Bogotá, Colombia — When K 2022 opens its doors to visitors on Oct. 19, it will be the first global plastics trade show since the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will also be the first show headed by Thomas Franken, who was promoted to director of K for Messe Düsseldorf GmbH in September 2020.
But Franken isn't new to K. He was deputy director of K 2019. At the time, he reported to Petra Cullmann, who has since been promoted to executive director of Messe Düsseldorf.
2022 also marks the 70th anniversary of K, which is held every three years and is traditionally one of the most important events in the global plastics industry.
In his role, Franken attends plastics events all over the world. Plastics News spoke with Franken at the Colombiaplast trade show in Bogotá. Messe Düsseldorf and Corferias, the International Business and Exhibition Center of Bogota, jointly organize Colombiaplast with Acoplasticos, the Asociación Colombiana de Industrias Plásticas.
Q: Somehow the timing has worked out so that you didn't miss a K show — the last one was held in 2019, and now you're right on schedule for 2022. So much has changed, in plastics and the trade show business. But it seems like things are getting back to normal. Is that right?
Franken: We are fully back to business. For sure, the last two years have been challenging, especially for Messe Düsseldorf, because we had to postpone or cancel a lot of shows.
Luckily, K was not involved in that, because the last show happened just before the pandemic started. But we did have to postpone some other big shows including Drupa [a printing show usually held every four years] and Interpack [a packaging show usually held every three years]. We couldn't do those shows because of the regulations and restrictions.
The preparations for K have been a little more challenging for the team and me, as you can imagine. Our exhibitor application process started in 2021, which was when Europe was seeing a big wave of the pandemic. Some companies were still insecure about what was happening and even the future of shows. They wondered at the time, what would the situation be like in October 2022?
We talked to a lot of companies, and they had a lot of experience with virtual meetings and some virtual trade shows, and everyone was not really satisfied with the results. So we were really fortunate, and by the end of our application period, we sold out the 2022 show again.
Q: For a lot of people, K 2022 might be the first big, in-person trade show since 2019.
Franken: That's correct, because a lot of shows had to be canceled during the pandemic. And there haven't been a lot of international plastics and rubber shows worldwide since our 2019 edition. There have been a few, but some of them only could happen on a local basis, without international participation.
So I'm really optimistic and looking forward to K 2022, because I think this is now the first chance where the plastics and rubber industry has a chance to meet on a global scale again, so that everyone from all over the world will have a chance to be part of it.
Even though there are still some travel restrictions, due to [COVID] regulations, I expect to see visitors at K from China. Even if they have to quarantine for a few days after returning home, they're willing to do that to be part of the show.
Q: What are people concerned about now? The economy? Rising energy prices? The conflict in Ukraine?
Franken: There are new challenges. We won't have any Russian exhibitors, but I'm not sure about whether we'll see visitors from Russia. And yes, energy prices are an issue. This is especially a problem for a lot of our exhibiting companies, because they really need a lot of energy to be producing materials. So this is a really challenging time for them.
For the technology side, I think it's not too bad. The machinery companies did face issues getting components during the pandemic, and even issues delivering machines to their customers. It's a problem, but not like it was two years ago.
Q: At the same time, the plastics industry mostly stayed open through the pandemic everywhere in the world. Plastics played a key role in battling the coronavirus pandemic, so these companies are mostly healthy.
Franken: That's right, most of them are really healthy. And I think the pandemic showed that life without plastic is not possible, because plastics were needed for medical and hygiene products, and even for takeout food, which helped restaurants stay in business. It was a good chance to show that plastics are needed.
Q: What are the biggest trends that you expect people will be talking about at K 2022?
Franken: We had some talks with our exhibitors and our associations about what the big topics will be for the next show. They all agreed that in 2019, the topic of the circular economy dominated the whole show. And even then, you could see a lot of solutions and technologies for the circular economy.
During the last few years, a lot happened and a lot of development has been made, especially for the technology side. So that circular economy is still one of the big topics.
Another theme will be climate protection. We all know if you're thinking about electric vehicles or energy-efficient construction, plastic is needed. You also can't have more renewable energy, like wind energy, without plastics.
We're also going to hear a lot about digitalization. Technology is advancing and machines are getting smarter and interacting between each other. We will see a lot of good examples of this at the show. Digitalization will also help sustainability to create better sorting systems to help recycling.
There's been a lot of progress since the last show. You will see examples of cooperation between the technology companies, the material producers and recyclers. The VDMA [Europe's plastics and rubber machinery trade group] is creating a special zone to highlight that.
We want to make it clear to all our visitors that if they come to K, that will see the best technologies available today. And that's the reason why we have the Circular Economy Forum in the open fairground, where the exhibitors decided to have a special presentation of booths to focus on circular economy.
Q: Do you have a sense of what attendance will be like, based on pre-registration? What are your expectations?
Franken: It's hard to say any number at the moment. In Europe, a lot of shows have seen attendance down 20 or 30 percent, some even 40 percent. But we have also seen some really good examples. We do see the registration numbers, but all the other organizers tell us that everything will be happening later, just before the show.
So we are not really worried at the moment. We know that our exhibitors are still inviting everyone. And as we already said, K will be the first chance after three years to meet again on a global scale. And for that reason, I'm more than optimistic. We might see a drop in attendance of something like 20 or 30 percent, but we have to wait and see. It's hard to say how it's evolving.
Q: You want to be realistic, and also surpass expectations, right? Is that what you're thinking?
Franken: Everyone will talk about the figures, but the most important thing for us is that our exhibitors are happy with the quality of the visitors. This is something that we've seen at all of our shows that have happened since the pandemic. Our exhibitors have said, "Well, it's fewer visitors, but it was good quality, because everyone who came was really interested in the products and they really wanted to invest."
We have to see what's going to happen with K. But as I said, I'm really optimistic.