TAMPA, FLA. (Dec. 12, 12:15 p.m. ET) — Managerial best practices, resin market updates, social media business strategies, financing tips, merger and acquisition trends, innovation approaches, recycling insights, economic projections, and hiring/talent retention/training tactics are all on the agenda for the 14th annual Plastics News Executive Forum next month in Florida.
The 2012 forum, taking place Jan. 29-Feb. 1 at Tampa's Saddlebrook Resort, also is where the publication will crown its latest Processor of the Year, and honor the firms that will earn PN's Excellence Awards for customer relations, employee relations, and industry/public service.
Some two dozen presenters will share their knowledge on all the above topics and more. Here are just a few select speakers and topics:
• Wisconsin processor Bemis Manufacturing Co.'s Gary Vande Berg and Jonathan Bemis will explain how their firm developed and implemented a new “playbook management” information technology system that has boosted productivity and improved transparency with customers;
• John Manuck, president and CEO of color and additive concentrates producer Techmer PM LLC, will share what he has learned about managing a growing organization through change and globalization;
• Nick Vafiadis, a business director with Chemical Markets Associates Inc., will discuss polyolefin resin prospects and how shale gas development is likely to impact upstream PE users;
• Paul Moyer, vice president and general manager of plastics for Styron LLC, will assess the future for the key styrenic, polycarbonate and specialty resin markets;
• A pair of directors from AlixPartners LLP will unveil new research that dissects why so many firms fall short of their lean manufacturing goals, and suggest what can be done about it;
• Innovation also will be a major focus, from both the product design/development and manufacturing process perspectives. Executives from 3M Co, Blackwell Plastics, Dow Corning Corp. and Eastman Chemical Co. will form a panel to discuss tactics for streamlining co-innovation with partners. MGS Mfg. Group Marketing Director John Berg, meanwhile, will team with Sigma Plastics Services President Christof Heisser on a case study to show how process simulation can benefit can entire injection molding operation.
• Top executives of this year's three Processor of the Year finalist companies – who will be revealed in a story in the Jan. 9 issue of PN – will share best-practice advice in a conference-closing panel on Feb. 1.
The full list of presenters and their topics can be found at www.plasticsnews.com/forum2012.
