Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Viewpoint
April 07, 2015 02:00 AM

Weird theft doesn't slow exhibitor

Bill Bregar
Senior Staff Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Rich Williams
    Caroline Seidel for Plastics News

    Bill Bregar

    Over the years, Plastics News has reported on some strange trade-show mishaps.

    But the theft of a truck, and subsequent damage to two Wittmann Battenfeld injection presses, is the weirdest one.

    It's like something from a Carl Hiaasen novel.

    You've probably already heard about this, so I'll keep the recap short: In the wee hours of March 12, thieves broke into a secure staging area in Ormond Beach, Fla., and stole a tractor-trailer truck.

    The bad guys drove away and abandoned the trailer along a freeway exit ramp, where it sank into soft sand — probably slowly — and tipped over.

    The presses, which had been bound for Wittmann Battenfeld Inc.'s NPE 2015 booth, were damaged. Just 10 days before NPE was about to begin!

    Wittmann Battenfeld scrambled to get replacement machines. This is a case where company leaders of European machinery (Wittmann Battenfeld is based in Austria), are glad they have a major stock of machines at a U.S. facility.

    You could see how they fared at Wittmann Battenfeld's NPE exhibit, Booth W2743.

    “I've been doing shows for 35 years and this takes the cake,” said Tom Betts, regional manager for injection molding at Wittmann Battenfeld.

    The audacious theft is strange enough. But what takes it up a notch on the bizarreness scale is what Florida police told Betts: These truck thefts are pretty common in Florida.

    “What they do, apparently, is they'll steal the tractor and the trailer and then they just get away as quickly as possible,” Betts said. “And then they find an isolated area where they can swap out the tractor with a different trailer so the tractor and trailer no longer matches the description of the trailer that is stolen.”

    Brilliant, right? Not when you pull off in a sandy area. You might as well try making the switch on Daytona Beach.

    Then it gets even weirder. It was Bike Week in Daytona. Maybe the thieves thought the trailer was full of Harleys. That theory comes from an official of the trucking company.

    The thieves always could have pulled the canvas back and seen that the truck held injection molding machines, not Harleys. Well, maybe they were plastics engineers. But I doubt it.

    Since NPE ended, police in Florida have moved the investigation forward, after arresting truck thieves in another case who happened to have a key chain that belonged to the driver of the truck involved with the Wittmann Battenfeld theft.

    Hiaasen, who writes bitingly funny crime novels set in Florida, could use this one. It reminded me of a cross between the television shows “Breaking Bad” and “Sons of Anarchy.”

    This story blew away the other news about NPE 2015 machinery logistics: The labor dispute that brought West Coast ports to a near standstill.

    And The Great Florida Injection Press Robbery got us thinking about other machinery foibles.

    Back before NPE 1991, a 770-ton injection press — weighing 88,000 pounds — fell off a truck at the Port of Los Angeles when the driver went around a corner too quickly. The FCS-brand press was made in Taiwan, and had been destined for Excel Machinery Corp.'s NPE booth in Chicago.

    We ran photographs of that incident, too. Guess what? A truck on its side with a busted injection press spilled out looks pretty much the same, in California, Florida or anywhere else.

    Bregar is a Plastics News senior reporter.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Is the market getting serious about using recycled plastics?
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics
    2
    Sonoco closing California plant, laying off more than 300
    3
    Plastics industry ‘not running away from its own problems,' ACC's Eisenberg says
    4
    ExxonMobil completes $2B Texas expansion
    5
    ACC campaign targets Biden administration's ‘regulatory overreach'
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified