Kickstart: Are you ready for a trade show?

Organizers of Poland's Plastpol trade show for rubber and plastics processing says it is ready to go Oct. 6-8 in Kielce, with modifications. Those modifications begin with the dates. The event usually takes place over four days in May. For 2020, it was delayed to October and cut back to three days.

"The fact that the exhibition is actually held provides an essential stimulus for the economy, which has been put on halt for several months," organizers said when they introduced the new dates. "The expo is a clear signal that the plastics and rubber processing industry and market are ready for a rebound and improvement."

In addition to the schedule change, masks covering the nose and mouth must be worn at the show at all times. If you don't have one, trade show organizers have arranged for mask vending machines to be on site.

And no, I didn't know there were mask vending machines either, but they're apparently in use globally. (And the masks are packaged in film, so there's another unexpected business opportunity for flexible packaging makers.)

The Canadian Association of Mold Makers and Automate Canada are out with their 11th survey related to COVID-19 business issues faced by companies producing molds and automation equipment in Canada.

On the good news side of the equation, companies participating in the survey had a combined 70 employees on a temporary layoff, compared with 2,661 during the height of the pandemic.

In addition, customers are seeking bids for new programs: 22, or 66 percent of those answering the survey. But 18 companies said they'd been informed by customers that projects had been canceled or delayed indefinitely, which will impact the pipeline for future income.

One big question hanging over manufacturers is planning for a second wave of the pandemic. Eighty percent of respondents said they're preparing for a second wave, with plantwide use of face masks along with increased remote work and temperature screening ready to go.

Toyota wants to make the ultimate in off-road vehicles.

The "Lunar Rover" aims to be a major upgrade to those basic buggies the Apollo astronauts drove (and left) on the moon, and while this story from our sister paper Automotive News doesn't get into specifics on materials, you can bet that composites will be involved.

The Rover is a dream concept of a "six-wheeled, pressurized, hydrogen-powered moon rover it hopes to have traversing the rocky lunar surface in a decade," Hans Greimel writes.

"We have now found a new 'road,' which is the moon. And for this new road, we will be able to make a new vehicle," said Takao Sato, project head of Toyota's Lunar Exploration Mobility Works and a former interior design engineer who worked on the Prius hybrid. "This is a dream for us."