WASHINGTON — Final registration figures for NPE 2015 hit 65,810, up 19 percent from the last show, in 2012.
Some 26 percent of the registrants came from outside the United States, and nearly 5,000 were from Latin America, according to the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc., the show organizer.
“What made NPE 2015 a milestone in the 69-year history of NPE was not only its size and international diversity, but also the richness of its offerings to attendees,” said SPI President and CEO Bill Carteaux, in a news release.
“The hundreds of machines operating on the show floor, the customer service centers provided by material suppliers, the pavilions and programs on current issues and emerging technologies, the extensive agenda of co-located conferences — this wealth of content surpassed our previous shows and now provides a guideline for making future NPEs even more attractive to participants. The plastics industry should be truly proud of its show.”
Washington-based SPI counts registrants rather than actual attendees, making comparisons to previous shows difficult. The 2000 NPE show holds the record for the most registrations — about 90,000 — but observers don't believe that was an accurate measure of actual attendance.