GE sells itself short when it avoids NPE
I read all of your Plastics News issues with interest. I have seen the report on GE Plastics staying away from the NPE show and conducting seminars across the United States to reach out to clients [``GE Plastics finds seminars NPE alternative,'' Oct. 30, Page 27]. I have also seen the opinion of Walt Bishop, vice president of trade shows for the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. [``NPE complements GE business strategy,'' Mailbag, Nov. 6, Page 6].
I have been involved in trade shows for the last 20 years in India, being actively associated with helping to plan and oversee international and national fairs. One thing that the fairs offer exhibitors is unknown prospects who become customers.
Even GE Plastics, with its huge scale of operations and manpower, cannot know all the prospects in the marketplace. In fact, there are almost 25-35 percent overseas business visitors at NPE who may never be invited to a GE Plastics seminar.
Several dozen exhibitors have told us over the last 20 years that well-organized fairs help them meet totally new clients. They also get new ideas about the future needs of end users. These are prospects who are not on their radar screens at all. Several of them tell us that they have been able to enter new markets, which they had not imagined existed, and they give credit to trade-fair participation.
In view of this, by remaining away totally from NPE shows, GE Plastics runs the risk of missing out on the unknown possibilities of business.
Maybe GE Plastics has enough business for a few years not to be worried about possibilities it may have missed out on from trade fair inquiries.
Vijay Merchant
Past president
All India Plastics Manufacturers Association
Mumbai, India
Lack of equal trade is hurting everyone
I am a plastic injection mold designer with 20-plus years of experience. My designs have been done from the drafting table to using computers. I was laid off from my last job of 14 years this spring due to competition from foreign companies, and I have yet to find a job.
The international lack of equal trade practices is closing shops all over America and putting toolmakers and tool designers out of work, and it makes me wonder.
Is the bottom line truly that important, that companies will not use American labor? Why are the American workers being put out of work because of corporate greed? We are all in a fiscal bind these days, but we should all work together to help us stay employed and, in turn, have money to buy the products that corporate America sells.
We are the consumers, the most important thing that a company needs - people who will buy corporate American products.
In the long run we all lose: We lose jobs, companies lose customers, and we will be weaker for it!
Michael Bridges
Evansville, Ind.