runs McCormick Place) that the agency "made an unprecedented effort" to keep NPE in Chicago.

According to the story: "McPier offered financial incentives for the triennial plastics show to stay in 2012 and 2015, including discounts on space rental and price freezes for services and labor. (McPier redacted the exact numbers from the documents it provided Crain's.)"

Juan Ochoa, McPier's CEO, "even laid off 100 electricians to demonstrate his commitment to making some changes," the story says.

Ochoa told Crain's that McPier probably didn't stand a chance. As we all recall, the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s NPE executive committee decided to move the 2012 and 2015 shows to Orlando, Fla.

NPE was declining and it "needed to create a diversion," Ochoa told the newspaper. "The [higher costs] were certainly an excuse for them to leave the city, especially since we gave them the most aggressive package of incentives we had given to any show during my tenure."

Crain's reported that SPI reported a 28 percent drop in show attendance between its 2006 and 2009 events, and a 24 percent decline in membership revenue in the same period, forcing the group to lay off one-third of its staff.

Crain's also reports: "[An SPI spokesman] says the association is looking forward to its upcoming Orlando event and will not comment on what happened at McCormick Place or on the state of its finances. But a spokesman for the Chicago riggers union confirmed that up to 75 of its members will travel to Orlando to help secure the heavy machinery on the show floor, working at Chicago labor rates and with all expenses paid."

The NPE saga is a small but interesting part of the story, "Crain's investigation: The high price of political payback at McCormick Place," by James Ylisela Jr. The story is on the newspaper's website today, and will be in the Nov. 14 print edition.

To add some context to the story, keep in mind that attendance at the 2009 NPE show suffered because of the impact of the Great Recession. SPI membership also took a major hit with the economic crisis.

Is it a surprise that McPier offered unprecedented incentives to keep NPE? No way. As we reported at the time, the five-day NPE2009 show generated $95.3 million in direct spending, according to the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. The numbers for the 2006 show -- held in healthier economic times -- were even better, an estimated $154.7 million.

McPier had to pull out all the stops to try to keep that business in the city.

Is it possible that SPI's NPE executive committee would have voted to move NPE to Orlando regardless of what McPier offered? I don't know, but it's possible.

It's not a big scoop to say many NPE exhibitors who were unhappy with McPier. Remember the $345.39 that one exhibitor paid for four cases of Pepsi, and how that story captured how many felt they were being ripped off in Chicago?

I've talked to exhibitors who felt that real change in Chicago would never happen unless they moved the show to Orlando, at least for two show cycles. Some definitely felt a warm fuzzy feeling about dealing with Orlando and the Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau, especially in comparison to McPier.

Some exhibitors say Chicago never got serious about changing its convention center until it became clear that SPI was serious about moving the show.

For the record, I think Chicago is a great place for NPE. Geographically, it's almost perfect for a U.S. manufacturing show. Exhibitors and attendees are familiar with the city and the venue. And you can't beat June in Chicago.

But after holding NPE in Chicago since 1971, some SPI members were looking for a change,

Cost was a big part of the decision to move the show. SPI says exhibitors in Orlando will save an estimated $10 million on travel and exhibiting compared to what they would have paid in Chicago.

There are still some big questions to answer about the future of NPE, not the least of which is whether companies will really save that much money.

But I expect the 2012 show will be better than 2009. The economy is better, and manufacturing in North America has stabilized. And now Orlando -- not Chicago -- is poised to benefit from a stronger NPE.

Would you pay $600 to vacuum the carpet at your trade show booth -- just once? That's how much one exhibitor paid at a recent trade show at Chicago's McCormick Place.

Remind anyone of the $345.39 that an exhibitor at NPE famously paid for four cases of Pepsi?

The vacuuming charge is highlighted in a big investigative story in this week's Crain's Chicago Business (one of our sister newspapers), headlined "Contractors, trade associations squeeze convention exhibitors at McCormick Place."

The story goes into detail about the cost of exhibiting at trade shows at McCormick Place. Instead of focusing on just the unions, Crain's Chicago's James Ylisela Jr. spent three months investigating all the issues -- especially the mark-ups charged by general contractors at the show, Freeman and Global Experience Specialists Inc. (GES).

Vlisela also explores the roles that show organizers -- primarily trade associations -- have played in the McCormick costs debate.

Today Crain's Chicago posted an interactive calculator on its web site that allows readers to see how much it would cost to exhibit at the convention center.

Chicago's McCormick Place picked up some good news today: Solar Power International announced that Chicago will be home to its 2013 conference, the largest of its kind in North America.

According to the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, the event will bring 27,000 attendees and generate at least $38 million in spending, according to this report from Crain's Chicago Business.

Plastics Blog readers will recall that it was a year ago this week -- Nov. 17, 2009 -- that the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. announced it was moving the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows to Orlando, Fla.

What a difference a year makes.

A blog post caused a minor disturbance in some plastics circles yesterday, after a political reporter wrote that a plastics show was moving back to McCormick Place.

The reference to plastics turned out to be a mistake, and the post has since been corrected.

Anyone who saw the original post may have wondered if the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. was having second thoughts about moving NPE 2012 and 2015 to Orlando, Fla.

Here's the story:

Greg Hinz, a political columnist for Crain's Chicago Business, wrote an item for his blog yesterday headlined "Reilly appears off to good start at McPier."

The post updated readers on the situation at McPier, the agency that runs Chicago's McCormick Place convention center, and was the result of a lunch that Hinz had with McPier boss Jim Reilly.

The post was largely positive, noting that Reilly "seems to be doing some of the right things that the mayor, governor and Illinois General Assembly hired him to do."

Reilly stressed that reforms at McCormick -- all instituted after SPI announced that it was moving NPE away from Chicago -- have succeeded in stopping the exodus of shows from McCormick.

"Once the dust settles, cost-wise, I think we'll be very competitive . . . at or below prices in Las Vegas and Orlando," Reilly told Hinz.

The confusing part for plastics industry readers was a brief reference in the story to a couple of shows that, thanks to the reforms, Chicago had managed to keep.

"...two big shows that had threatened to leave -- representing the plastics and industrial technology sectors -- instead renewed in Chicago..." Hinz wrote.

At least one of Hinz's readers jumped on that snippet, emailing Plastics News a link, saying it was proof that SPI had decided to come back Chicago.

SPI quickly put a wet blanket on that rumor.

SPI President Bill Carteaux sent us this statement this morning: "As announced November 17, 2009, SPI's NPE trade show will be held in Orlando for the next two show cycles: April 1-5, 2012 and March 22-26, 2015."

We pointed this out to Hinz today, and he's now added a short addendum to his original blog post:

"One correction in the above. I wrote down 'plastics' in my notebook about shows that now are staying in Chicago, but the correct show is 'housewares.' The plastics show is still gone to Orlando. Should have double checked."

We're glad to have played a small part in setting the record straight, and perhaps keeping a unsubstantiated rumor from starting to spread.

NPE is going to continue to generate a lot of interest from the political and labor community in Chicago.

You can be sure that they'll want another crack at winning back the shows, which have been such an important -- and lucrative -- business for the city since 1971.

But despite any rumors you hear to the contrary, don't expect that to happen before the 2018 cycle.

Crain's Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune are reporting that the International Home + Housewares Show is going to stay in Chicago's McCormick Place.

Earlier this week the International Housewares Association had threatened to find a new location for the show.

The trade group said the state had until today to pass reforms that should make McCormick Place more competitive with rival exhibit halls in Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla.

Since the Illinois Legislature took action on Thursday, that met the deadline, so association President Phil Brandl said the group will begin negotiations with McPier to renew its contract.

Crain's reported that Brandl said passage of the legislation that would cut labor costs and give trade association and exhibitors more rights swayed the board.

The plastics industry played a key role in jump-starting the reforms at Chicago's McCormick Place that Illinois legislators approved yesterday.

The proof -- the plastics group is actually mentioned in the law itself.

The bill became law yesterday when the Legislature overturned Gov. Pat Quinn's veto.

The legislation caps labor costs and let exhibitors do their own set-up instead of using convention center union workers. It also doubles the ground transportation tax charged on cab rides to and from the airports.

The Senate voted 51-2 Thursday afternoon to override Quinn's veto. The House followed soon after with a 93-19 vote, making the bill law.

It's safe to say that this wouldn't have happened if the city had not lost the 2012 and 2015 NPE shows to Orlando, Fla. By itself, that might not have been enough to get the politicians to act. But after the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. voted to leave Chicago, other trade show organizers also took action -- some of them leaving McCormick, others threatening to leave.

The law -- the final version of Senate Bill 28 -- has this to say about SPI's role in the reform:

In 2009, managers of the International Plastics Showcase announced that 2009 was the last year they would host their exhibition at McCormick Place, as they had since 1971, because union labor work rules and electric and food service costs make it uneconomical for the show managers and exhibitors to use McCormick Place as a convention venue as compared to convention facilities in Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada. The exhibition used over 740,000 square feet of exhibit space, attracted over 43,000 attendees, generated $4.8 million of revenues to McCormick Place, and raised over $200,000 in taxes to pay debt service on convention facility bonds.

After the International Plastics Showcase exhibition announced its departure, other conventions and exhibitions managers and exhibitors also stated that they would not return to McCormick Place and Navy Pier for the same reasons cited by the International Plastics Showcase exhibition. In addition, still other managers and exhibitors stated that they would not select McCormick Place as a convention venue unless the union labor work rules and electrical and food service costs were made competitive with those in Orlando and Las Vegas.

I still find this all a little hard to believe. Did an exhibitor's complaint about the price of Pepsi really shake the foundation of the US trade show industry? It's certainly more complicated than that, but you can draw the connections.

Next up, we'll see if exhibitors and attendees at NPE2012 really save as much money as they've been promised -- and how the show in Orlando compares with what everyone is used to in Chicago.

NPE2012 is less than two years away -- remember, it will be in April instead of June next time. So we'll learn the answers to those questions before you know it.

The International Housewares Association has given Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn until Friday to sign legislation that will reform how business is done at the McCormick Place convention center -- or risk losing the International Home + Housewares Show.

That's the word from Greg Hinz, a blogger and columnist for Crain's Chicago Business.

According to Hinz, Philip Brandl, president of the housewares trade group, wrote to Gov., Quinn this morning to say that unless the governor signs the bill, "we are not in a position to recommend Chicago as our venue for the future."

"Chicago would be and is our choice . . . but not without the substantial reform this bill can enact."

Brandl told Hinz that the association's board of directors will make a decision on Friday.

The show, which is held annually in Chicago, attracted nearly 60,000 participants in March and injected an estimated $82 million into Chicago's economy, Brandl said.

After the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. decided to move the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows to Orlando, Fla., everyone involved in the convention business in Chicago -- the governor, the mayor, the McPier board, the unions -- has been working on ways to make McCormick more competitive.

I can't imagine that Quinn is going to let the housewares show slip away.

Juan Ochoa, CEO of the agency that runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier, announced his resignation today, and more big trade shows are threatening to leave Chicago.

Yes, the convention business in Chicago remains in a state of flux that started back on Nov. 17 -- when the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. announced that it was moving the 2012 and 2015 NPE shows to Orlando, Fla.

The latest news comes today from Craig Hinz's blog on ChicagoBusiness.com.

Ochoa is getting out before reform-minded legislators in the state capital remove him.

Hinz reported that the other news development today -- the new threat by more trade shows to leave Chicago -- also has a Springfield connection.

In an e-mail to lawmakers signed by officials from the National Restaurant Show, the American College of Surgeons and others, the trade officials said they "adamantly oppose" a clause in the proposed legislation that would give the new McPier the authority to have one firm as the exclusive show manager at McCormick Place.

The e-mail says that the trade-show officials met via conference call to review the draft legislation and concluded that giving one contractor exclusive rights at McCormick Place would undermine the goal of lowering prices.

"This clause must be removed, otherwise it negates all potential reform in other sections of the legislation," it says. Making the change "will save McCormick Place a great deal of business."

Interesting how the trade shows feel like they have bargaining power on issues related to McCormick Place. Would they have made the same threat prior to SPI moving NPE?

The Chinaplas trade show now appears to be the No. 2 global plastics trade show, measured by attendance, surpassing North America's NPE show. And that's despite volcano-related travel disruptions, which held down attendance from Europe.

Attendance at the Chinaplas 2010 trade show, held April 19-22 in Shanghai, reached 81,435, a 17.5 percent jump from last year's 69,300, according to show organizer Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd.

That's despite a 2 percent drop in attendance from Europe, which Adsale said might have been the result of the volcano eruption in Iceland that grounded most flights from Europe in the days leading up to the show.

The news that Chinaplas has apparently surpassed NPE, in terms of attendance, isn't a big surprise. Attendance at the last NPE, held in 2009 in Chicago, was down sharply (most exhibitors still felt it was a strong show, given the global economic recession). The show's organizer, the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc., estimated total registrations at 44,000, down about 28 percent compared to 64,451 three years ago.

Comparing attendance at trade shows is an inexact science to be sure. SPI counted total registrations last year, rather than actual bodies -- and there's no way of knowing how many of the 44,000 actually came to Chicago. Chinaplas uses a barcode system to count visitors, so the attendance figure is a total of daily unique visitors to the show ... and Adsale said it does not include exhibitors.

Still, if you've ever been to a show, and you see things like badge-sharing, you know attendance figures aren't precise.

The K trade shows, held every three years in Germany, are still apparently No. 1 in terms of attendance. K 2007 show drew about 242,000 visitors to Messe Düsseldorf -- although, again, precise comparisons with NPE and Chinaplas are difficult, because the organizers all count visitors differently.

It is amazing that Chinaplas saw such attendance growth this year despite obviously losing a chunk of people who simply couldn't get there. But China's plastics industry is in recovery mode since the recession, and this year's show benefited from strong attendance from the again-booming domestic market.

Of the total 81,435 attendees, 18 percent, or 14,701, came from outside China.

Chinaplas has the good fortune this year of being on the wave of economic recovery. NPE had the misfortune in 2009 of bad timing, with the severe financial meltdown, a major recession and the labeling of the United States an "epidemic zone" for the H1N1 virus, which might have held down attendance from Asia.

It will be interesting to see what sort of attendance NPE will get in 2012, when the show moves from Chicago to Orlando, Fla.

Is attendance important? Certainly there's some prestige here, for Chinaplas to take the No. 2 spot from NPE.

But all three are strong shows, and all three are important for any company with a goal of being an important player in the global plastics market.

On top of that, K, NPE and Chinaplas are very different shows, and exhibitors tailor their products and message for the unique sort of visitors that attend.

So let's consider the attendance figures for Chinaplas good news for the recovery of the global plastics industry -- a sign that business is continuing to improve.

And the numbers also reinforce the message that trade shows around the world, which bring processors and suppliers together for face-to-face meetings, remain relevant -- even when mother nature does its best to throw roadblocks in the way.

The Chicago Tribune editorialized about the need for change at the McCormick Place convention center again yesterday. The column, "A Chicago job crisis," draws heavily from complaints from trade show organizers who met with state legislators this week.

Five organizations testified: the National Restaurant Association, American College of Surgeons, International Housewares Association, Society of Manufacturing Engineers and Graphics Arts Show Co. Their shows brought nearly $300 million worth of economic activity to Chicago last year. They all might leave because of the high costs fueled by special handling fees, surcharges, overtime and general level of difficulty that come from dealing with the various jurisdictions connected to McCormick Place.

Some nuggets:

• Contracting for electrical service at Orlando's convention facilities costs 40 percent less than in Chicago, said Mary Pat Heftman of the restaurant association: "I can't explain that 40 percent differential to my exhibitors. Exhibitors in other cities can drive up to the dock and unload equipment themselves. Not in Chicago."

• Setting up a stage for an opening ceremony (with black drape, logos, flags, lighting, etc.) costs $46,000 in Chicago -- and $32,000 in San Francisco, said Felix Niespodziewanski of the College of Surgeons. Organizers have to deal with a bewildering array of unions with different minimum rates, overtime rules, break times, etc.

• Chris Price of the Graphic Arts Show Co. said the quality of work at McCormick Place is top-notch, but the work rules make it uncompetitive. Example: 100 Chicago laborers are being flown to Orlando to help set up the plastics show there. "They will be put up in hotels, fed, and all the rest, and it's still cheaper to do business there than here," he said.

• Setting up an ice machine in Orlando costs $720. Setting one up in Chicago costs $1,700, said Eric Holm of Manitowoc Foodservice. Ordering power for the company's booth in Orlando costs $9,200. Chicago? $12,800, plus $5,000 for labor. The cost for 24-hour service for one refrigerator is $48 in Orlando, $400 in Chicago.

You get the idea. Everybody's tired of getting fleeced here. They're leaving. That's going to put a lot of Chicagoans out of work.

Some of this could be exaggerated. I've written before about how some stories about corruption and unrealistic work rules at McCormick are urban myths.

But McCormick still has some pretty big issues to deal with, and many in the plastics industry are watching to see how it all turns out.

Some would like Chicago to fix the problems at McCormick so that NPE can eventually come back.

Many more plastics companies either attend or exhibit at other shows in Chicago, including Pack Expo International, IMTS, and the International Home + Housewares Show.

One thing is clear: Change is coming. And the Society of Plastics Industry Inc. can take some credit for shocking Chicago into dealing with the problem.

Chicago continues to debate how to stop an exodus of trade shows from McCormick Place. This week they got a dose of common sense in a meeting with show organizers.

Exhibitors want lower costs and more flexible work rules so they can do their own booth work.

That's the essence of a report from the Chicago Tribune, "Trade shows balk at McPier legislation."

According to the story, about 30 trade show customers met this week with representatives of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority -- the organization known as McPier, which runs McCormick Place.

The exhibitors said they want McPier "to trim its take on electrical service and food service, and to open up both exclusive services to multiple providers. And they want union rules relaxed so they can do more of their own booth work."

Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation this week that would fire the current McPier board and replace it with an interim panel that, presumably, will be more likely to embrace changes at the convention center.

Have you ever visited a trade show, then gone to a hospitality suite sponsored by a company not exhibiting at the show? It happens all the time, and people in the convention business call those non-exhibiting vendors "outboarders."

According to The New York Times, some trade shows consider outboarders "parasites who latch onto the host convention and reap the advantages of the often-considerable resources spent on organizing the show and drawing a crowd -- without paying their share of the costs."

And now they're trying to crack down on the practice.

The story cites the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a show that's had problems with outboarders for more than a decade.

The story describes how CES is stepping up efforts to police outboarding. The show organizer worked with local hotels to prevent companies from setting up in-room product marketing exhibits.

I'm sure that plastics firms that attend -- or exhibit -- at many end-market-oriented trade shows have seen some examples of outboarding for years. Do you think it's actually on the rise, or are show organizers just starting to pay more attention to the problem?

Change is coming to McCormick Place.

Crain's Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune are reporting that officials from Chicago's convention and tourism bureau plan to meet Feb. 17 with trade show clients to present their plan for reorganizing McCormick Place's troubled operations.

The roundtable discussion with 40 exhibitors will address concerns on how the convention center will cut costs, said a spokeswoman for the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, quoted by Crain's Chicago Business.

She declined to name which trade show organizers it will be meeting with.

Any guesses? How about the International Home and Housewares Show, which announced last month that it was considering moving from McCormick to either Las Vegas or Orlando, Fla.

Such a move would be a disaster for Chicago, which already is losing the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows to Orlando.

Did you know that the average average straight-time labor cost for contractors at Chicago's McCormick Place is $66.30 an hour, compared with $42.62 in Las Vegas and $26.83 in Orlando, Fla.?

Those numbers come from the Chicago Tribune, reporting today on an analysis of cost differences between major exhibit locales prepared by two major trade show contractors, Freeman and GES Exposition Services.

The Tribune, which has a copy of the report, said the numbers reflect costs charged to the contractors, and include benefits and payroll taxes.

The story, headlined "McCormick Place work rules inflate labor costs, study finds," says the Freeman/GES report also cites examples where union rules at McCormick require more workers to handle tasks than would be needed in Orlando or Las Vegas:

Chicago requires the presence of four non-working union stewards for the duration of the show, including setup and tear-down days. The cost for 12 days, in two halls, is an estimated $50,915. In Las Vegas, only one non-working steward is required, at a cost of $8,183; in Orlando, none is required.

Chicago contracts require a standby labor pool of 10 tradesmen during the event, which can cost at least $40,333 for a four-day show in two halls. Las Vegas and Orlando require standby pools of two, at an estimated cost of $5,455 in Las Vegas and $3,434 in Orlando.

Those are some numbers that will get your attention.

The story quotes John Patronski, executive vice president at GES, saying that while McCormick's union workers have made concessions, "there's still a huge difference between Chicago and other cities."

But Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon didn't back down from his stance that contractors aren't passing along the savings to customers that the unions have already approved.

"Don't you think it's kind of awkward for GES and Freeman, who make their profits on the backs of working men and women, to do an analysis of labor costs at McCormick Place?" he said. "Maybe labor should do one on how much money Freeman and GES made in Chicago."

So the finger-pointing on McCormick costs continues.

When the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. announced that the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows will move to Orlando, it predicted that the industry will save $20 million -- $10 million for exhibitors, and another $10 million for attendees.

A Plastics Blog reader pointed out that The Wall Street Journal has finally noticed the story on the exodus of trade shows from Chicago.

The story, on Page A6 in our Jan. 19 edition, was headlined "Chicago Loses Cachet as Convention Center."

The article barely mentions the catalyst for this mess -- the decision by the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. to move the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows to Orlando, Fla.

In November, a big triennial plastics show that had been bringing as many as 75,000 people to Chicago since 1971 jumped to Orlando, saying it expected to save $20 million for its members through the move.

The Plastics Blog reader who shared the story this morning noted that the story doesn't even name the show. "I was amused that NPE was referenced without its name as 'a big triennial plastics show,'" he wrote.

Good point -- and I'll add that many in the Chicago media didn't use the name NPE, either.

I imagine some reporters outside the industry are confused because the intials don't stand for "National Plastics Exposition" anymore, so they just write around it rather than using an acronym that means nothing to their readers.

Anyway, I suppose this means NPE's move is finally officially a national business story. So now we should expect to see Fortune, Forbes and BusinessWeek take up the issue.

Plastics exhibitors, get ready for a new round of coverage.

Greg Hinz, a columnist for Crain's Chicago Business, posted a blog item today on a proposal by several unions to make a McCormick Place more competitive with other trade show venues.

The unions called for audits of trade-show operators and McCormick Place contractors to make sure they are passing on labor-cost savings to their customers, and drafting a customer bill of rights.

"Unions at McCormick Place have worked with management time and again to lower their costs and make work rules more customer-friendly," said Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. "But the whole business model must change, not just labor contracts."

The unions say labor rates in Chicago are already competitive -- they pointed to data from Tradeshow Week that said the labor rate for a carpenter at a show in Chicago is $96.68 an hour, compared to $148.89 in New York and $99.96 in Los Angeles.

The unions say high drayage fees are a big problem at McCormick Place, even compared to nearby Rosemont, Ill. According to their news release:

The hourly rate charged to an exhibitor for a carpenter in Rosemont is $85, where the workers are represented by the same unions as McCormick Place. But the price charged to the exhibitor is almost $11 cheaper. Rosemont exhibitors pay $55 per hour for drayage, but more than $80 in Chicago. Drayage can account for close to 50 percent of an exhibitor's show services bill, according to Michael Hughes, vice president of research and consulting for Tradeshow Weekly.

The unions are trying to help bring down costs at McCormick, which has to be good news in a city still reeling from the loss of the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows shows to Orlando, Fla.

Still, Chicago convention officials know that they're not being measured against New York and Los Angeles. Those aren't the cities that are taking business from McCormick.

The key to Chicago's convention future is to become more competitive with Orlando and Las Vegas.

Chicago continues to churn following the loss of the 2012 and 2015 NPE shows to Orlando, Fla. The latest news comes today from the Chicago Tribune, which reports that the convention center wants to scrap its food service contract in order to find cheaper meals for exhibitors.

CEO Juan Ochoa told the paper that "In today's economy, we recognize that cost is king."

This follows an embarrassing disclosure earlier this week from the Chicago Sun-Times: that the number of employees at McCormick Place and Navy Pier who are paid more than $100,000 a year has grown to 54, a 17 percent increase since 2006.

Following that report, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley restated his call for fiscal responsibility at McCormick Place.

When the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. started looking at alternative sites for NPE, who could have guessed that they'd end up stirring the pot in Chicago politics and convention circles this much?

Here's an interesting news snippet that came out today -- a Michigan ad agency helped create a customer hospitality and business center at NPE 2009 by using the online 3D virtual world Second Life.

The customer was Dow Chemical Co., and the ad agency was the Scott & Miller Group, a business-to-business communications firm.

The agency built a virtual replica of the 36,000-square-foot ballroom, including walls and furnishings, and it applied a variety of graphic themes to see which ones worked best. Clients were able to login to Second Life and, using avatars, walk freely around the virtual room to evaluate the layout and design.

The "real" Dow customer center at McCormick Place and included meeting rooms, workstations, e-kiosks, lounge and dining areas, and a full bar. Creating the space in Second Life helped the companies work out all the bugs and maximize the layout and design of the exhibit.

According to Greg Baldwin, Dow Basic Plastics communications manager, the virtual 3D ballroom was an invaluable tool.

"When you're working in such a large space, it's difficult to predict every nuance that will impact the look, feel, and functionality of the room -- color choices, deciding where graphics are needed and where they aren't, or even arrangement of dining tables. I was able to log-in to the virtual customer center any time and feel confident about the final decisions," he said in a news release.

"When I first arrived at the actual customer center, my reaction was 'I've been here before,'" Baldwin said. "There were absolutely no surprises, for me or executive leadership."

Dow said it hosted nearly 1,137 customers at the "real" center during NPE week.

It makes you wonder, how close are we to the day when trade shows are replaced by virtual shows, and we'll all be using avatars for our travel and business meetings?

A trade show that spent about $40,000 for electrical services in another city got charged $240,000 for the services in Chicago's McCormick Place.

Another show organizer complained that it recently spent $125,000 on sandwich and salad-bar lunch and beverage services at McCormick, which covered 2,600 lunches over three days. (I'll save you the trouble, that's $48 per meal).

The cost of putting on trade shows at McCormick Place is in the spotlight again, with a new Chicago Tribune story today, headlined "Trade shows: High prices at McCormick Place costing Chicago."

The story starts with a plastics machinery company example, but it's not from a company that had a bad experience at NPE2009. The source this time is Steve Maguire, who is connected to two auxiliary equipment companies that made a high-profile decision not to exhibit at NPE this year.

He cited a number of examples of charges that he felt were too high in Chicago. For example, it cost $22,000 to move equipment from the truck yard near McCormick to its exhibit space and back -- which he said was more than triple the cost of shipping the equipment all the way from Baltimore.

"You just can't stand being taken advantage of, and that's what they do there," Maguire told the Tribune. "When the economy got so bad, this was an easy one to cut."

The Tribune story notes that the absence of Maguire Products Inc. and Novatec Inc. from NPE this year "cost Chicago about $600,000 in potential spending." Plastics News' story from April had said that under normal circumstances, the firms would have spent around $750,000.

There's no major new ground broken on this Tribune story today, but the focus on costs -- breaking down some specific examples that typical readers can understand -- is interesting.

One snippet of potential news: Phil Brandl, president of the International Housewares Association, said that group's annual show is booked at McCormick Place only through 2011. "Though it has made longer-term commitments in the past, it is now waiting longer to sign on, keeping an eye on the competitive landscape," the story notes.

To put it all of the discussion about high cost into perspective, several sources in the Tribune story pointed out that Chicago is not alone in charging a lot for various services at trade shows.

"We're not that out of whack with what our competitors are charging, but we are looking at ways to lower costs," said David Causton, McCormick Place general manager.

"Chicago is not the only convention center in the world to have what we would consider ridiculously high food prices," said Peter Eelman, vice president of exhibitions for the Association For Manufacturing Technology, which puts on the IMTS show every two years in McCormick Place.

"But if there is an opportunity to turn things around, that would be an area to turn around quickly. It would really demonstrate a commitment to changing things," he said.

McCormick Place is trying to be more competitive. Really. Just this week they dropped the price of four cases of Pepsi from $345 to $293.

That's the story from the Chicago Tribune, whose reporters are well aware that a complaint about the price of Pepsi was one of the defining moments in the debate that convinced the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. to move the NPE 2012 and 2015 trade shows to Orlando, Fla.

The Tribune notes that McCormick has quietly implemented a cash-and-carry system, where exhibitors can pick up bulk items rather than pay for delivery.

For now the reduced prices only apply to cases of water and pop, and coffee.

The story notes that the savings aren't huge, "But the soda price has been an emotional issue here, even though the price levels aren't unique to Chicago."

The politics surrounding McCormick Place have become a soap opera. Last week, Mayor Richard Daley admitted that the convention center is gouging exhibitors -- which is the reason SPI decided to move the 2012 and 2015 NPE shows to Orlando, Fla.

This week, Daley told the Chicago Sun-Times that the city could provide a new government subsidy to the convention center -- but only if the gouging stops.

"Before you get all the subsidies throwing money at this, you first have to correct and rebuild the foundation," he told the newspaper. "Let's not talk about subsidies now. Let's first correct what you have in-house. ... First, re-organize what is happening at McCormick Place."

McCormick is in a dire financial situation -- the convention business is already depressed, and now Chicago has lost a string of events to Orlando and Las Vegas.

So now there's pressure growing in political circles for the city and state to help with some sort of subsidy. Authorities in Chicago say the city is at a disadvantage because other cities subsidize their convention centers.

Meanwhile, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Roper reminds Sun-Times readers that McCormick already gets government aid.

"Remember, McCormick Place already gets a 1 percent tax on downtown restaurants. It gets $1 from all taxicabs. It gets 2.5 percent from the Illinois Sports Authority. So, there's dollars going toward McCormick Place" already, said Roper, who does not support the concept of an annual subsidy.

Labor unions at McCormick Place have been getting a lot of the blame for the loss of the 2012 and 2015 NPE shows to Orlando, Fla. But are they really at fault?

Jim Leahy, a third-generation member of the Riggers Local 136, responded to the charges in the Chicago Daily Observer today.

He's got a lot to say that will interest NPE exhibitors. First, he points out that McCormick unions have already made sacrifices, "like giving up double time for time and a half, or the cut in crews from three to two in the case of Machinery Movers."

Leahy goes on:

Here is something most people don't know. When the Plastics Show or any big machinery show leaves Chicago; the very workers who [Mayor Richard] Daley blames for the loss of the show, will be flown in by the show producer to work in the other venue. You might ask yourself, "If they bring labor from Chicago and have to provide them with room and board and mileage wouldn't that make it more expensive for labor in the new venue?" Yes it would. Then why is labor being blamed?

First of all, it's easy. Everyone can tell you a horror story about having to pay multiple hundreds of dollars to pay an electrician to just plug in an electrical plug. Do you know why that is by the way? The Electricians at McCormick place work for McPier. That means they work for the city and state not for the show producers. In 1967 McCormick place burnt down. The official report put the blame on faulty wiring. It was found that most of the electrical wiring for the booths did not follow electrical safety standards. The report brought changes to the Chicago Municipal Code based on the lessons learned from the McCormick Place Fire. That's why only electricians are allowed to do the wiring at the hall and why it is the toughest standard to meet in the world.

I wanted to give some background so people could see that the building trades in Chicago are not the reason the shows are leaving. As a matter of fact the labor here is the best at putting huge shows in faster and with less damage and injury than anywhere else in the world. That's why the Riggers and Carpenters and others will follow the show to the new venue.

Leahy says trade shows aren't leaving Chicago because of the cost of labor. The real problem, he says, is the cost of doing business in Chicago: including expensive hotel rooms, food, taxies, parking, and most important, high taxes.

"The taxes on the cost of the booth and services have raised the costs significantly. It is the Democrat way of governing; stick it to the people with the money!" he writes.

"[Daley] has enclosed McCormick place and made it so it's almost impossible to leave. Your booth space is miles from parking or taxi drop off areas. Once inside it's like being at the airport, prices are through the roof, you have to buy everything inside where contracts are pay to play, everyone gets their cut. Everything is over priced and aimed at squeezing every dime out of exhibitors, attendees and now more and more the workers. The bigger McCormick Place gets the more control the city has over the costs and the more expensive it gets. So if we want to keep these shows here in Chicago Mr. Mayor CUT TAXES!"

Chicago taxes have come up before in the NPE location debate. Remember "the Pepsi incident"? Of the $345.39 that an exhibitor at NPE2009 paid for four cases of Pepsi, government taxes totaled $38.06.

At this point, it's clear that Mayor Daley and the McCormick unions feel that someone has been gouging exhibitors at trade shows like NPE. But who is really to blame?

They say the first step to fixing a problem is to acknowledge it exists. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley took a big step in that direction on Tuesday, when he told reporters why McCormick Place is losing business, including the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows.

Asked if the convention center is gouging exhibitors, Daley said: "Yes, gouging. ... You have to get away from gouging people. If you gouge `em, they're not gonna come back, to be very frank."

The Chicago Sun-Times also reported that Daley blamed trade show managers and the McCormick Place unions for the convention center's spate of recent defections, which started with SPI's decision to move NPE to Orlando, Fla.

"If someone works for $50- or $70-an-hour, it shouldn't cost [exhibitors] $100" to put up a booth, the mayor told reporters.

"There's ... trade show managers, McCormick Place and the unions. It's a combination of the three. ... It's both a McPier and show manager issue" as well.

I think some Plastics Blog readers know a thing or two about gouging at McCormick Place.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for Chicago's trade show business, with yet more bad news today. The International Dairy Foods Association announced that its 2010 show will be held in Dallas instead of Chicago's McCormick Place.

As was the case with the other shows leaving Chicago, including NPE, cost was the key, according to this story from Crain's Chicago Business.

The Washington-based dairy foods association had been holding biennial shows in conjunction with the American Meat Institute. Their 2009 Worldwide Food Expo drew 22,000 attendees to McCormick Place.

The meat group plans to stay in Chicago and continue to meet every other year. But the dairy group decided that it will meet every year instead of every other year, and the 2010 event will be in Dallas.

The dairy group decided to split from the meat group ... insert your joke about kosher trade shows here... because the dairy-related exhibitors felt a " loss of identity" when they met with the larger contingent of meat-related companies.

Meanwhile, Chicago officials continue to stew over the wave of trade show departures from McCormick. Crain's Chicago reports that the city has formed a task force of city officials, union leaders and representatives from Chicago's hotel and restaurant industry. On Tuesday, Mayor Richard Daley held a closed-door meeting with union leaders and Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority officials to discuss the issue.

Even though SPI is moving NPE to Orlando, readers seem to be interested in the problems at the old venue, Chicago's McCormick Place. So here's a post to satisfy your craving for more information.

First, check out James Ylisela Jr.'s investigative feature from our sister publication Crain's Chicago Business, ("Polticial connections important in McCormick management"), posted on our site today.

As Crain's Greg Hinz notes in his blog today, "The piece lays out in truly excruciating detail how the agency in charge of running McCormick Place -- the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority -- has become a political dumping ground, with whole precincts full of connected brothers-in-law and the like on the payroll, thereby ratcheting up costs and making Chicago less competitive.

Next, check out Hinz's blog for this thoughts on how Chicago can fix its "crumbling convention business."

For starters, Hinz writes, Mayor Daley and Gov. Pat Quinn need to "end their petty bickering and put someone in charge" of Chicago's convention and tourism business.

Right now, McPier is a hydra-headed monster jointly run by the mayor and the governor. Since neither has ultimate responsibility, each has grabbed the goodies rather than taking care of business, with the mayoral-controlled McPier board left free to squabble with the gubernatorial- selected McPier CEO.

Even worse, with no one in charge, no one has the incentive to sit on other powers, like Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Insiders say last year he blocked a needed restructuring of McPier's debt because then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich fired one of Mr. Madigan's guys at McPier. (Mr. Madigan denies the story, but I strongly suspect there's some truth to the tale.)

Meanwhile, an entirely different agency, the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, is in charge of selling the convention space that McPier runs.

Crazy. Put it all together in one agency, and make one official the unquestioned boss -- an official who can be fired if things go south. Perhaps the whole unit could be privatized, because I'm not sure I trust City Hall to run the entire show.

Those are some radical ideas, for sure.

For now, expect to see a renewed effort to restructure McCormick's debt and cut costs.

And perhaps now that there's a spotlight on the patronage situation, that will be addressed too.

Scott Joseph, an Orlando restaurant critic, was part of the team that convinced SPI to move NPE to Florida.

Joseph writes in his blog that plastics industry representatives were worried that Orlando didn't have appropriate restaurants to wine and dine business clients. One in particular asked,"What are we supposed to do, have all of our client meetings in Golden Corral?"

And there we were, back at the same stereotype that the rest of the world has about Orlando restaurants. Most people see us as a city of theme parks with little more than corn dogs and turkey legs to sustain us. All-you-can-eat buffet restaurants represent haute cuisine, if any of us even knew such fancy words.

To battle the stereotype, Orlando's team took Joseph along on their trip to the SPI's national board meeting last month in Washington. His mission -- to convince the plastics industry exhibitors that Orlando's restaurants had a lot of offer.

Joseph writes that "all of the people associated with the plastics board were very nice, and they all said they were pretty sure Orlando would get the show...."

Still, it took another four weeks -- and another visit to Orlando -- before today's announcement sealing the deal. (Another stumbling block was assurances that local roads could withstand the weight of the house-sized manufacturing equipment that will be transported from railroad to the convention center.)

After no phone calls all those years from Chicago's Mayor Daley, the plastics board members were most appreciative that Mayor Crotty took the time to come along. And during the pre-dinner reception, Crotty called two of the organization's leaders into an unoccupied meeting room and handed his cell phone to them. On the other end of the line, Governor Charlie Crist extended a personal invitation to them to bring their convention to Florida.

So that's some of the backstory about how Orlando landed the NPE. Congratulations to the efforts of Sain and his team -- they impressed me with their dedication and vigorous pursuit of the prize. And congratulations to Central Florida's restaurant scene for being tout worthy. And that's just today -- imagine how much more vibrant and exciting the restaurant community will be by 2012.

Great insider stuff... thanks for sharing that. It's nice to have a fun NPE-related blog post.

Meanwhile, there's more bad news for McCormick Place today. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the National Restaurant Association is considering taking its 2012 trade show to Orlando or Las Vegas.

NPE is moving to Orlando, Fla., in 2012 and 2015 -- and now Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is calling for changes at McCormick Place.

"It's a very serious loss. It's a major show," he told the Chicago Sun-Times. "They were very upset with a lot of the rules and regulations that McCormick Place has. When I met with [SPI President and CEO Bill Carteaux] and others, they were very concerned about the cost factor compared to Orlando, Atlanta and Vegas," Daley said.

"McCormick Place has a difficult chore in dealing with keeping shows and trade shows unless they get their costs down," he said.

The story also quotes Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon, who said the unions understand their role -- but he didn't jump at the offer to make more concessions.

"Organized labor has made significant changes in work-rules at McCormick Place. We've done more than our fair share. We have showed we care about the investment in conventions and tourism through our actions," Gannon told the Sun-Times.

I'll definitely miss having NPE in Chicago -- the location is part of what's always made NPE special for me. But now it's time to start looking forward to Orlando. Put the dates on your calendar: April 1-5, 2012. It will be interesting how the show changes with the new dates and venue.

While the plastics industry waits on SPI to decide on a location for NPE, another big trade show has already decided to move away from Chicago.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has decided to hold its 2012 gathering in Las Vegas, instead of Chicago, because of the high cost of labor at McCormick Place, according to a story on the Chicago Tribune's Web site.

The story quotes an unnamed source, and describes the annual show as "a choice piece of business for the city. It draws 24,000 delegates and generates about $52 million in spending locally."

The show rotates between cities -- the next one is scheduled for March 1-4, 2010, in Atlanta.

2012 had been the next time it was scheduled for Chicago.

The medical society's decision "comes less than a month after Mayor Richard Daley told the Tribune editorial board that he will seek a major overhaul in the way Chicago markets itself as a destination for tourism and conventions," the story says.

This decision seems to put more pressure on Chicago to put together a proposal to keep NPE in Chicago in 2012 and 2015.

Plastics Blog readers know SPI plans to choose between Chicago and Orlando, Fla., soon.

Tim Hanrahan's letter to the editor of Plastics News complaining about the high cost of exhibiting at NPE is continuing to generate attention. The latest: Chicago's CBS 2 posted a story Tuesday night titled "Chicago Conventions Take A Hit Due To High Costs."

Correspondent Jay Levine noted that the $345.39 that Hanrahan paid for four cases of Pepsi products at NPE2009 "could cost Chicago a major trade show."

Most notably, Levine got Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to comment about plastics company complaints about the high prices at McCormick Place:

"People don't realize that they become very, very selfish. They can't be. You can't have selfishness out there," Daley said.

He added: "There has to be reorganization at McCormick Place ... because it deals with less and less shows coming in town."

Interesting that Daley didn't fall into the trap of actually defending the $345.39 Pepsi.

Is change coming? Chicago blogger John Ruberry doesn't think so. In his Marathon Pundit blog, he recently posted an item headlined "Union extortionists may drive another trade show from Chicago":

Chicago's Mayor Richard M. Daley, still smarting from the Olympics debacle, met with the CEO of SPI in hopes of convincing him to keep the Plastics Show in the city on the lake.

But don't expect much. Big labor is a major financial contributor to his political war chest.

That Pepsi won't taste any better if NPE moves to Orlando, but it will seem that way.

Chicago's McCormick Place -- which is battling to remain the home of the NPE trade show -- is having a tough time this year.

John Gates Jr., the new chairman of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, told his board on Tuesday that reduced tourism and convention business has "put us in a fairly significant and unprecedented financial hole. ... It's not an insurmountable hole, but we can't climb our way out of it and conduct business as usual."

According to this story in Crain's Chicago Business, when the current fiscal year ends June 30, McPier predicts the shortfall in tourism-based revenue will be $33.9 million from the previous year, following an $18.8-million shortfall in fiscal 2009.

The agency relies on the tourism-related tax revenue to pay back the bonds that it uses to finance expansion projects, like the new West hall at McCormick. To meet its current obligation, Gates says the agency will tap state sales tax revenue, which it has not had to do until now.

"The state will pay that shortfall for the foreseeable future until we can restructure these bonds and get our financial house back in order," Gates said.

Just consider these details as important background that's sure to play a role in the behind-the-scenes discussions on NPE between Chicago and the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.

The guys from Orange County Choppers (remember them from NPE2009?) are doing a "green" motorcycle -- all electric -- for the show airing Thursday night.

It includes a visit to the Siemens wind turbine plant in Iowa (check out the link for video from the Discovery Channel) in which they show a little of the fiberglass turbine production.

The bike also includes LED lighting (which has lots of plastics, including a polycarbonate component).

This may be a "green" motorcycle, but it's not a wimpy scooter. They elected to use a high-voltage motor, despite the increased size and power requirements, so the bike could achieve speeds of 100 mph or more.

But does it sound like a real motorcycle? We'll see.

(And thanks to Rhoda Miel, Plastics News' staff reporter in Detroit, for suggesting this post).

Tim Hanrahan of Erema North America Inc. struck a nerve with his story about paying $345.39 to get four cases of Pepsi products delivered to his booth at NPE2009. But there's still someone defending that price tag.

Mary Kay Marquisos, a spokeswoman for McCormick Place, told ABC 7 in Chicago: "If you go to a routine vending machine it cost[s] you $1 to $2 to vend a soda bottle and then another $1.50 for staff to deliver to the booth. This price includes receiving, warehouse, staff and delivery. This charge is not dissimilar to what you would pay at a hotel or another convention center."

I thought about that comparison myself, back when complaints about McCormick first came to light after this year's show. Compare the cost of doing business at NPE to, say, the cost of ordering room service at a hotel in New York.

But a lot of NPE exhibitors aren't buying that explanation.

Today I traded emails with a longtime NPE exhibitor who says he knows no exhibitors who are in favor of staying in Chicago. (He asked, "Maybe I'm talking to the wrong people?" Maybe I am too, because I'm hearing the same things.)

He wants to be anonymous, so I won't include any details that will disclose his company, but he agreed to let me share his story:

I could go on and on, with the ridiculous stories of this past show's labor practices. The setting of some of my display items in the aisle, and the union telling me, "You only get one spot, if you want it moved (to inside my booth), you need to pay extra."

The Millrights union who stopped us from attaching a sprue picker to our machine. "You need 2 millwrights for that ... oh, and we need the riggers union to lift it up ... oh, and when you start running your machine, and it falls off because we didn't tighten the bolts, well you need to put in a work order for more riggers and millrights. And did you forget the electricians union to plug it into your machine?"

The union official who asked me what I thought I was doing, by trying to hang my own Velcro-backed signs to my display materials: "There's a decorators union for that, ya know."

And heaven forbid your crate which needs opening has been secured by both screw AND nails. The Millwrights we do the unscrewing, but the Carpenter's union handles the prying of nails.

We've heard such complaints before, typically after every NPE show. Is this reality, or are the stories exaggerated?

Hanrahan, whose letter was on the record, made a point of specifically saying that he thinks the traditional complaints about unions at McCormick Place are urban myths.

"I have not witnessed any of the rumored problems in the past regarding uncooperative workers, bribes or payoffs. I have found most of the tradespeople to be courteous and professional and, for the most part, qualified for the job," he wrote.

His problem focused on the cost of exhibiting. The now-famous "Pepsi incident" was just one example.

It's clear that many companies feel they'd get a better deal in Orlando.

For the past couple of days, I've been asking exhibitors this question: Traditionally, Orlando would not be a serious candidate even for a regional plastics show. Can exhibitors be serious about holding an international show in Florida?

One gave me this answer: "Surely, fewer people will come, but they will be better quality, and the return on investment will be better for exhibitors."

I'm still skeptical that Chicago can offer concessions that will make a difference.

If McCormick gives the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. a discount for NPE, won't all the other big shows (Pack Expo International, IMTS, the International Home + Housewares Show) demand the same deal?

These are the big shows that fill the hotel rooms with thousands of out-of-town visitors. If threatening to pull out of Chicago works for SPI, I expect they'll all do the same.

Still, Chicago just spent millions to build the new West Hall at McCormick Place. They can't just use it for local car and boat shows.

I still think Chicago will manage to keep NPE for 2012 and 2015. I personally like Chicago, and I think it's the best location in North America for an international plastics trade show.

But more than a few exhibitors believe they need to move the next couple of shows to Orlando -- and hope that Chicago eventually comes to its senses and reduces its costs, so they can go back to McCormick in 2018.

Chicago continues to fret over the possibility of losing the NPE trade show.

Freelance columnist and blogger Dennis Byrne tackles the topic in a Nov. 3 column: "Chicago overwhelmed with spineless saps."

"Chicago is wimp city. A city full of obsequious voters, businesses and civic groups that have been repeatedly swindled, scammed and hosed by local politicians. Yet, with each betrayal, the serfs continue to grovel before such liege lords as Mayor Richard M. Daley and House Speaker Michael Madigan and beg for more of the same. Nothing is egregious enough to inspire insurrection by the city and state's vassals," he writes.

On the subject of NPE, Byrne has done his homework:

Daley now is fighting to keep a huge national plastics industry convention from fleeing Chicago, its 40-year home. The show brought in $95.3 million last June, but it appears the exhibitors are fed up with the extravagant costs they must pay to riggers, tradesmen and other organized workers at McCormick Place. As the trade publication Plastics News reported, Daley met Wednesday in his office with convention officials to plead with them to stay.

The problem? As trade show exhibitor Tim Hanrahan explained in the publication, it cost $345 to get four cases of Pepsi to his booth. "The invoice breaks down to $254 for the four cases of Pepsi, a 21 percent service charge, and a 10.25 percent Illinois state sales tax, a 3 percent Chicago soft drink tax, a tax on the service charge and a food and beverage tax. Government taxes totaled $38.06, which is more than the legitimate retail price of the soft drinks," he said. "I could go on. A $640 TV stand rental is another good example," he said. "But you get the point."

Hanrahan gets the point, but do we? For the sake of a special interest -- organized labor in this case -- the body politic seems willing to drive away business that brings dollars into town. To finance the greed and corruption endemic here, we tolerate punishing taxes on the very businesses we plead with to stay.

As I've said before -- plastics industry, you've got Chicago's attention. Will it make a difference? Will the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. get a better deal from McCormick Place in 2012 and 2015 -- or will it decide to give Orlando, Fla., a try instead?

Stay tuned.

It's pretty clear that Chicago is going to win our poll this week, "Would you prefer to attend NPE2012 in Chicago or Orlando, Fla.?"

As I noted yesterday, it became obvious in the middle of the week that the folks at Chicago's McCormick Place discovered our Web poll, and they called out the troops to get out the vote.

As of today, nearly 2,000 people have voted, and Chicago is winning in a landslide.

Yesterday I informally credited Kathy Knusta, project coordinator with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (which owns McCormick Place) with the get-out-the-vote effort.

But let's spread the credit around a little. Today I heard from Meghan Risch, director of public relations for the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, who shined some more light on the effort.

"As you can see from your latest poll, Chicago is very passionate about its meetings and convention industry," she wrote.

"It's social media at its best. On Wednesday, I posted a 'discussion' on LinkedIn for the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau's Members Only group -- more than 600 of our 1,100 members are part of this group. That, coupled with the CCTB staff and McCormick Place staff, definitely contributed to a spike in votes -- we're committed to keeping Plastics in Chicago."

Isn't it interesting how she used social media to generate such a quick and overwhelming response to a timely question? There's a lesson there for all the B2B marketing pros in The Plastics Blog's audience.

The poll results don't bother me. The survey is unscientific, so readers should always take it with a grain of salt. It's interesting to see how people feel, and to get a rough idea of what issues readers consider important.

In this case, many of our readers are very interested in the debate -- as well as the hundreds of non-plastics industry people who voted on PlasticsNews.com this week.

(And if you don't agree with the vote, the polls are still open).

Look at it this way -- Chicago's convention officials are putting on a full-court press to keep NPE -- just like Orlando's did last week.

By the way, I took the opportunity to ask Risch about Chicago's revised proposal that forestalled the vote on where to hold the 2012 and 2015 shows, but she didn't offer any details.

"Chicago is glad to have been part of the process and we look forward to continued discussions with SPI," Risch said.

Someone seems to be taking the results of this week's Web poll very seriously.

The poll on our home page asks readers, "Would you prefer to attend NPE2012 in Chicago or Orlando, Fla.?"

It's a hot topic, and voting was pretty heavy on Monday and Tuesday.

Today, though, it went through the roof.

As of 5:45 p.m. ET, we've had more than 1,200 people vote in the poll. That figure far exceeds the previous record for one of our PN weekly polls. (The previous top spot: Oct. 1, 2004, we asked readers if the presidential election was held today, who would they elect. George W. Bush won with 60.4 percent of the votes).

On the NPE poll, Orlando was winning until today, and suddenly Chicago has picked up a couple of hundred votes -- with almost none for Orlando.

I can't tell if they're voting in alphabetical order, but it's obvious that the folks in McCormick Place discovered the poll.

Kathy Knusta, project coordinator with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (which owns McCormick Place) even posted a comment:

"Chicago is the best town! I have been a Chicagoan my whole life and when I travel I really realize how much I love my hometown! From the great people, the great food and the great events and sightseeing there is to do! Just recently, a friend came into town and she asked what could I do for the weekend? I didn´t even know where to begin because there is so much for us to offer! I don´t know one person I met that said they didn´t like Chicago after they left! Come visit and you´ll see!"

Thanks Kathy, and congratulations on the get-out-the-vote effort.

I've got some personal experience with Chicago elections -- I was an exit poll taker for WBBM TV in 1983, when Harold Washington won his first Democratic primary for the mayor's job, beating Jane Byrne and Richard M. Daley. So I can appreciate the effort being taken by the Chicago voters today.

It's all in fun, after all. And it doesn't hurt to show the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. members that Chicago wants to keep NPE.

Will the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. vote to move the NPE 2012 and 2015 shows to Orlando, Fla.? Or will Chicago manage to keep the show in McCormick Place?

Plastics News broke the story on Friday about the two cities courting SPI's Executive Board at SPI's meeting in Arlington, Va.

Today the Chicago Tribune weighs in, with a follow-up story headlined "Chicago in battle to keep plastics trade show."

According to the story, "A revised proposal from Chicago at the 11th hour forestalled a vote on whether to move the triennial show to Orlando starting in 2012. ... Chicago's last-minute revisions were 'significant enough' that the trade group's board didn't take a vote Oct. 16, as had been expected."

This is an issue that many within the plastics industry have very strong feelings. So far we've heard from a few who like Orlando.

Herb Hutchison of Global Advantage Group LLC posted this comment on our story minutes after it was posted:

Chicago has held this show hostage and has been very inflexible to exhibitors in the past. Why would we expect anything different in the future? It is time to move on, Orlando would be a much more friendly enviornment for both exhibitors and attendees.

Over the weekend, Walter Cornell of Up and Running add this post:

As an installer of plastics machinery, I know what hassles and costs Chicago levies on attendees when setting up their displays. I've know of union workers living out of state that fly into McCormick to work this deal. It's that lucrative, for them and costly for attendees. Florida is a right-to-work state so unions don't control Orlando's impressive and sparkling convention center.

Orlando has lower cost hotels within walking distance (no more bus/cab waiting lines) and with low cost airfares, international and domestic direct flights, people especially internationals, would want bring the whole family and enjoy the world famous attractions like Kennedy Space Center, The Golf and Beaches and of course Disney's Epcot SPI exhibit.

The world has changed, now it's time for a NPE change, let's try something new.

I've also heard from NPE exhibitors -- and attendees -- who think SPI should stick with Chicago.

Some think the flirtation with Orlando isn't really serious. They believe SPI is just trying to play hardball with Chicago, and win some concessions before going back to McCormick Place.

Well, SPI, I think you've got Chicago's attention. Now you're faced with a pretty big decision. What's it going to be -- Mickey's playground, or City of the Big Shoulders?

Tim Hanrahan's column in yesterday's Plastics News has me thinking again about NPE, Chicago, and McCormick Place.

I wrote an editorial on the topic a few weeks ago:

A story tucked away in our July 20 issue might have shocked some readers. Headlined "SPI looks at NPE venue change," it notes that the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. is going to consider whether to hold the next NPE somewhere other than Chicago's McCormick Place.

Before you panic -- or rejoice -- keep in mind that few U.S. venues have the combination of size, location and capability that McCormick Place can offer. Can you imagine having NPE in Orlando or Las Vegas? You'd miss out on a huge number of attendees -- like those drawn to Chicago -- who are an easy one-tank trip away.

Still, some exhibitors again were left with a bad aftertaste from their McCormick experience this year. Some are upset about labor union rules. That's always an issue, but especially so during this recession, where many firms are watching their budgets closely.

NPE organizer SPI said it is doing a thorough review of the show's location. A stronger economy in 2012 will make a lot of exhibitors forget about these problems. But in the meantime, SPI needs to continue to work with Chicago officials to address these concerns.

Hanrahan, CEO of Erema North America Inc. in Ipswich, Mass., took on the topic with his Perspective column, which we headlined "Costs could defeat McCormick."

Hanrahan notes that he has attended NPE shows since the 1980s, and he's been responsible for his firm's booth design and setup for about 20 years.

He makes the point that high costs -- not union shakedowns -- are the biggest problem at McCormick.

"I have not witnessed any of the rumored problems in the past regarding uncooperative workers, bribes or payoffs. I have found most of the tradespeople to be courteous and professional and, for the most part, qualified for the job," he wrote. "However, one issue that continues to cause concern is the amount of money required to exhibit in NPE."

He cites one humorous, and very memorable story, which will forever be known as "The Pepsi incident."

During the NPE2009 show, we ran out of soft drinks and ordered more through the Chicago Restaurant Partners LLC office. We ordered four cases of Pepsi products. I believe that if we traveled to a local grocery store, the total purchase would be around $30. Well, in McCormick Place $30 does not go very far.

The price of four cases of Pepsi products in McCormick Place typifies, for us, the general attitude and prices charged exhibitors.

The total charge for four cases of Pepsi, delivered to our booth, was $345.39. The invoice breaks down to $254 for the four cases of Pepsi, a 21 percent service charge, and a 10.25 percent Illinois state sales tax, a 3 percent Chicago soft drink tax, a tax on the service charge, and a food and beverage tax. Government taxes totaled $38.06, which is more than the legitimate retail price of the soft drinks.

Now, a nice man in a tuxedo delivered the Pepsi, along with a couple of buckets of ice and a few cups. Good service? Sure, but not worth $345.39.

In this era of discounts, it is amazing that someone can still charge 86 bucks for a case of Pepsi. I'm sure some blog readers are wondering about career opportunities in the black-market soft drink business at trade shows. Imagine what you could get for a case of beer!

Seriously, though, I appreciate Hanrahan sharing his story, and I wonder if Plastics Blog readers have their own trade show stories.

I still can't imagine SPI picking a new venue for NPE 2012. But I'm not surprised that it is taking a serious look at all the possibilities.

Yesterday we blogged about the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's story that criticized the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s social media-based Internet campaign, which it compared to tobacco industry lobbying efforts.

The story noted that SPI President and CEO Bill Carteaux "declined to be interviewed," but it quoted a speech that Carteaux gave at NPE2009.

For the record, here's a copy of a statement from Carteaux that SPI says it gave to the Milwaukee reporters prior to publication of their story. The statement was not included in their report:

"As you know conversations about plastics are already taking place in print, broadcast and online media as well as in town halls and state legislatures and in online forums and blogs. SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association is committed to developing and maintaining an open and transparent dialogue about the safety of products and their relationship to the economy, the environment and a sustainable future.

"Simply put, the goal of SPI's proposed consumer outreach campaign is to join the existing conversation about plastics with key stakeholder audiences -- including millennials, industry employees, policymakers and the media. Since we have not yet started the program, there is little to report at this time."

I still question how SPI handled this. The Journal Sentinel has taken a high profile in environmental journalism circles for its coverage of bisphenol A safety.

If SPI wants to be a player in the game of public opinion, it needs to step up the effort.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel continued its special report on the chemical industry this weekend with a story that takes a critical look at the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s social media-based Internet campaign aimed at the millennial generation.

On the Web, the story features a big photo of SPI President Bill Carteaux (although the story notes that he declined to comment). It describes SPI as a group that "represents manufacturers of thousands of products made with BPA."

To translate that, let's note that bisphenol A is a feedstock used to make polycarbonate, and that some -- but certainly not a majority -- of SPI members use polycarbonate.

The report quotes from a June video of Carteaux, apparently from his speech at NPE2009. Here's the nut graph -- the part of the story that sums up for readers the essence of the news:

The industry has launched an unprecedented public relations blitz that uses many of the same tactics -- and people -- the tobacco industry used in its decades-long fight against regulation. This time, the industry's arsenal includes state-of-the-art technology. Their modern-day Trojan horses: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and YouTube.

The story claims several times that the plastics industry is following the same playbook as the tobacco industry in managing public and regulatory concerns about product safety.

It concludes with some quotes from David Rosner, professor of public health and history at Columbia University, and co-author of "Deceit and Denial: the Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution."

"If I hadn't studied how this industry has operated in the past, I would say I was shocked," Rosner said. "But this attempt to deflect and distort public opinion is par for the course. They will ultimately do virtually anything to protect their product, even attack the messengers."

He added: "We're watching a propaganda campaign in the making."

I question why SPI didn't talk to the Milwaukee reporters for this story. Perhaps they didn't think they'd get a fair hearing.

Now that the tobacco industry comparison is on the table, I expect SPI will respond.

The Christian Science Monitor has a story today about Midwestern factories converting to serving the wind-energy market. The focus is squarely on HPM in Mount Gilead, Ohio.

The story is headlined "Can wind power save the Midwest? Renewable energy isn't big enough to offset declines in the auto industry, but companies are gung-ho for any new business."

The story notes that HPM, which started in 1877 making cider mills, owes its survival to a decision to make parts for wind turbines.

Without that, says Chris Filos, HPM's owner and CEO, "We'd have been out of business long ago."

Which explains why HPM had a 3-kilowatt wind turbine at NPE2009, taking up space that a few shows ago would have been used to feature one of the company's injection molding presses or extrusion lines.

According to the Monitor story, wind power is a growing market, and domestic manufacturers are pushing for a greater share of the pie.

The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s $10 million social-media ad campaign is generating some attention, including this video interview posted today on AdAge.com, the Web site for our sister publication Advertising Age.

SPI President and CEO Bill Carteaux explains how the ads will focus on the benefits of plastics, and how SPI will attempt to reach an audience of young people who may already have preconceived opinions against plastics.

The off-camera interviewer is Robert Grace, Plastics News' editor and associate publisher -- he did the story at NPE2009 in Chicago. For more PN videos from NPE, including a similarly themed interview with American Chemistry Council's Steve Russell, check out the video page on our Web site.

Earth911.com was among the news providers that sent representatives to the NPE2009 trade show. What did this recycling-focused Web site think of the plastics show? The site posted an item today titled "Sustainability a Focus of World's Largest Plastic Event."

("North America's largest plastic event" might have been a better title, or "One of the world's largest plastic events." But that's OK. Their point is that NPE is big, which is true.)

The report quotes SPI's Lynne Harris saying that NPE's Business of Plastics Conference featured sessions of interest to Earth911.com readers, including sustainability, energy efficiency, biopolymers and recycling.

It also quotes Sandra Keil, Earth911's vice president of government and industry affairs, who shared some thoughts about what she saw at the show:

Before attending NPE2009, I thought I understood plastics. I left with more questions than answers. After strolling the Expo Hall for two days, I spoke with those who make molds, machines, the actual plastic polymers, the preforms, plastic recyclers and even the company that makes a small plastic lining that is inserted into plastic bottles to keep the carbonation from escaping those sparkling beverages.

I used to believe that plastics were organized nicely into #1-7, but the catch is, there are now seven types of #2 plastic. What? My first thought was, 'how will that affect recycling?' What makes these seven plastic #2's different from one another? Can all seven types of #2 plastic be recycled together or will it create serious contamination?

On Thursday, I was fortunate to participate in a panel discussion headed by EPA that addressed ways to improve plastics recycling. The audience asked questions regarding the benefits of regulation, standardizing collection in the U.S. and following successful models of European countries.

All great thoughts and questions, yet plastics are evolving faster than we can set up programs for recycling. We benefit immeasurably with all the advancements in plastics, yet we are also deceiving ourselves that we can continue this habit of discarding this incredibly valuable material. My hope is that as plastics continue to advance, so will our commitment to plastic recycling.

Keil may have been surprised to learn that there are many types of No. 2 plastic (that's high density polyethylene, for readers who don't speak the language of recyclers). But that's not new -- recyclers have been dealing with different resin grades for decades.

Still, she seems to have a positive attitude about plastics. And her commitment to plastics recycling is a plus. I'm glad she had a chance to come to NPE and learn more about the industry.

In the spirit of my post last week on my daughter working at NPE2009, Christy (Petrakis) Domanoski sent me another great picture related to family and NPE.

This is a photo of Christy, her father (Steve Petrakis) and her grandfather (Myron Petrakis) at the show last week. All three have spent their entire careers in plastics (Christy notes, "OK, so maybe mine hasn't been as long yet...").

The Petrakis clan is pretty well known in plastics circles, but here's some resume information for those of you who aren't already familiar:

Myron Petrakis

Myron got his degree after serving in the navy in WWII from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He got one of the first plastics engineering degrees.

In 1951 he started on the shop floor with molder General American.

In the late 50s/early 60s he went to a company called Federal Tool in Skokie, Ill., and worked his way up to molding supervisor.

In the mid 1960s he left there and became one of the first direct salesmen for AEC Inc.

In the late 1960s he started his own manufacturers rep organization in Chicago called BP Plastics and retired from there in the early 1990s.

He currently serves as the police commissioner of Norridge, Ill., a post he has held for 50 years.

Steve Petrakis

Steve got his degree from Western Michigan in food distribution and soon thereafter went into plastics as a sales rep for his father's agency, BP Plastics in 1976.

He then was at EMI Corp. (Jackson Center, Ohio) from 1978-1989, working his way up to national sales manager.

In 1989 he started his own rep agency, Innovative Plastics Systems, which he had until 1991.

From 1991-2005 Steve held various positions at ACS Group involving sales and marketing, concluding his time there as VP of sales & marketing for Sterling, steam control division, ACS automation, ACS recycling division and industrial markets.

He then solidified his career long support of the SPI by joining them from 2005-2006 as their director of the Midwest and Northeast.

Currently he serves as President of Frigel North America and serves on many SPI committees, including the NPE Marketing Committee.

Christy (Petrakis) Domanoski

Christy got her start in plastics one summer when she was a Parts & Service intern at AEC.

Upon graduation from UW-Whitewater (and later masters from Roosevelt University, Chicago) she worked in the marketing department for ACS Group from 2002-2006.

Currently she is with a Milwaukee-based marketing communications firm, Scheibel Halaska, where she works with plastics companies such as Frigel, among others.

Thanks for sharing that photo, Christy. I encourage other blog readers to send their photos from the show ... perhaps we can put together a photo gallery.

Some things are better seen than read. That's why Plastics News is using video to help tell some of the more compelling personal and corporate tales of growth, change and new technology emerging from the show floor at NPE2009 in Chicago.

In addition to producing its traditional print show dailies, PN is posting a series of 16 news videos during the June 22-26 show. Videographer Steve Raddock caught up with most of this year's Hall of Fame inductees at the reception just prior to their induction banquet Monday, and has supplemented those brief interviews with clips about cool new technology, about the IDSA/Plastics News Design Award winner, and about someone who is putting together a television documentary about the plastics industry, among other topics.

You can view all the clips at www.plasticsnews.com/npe, which also features more than 100 news stories so far from the show (with many more to come).

See the girl -- or, rather, young lady, at the bottom of this entry? Allow me to get personal for a minute, and I'll explain why her photo is in the blog.

Back when I started at Plastics News in 1991, I had two young daughters and my wife was pregnant with a third. We had a busy year -- new job, a move to Ohio, and then my first NPE show in Chicago.

PN did show dailies, of course. It was a fun, but busy, week.

Plastics News was just two years old. I think that show -- and those dailies -- helped cement our role as an industry leader. A lot of the people on our team back at NPE '91 are still playing key roles at NPE2009 -- Tony Eagan, Bob Grace, Linda Whelan, Ron Shinn, Bill Bregar, Lisa Sarkis, Jeannie Reall, Mike Lauzon, and our cartoonist Rich Williams.

Not to mention Joe Wilssens, the professional photographer who has been shooting NPE shows for us since '91.

Those of you who come to NPE know that PN has energetic young men and women pass out our issues at the show. Three years ago my two older daughters were part of the team. They loved it.

This year my youngest daughter is on the distribution team, with two of her friends from Ohio, and lots of other terrific kids. You see them everywhere, dressed in tie-dyed T-shirts, passing out our dailies.

The young lady in the photo? That's my daughter -- the one who wasn't even born yet when I started at PN in 1991. And now here she is working at the 2009 show.

Time flies.

Where exactly is the global economy right now? In a trough? Starting to recover? You know the joke: Ask a couple of economists, and you'll get a couple of opinions.

But here's a ray of sunshine: DuPont Co.'s Robert C. Fry Jr. highlights the state of the economic recovery in his newest business development report, released today. The news for manufacturers is especially postive.

"Evidence is growing," he wrote, "that the U.S. economy is at or near a business-cycle trough." But for manufacturing, the economy may be poised for a nice rebound.

"The schedule for U.S. motor vehicle production ... argues for a June trough, at least for industrial production. Vehicle production has been slashed this year to the lowest levels since 1958, as General Motors and Chrysler have shut down plants as part of their restructuring, but production is scheduled to surge in the third quarter. Production will still be far below pre-recession levels, but the jump in seasonally-adjusted motor vehicle production from June to July will be huge, and given the importance of this industry as a source of demand for other industries, total U.S. industrial production is likely to rebound as well."

Fry also notes that the recovery has already begun in some of the developing countries of Asia and in Brazil, and that it is especially strong in South Korea and Taiwan.

NPE attendees will remember that the 2000 show took place just as the U.S. manufacturing sector hit a peak. Will NPE2009 be remembered as the show that started a long, strong recovery? Let's hope so.

You can have a great show with a small crowd, or a mediocre show with the floor packed with visitors. As show sponsors always say, it's the quality that's important, not the quantity, right?

Still, people want to know, how was attendance on the first two days of NPE2009?

The answer: we don't know yet.

The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. released some numbers at a news conference Monday afternoon, and updated them on Tuesday.

The key numbers that everyone wants are not available yet. But here's a look at what they had to say:

• The number of exhibiting companies: 1,851, about 200 more than the last show in 2006.
• The number of square feet of exhibit space: 977,000, off a bit from 1 million in 2006.
• Close to 42,000 people have pre-registered to attend the show, so far. That's as of Tuesday afternoon.

In addition, more than 3,200 people pre-registered for all of the collocated conferences, including the Society of Plastics Engineers' Antec.

Some exhibitors I spoke to Monday night felt the attendance was a bit light on the first day, although I didn't hear any complaints. Attendance on Tuesday seemed to pick up, according to some observers. Stay tuned.

Last-minute show-floor preparations are under way for NPE2009 in Chicago. Exhibitors are putting the final touches on their booths as Monday's opening day approaches.

I've been here at McCormick Place since Saturday morning, getting ready for our show dailies, plus our Web posting (in English and Chinese), videos, and news briefs on the show's product locators.

It's a busy week, but fortunately we've got a great team ready to handle all the news. Watch the NPE section of our Web site, plus our China sites, for frequent updates all week.

Paul Teutul Sr. from the TLC network show American Chopper will make a personal appearance at Aaron Equipment Co.'s booth at NPE2009.

Paul Sr. will sign autographs from 1-3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, at the booth, 83031 in McCormick's North building.

Aaron Equipment will offer free posters, and a motorcycle built by the Teutel family will be on display all week.

Wow, reality TV comes to NPE? Too bad none of the NPE exhibitors plan to have Jon or Kate Gosselin drop by for a photo shoot.

Paul Sr. won't be the only celeb on hand at NPE2009. Pro football legend Mike Ditka will keynote the Plastics Academy Hall of Fame induction ceremony that begins at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 22, in the McCormick West Ballroom.

Are you aware of any more celebrities coming to NPE2009? Do you have a favorite celeb visit from a previous NPE trade show?

Remember the 1968 Democratic National Convention? Some who do remember would like to forget -- but not everyone.

According to this Chicago Tribune story, some members of Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police plan to hold a "Chicago Riot Cops Reunion" on June 26 -- the Friday of NPE2009.

According to the "Riot Cops'" Web site, the reunion will be an opportunity to honor the Chicago Police "for their contributions to maintaining law and order -- and for taking a stand against Anarchy."

According to the Tribune story, protesters plan a counter-march the same night, after a rally at Union Park at Ashland Avenue and Lake Street.

I think the best bet for show--goers will be to avoid both rallies, to stay away from traffic tie-ups.

But if you're going to be at NPE and want to relive the 1960s for the evening, check it out.

To attendees, NPE can be something fun to look forward to. "Which restaurant will we have dinner at on Tuesday?" you may ask, or "which hospitality suite should we hit first?"

(Some of you may even give some advance thought to the exhibits you plan to visit, the people you want to meet and the conferences you want to attend.)

To me -- and to many exhibitors -- NPE is something that takes a lot of advance planning.

I know what goes into planning daily newspapers at NPE -- I've been part of the team at Plastics News that's done NPE dailies since 1991.

But I still can't imagine everything that goes into making sure that a booth full of working injection presses -- complete with auxiliary equipment and enough material to run the equipment for a week -- is set up and running perfectly in time for the show.

Exhibitors have been planning for this event for months, and an important step in the process started today. Exhibitor move-ins began on the show floor at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Eager for a sneak peek? A.J. Janosko, SPI's director of trade show services, is posting photos on SPI's "In the hopper" blog, and in this Web photo album.

Check it out. And get ready to enjoy the exhibits -- and our show dailies -- that you're going to see in person, starting on June 22.

Looking for the latest in technology related to sustainability, recycling, and other hot topics? NPE2009 will offer free 20 minute presentations on a variety of topics in the Technology Theater area at the West Hall.

Is your company prepared for threats from terrorism and global pandemics? Want to hear about how the U.S. Army is focusing on polymer innovations in food packaging? Do you want to be part of the industry's Plastics Ambassador Program, designed to educate and mobilize individuals to bring postive messages about plastics and plastics recycling to your communities?

These are a few of the topics that will be covered at the Technology Theater. Many others are more specifically focused on products and services offered by NPE exhibitors.

For a full list of the free presentations, check this link.

In a couple of weeks, visitors to NPE2009 will arrive in Chicago to paint the town plastic.

But right now, Chicago has a plastic-related project of its own that's pretty neat.

Columbian Model & Exhibit Works Ltd. is creating a plastic model of downtown Chicago. The Chicago Tribune has a feature story and slide show about the exhibit, which is on display at the Chicago Architecture Foundation in the Santa Fe Building, on 224 S. Michigan Ave.

Viewing of the 25- by-35-foot model is free. Each building in Chicago's downtown is represented, manufactured from acrylic using a stereolithography machine.

The exhibit runs through Sept. 20, and Cathy Tinker, owner of Columbian Model & Exhibit Works, told the newspaper "We're not aware of any city model that has a footprint of this size and scale anywhere else in this country."

Now if Chicago only had a tall building that tourists could visit where they could view the downtown area, to compare the accuracy of the model with the real thing...

BASF Corp.'s Polyurethane Business Unit is offering a design seminar for thermoplastic polyurethanes at NPE2009. The event will take place on Wed., June 24, in room W476 at Chicago's McCormick Place, from 2-5 p.m.

Admission is free to the first 100 registrants. For information, check the agenda and listing of speakers and topics at elastollanevent.com or e-mail info@elastollanevent.com.

Speakers include representatives from BASF, Krauss Maffei, Glycon, the Mold Doctor, BrandImage, Mike Sepe from the Material Analyst.

Maybe the Society of the Plastics Industry has William Shatner on retainer -- because today SPI announced that 59 percent of the 66 hotels on the official housing list for NPE2009 visitors have lowered their rates by an average of 14 percent.

The discounts aren't just for new bookings -- they also apply retroactively to those who have already made their reservations.

Expovision, the official housing contractor of SPI, negotiated the discounts on a hotel-by-hotel basis, at the behest of SPI.

According to the Washington-based trade group, of the 66 hotels listed, 39 agreed to lower their rates. The reduction of 14 percent represented a $37 per night reduction to $226 from an average room rate of $263.

$37? That's a couple of pizzas at Giordano's. Excellent!

"The hotel discounts are another in a series of cost-savings for exhibitors and attendees in the Stimulus Package developed by SPI to help make NPE2009 participation more affordable," said Gene Sanders, SPI vice president of trade shows. "We understand that this unprecedented economic situation calls for innovative measures to encourage everyone to take part in NPE2009."

The deadline for advance reservations is May 14. For more information, check the NPE2009 Housing Web site.

Do you have an eye for color, functionality and beauty? Do you know a good design when you see it? Put your skills to the test by judging the "People's Choice" category in the first International Plastics Design Competition.

Judging went live on the Web today. Check out the gallery of entries here.

There's a photo of each product, and you can click through to additional information including the name of the entrant, a description of the part or product, and an explanation of why it is innovative.

Judging in the other categories will take place at NPE2009 in Chicago. At the show, you can see all the products on display at the IPDC pavilion in the McCormick West building, Booth W123000.

Award winners will be announced Wednesday, June 24. There will be a reception in the foyer outside the West Building ballroom at 5 p.m., and the awards presentations start at 6:30. For tickets, contact Patti Gillespie at the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc., tel: 1-847-506-6409 or email: pgillespie@plasticsindustry.org.

Best of luck to all the competitors.

The news that the Society of Plastics Engineers' Thermoforming Division is canceling its fall conference this year got me thinking about the first time I covered this meeting, back in 1991.

The conference, then called the Fall Thermoforming Technical Conference, was held up in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., plus a side-trip to some companies in nearby Portage.

I was still in my first year at Plastics News. But I was lucky enough on that trip to witness the start of what became a very successful annual conference, and meet the individuals -- mostly volunteers, of course -- who ran the show.

So many of them reached out to help me. I know I'll forget someone, but I'll try to name some of the memorable characters anyway -- Bill McConnell Jr., Steve Murrill, Art Buckel, Paul Alongi, John Griep, Gwen Mathis... really, it was a Who's Who of thermoforming.

I got plenty of information for Plastics News' first special report on thermoforming, not to mention all the Texas Aggie jokes I could every want from McConnell's dinner address.

At the meeting, I also was introduced to a couple of executives who convinced me to extend my trip and visit their plants across the Mississippi River. They were Jim Blin at Triangle Plastics Inc. and Chris Grimm at Grimm Bros. Plastics Corp. Of course I took them up on the invitation -- it was a great opportunity to see a pair of rival companies and compare their operations and strategies.

I don't want this post to sound at all negative. After all, the Thermoforming Division remains very strong. (A year ago, we called it "The little division that could" in a Page 1 story.)

But it strikes me as noteworthy that the division that even managed to hold its meeting just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks won't be holding an annual meeting this year.

I hope the Thermoforming World Pavilion at NPE2009 is a big success, and that the conference comes back stronger than ever next year.