Kickstart: Time to move in for NPE

It's been a busy few days at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., and it's about to get even busier.

The 2,000 exhibitors at NPE2024 were allowed to begin setting up booths on April 24. NPE organizers from the Plastics Industry Association shared photos on social media of trucks lined up outside the convention center loaded with equipment waiting for gates to open.

Exhibitor move-in will continue through May 5. Companies were assigned a move-in plan and schedule based on their booth size, location and complexity. I have the impression that it may sometimes seem as though the movement of machines, electrical hookups for presses and equipment, booth structures, signage, carpeting and deliveries across 1 million square feet of convention space is nearly as complicated as the work of an air traffic controller. Or maybe as hectic as that of a wedding planner trying to determine table assignments for a party with feuding in laws.

Exhibitors must have everything set up by 4 p.m. May 5. Doors open for about 55,000 attendees at 9 a.m. May 6.

And of course once the show ends at 3 p.m. on May 10, the whole process is reversed as exhibitors are allowed to begin packing up their booths and equipment. Everything has to be cleared out by 5 p.m. on May 19.

Health care company Eli Lilly & Co. put a lot of hours on a Wittmann micro molding work cell developing products. And now that equipment has been donated to University of Massachusetts Lowell to develop future plastics engineers.

Lilly and Wittmann donated the machine — after it was refurbished and upgraded by Wittmann USA of Torrington, Conn. — to the university in an April 11 event. Wittmann USA President David Preusse and Ho-Seon Jin, Lilly senior director of engineering, are both UMass Lowell alumni and spearheaded the donation with Davide Masato, assistant professor of plastics engineering at the university.

"After being involved in the original use of this Wittmann micro molding work cell, I am thrilled on behalf of Lilly to be a part of this donation to the university," Jin said in a news release. "UMass Lowell means a lot to me and I hope this helps the university continue its great work to develop talented engineers for the plastics industry."

In 2016, Wittmann donated an Industry 4.0 work cell to UMass Lowell with an injection molding machine, robot and auxiliary equipment. That system continues to be used by students.

A multilayer bag based on polypropylene may help save lives.

A consortium of companies, including the Spanish plastics technology research group Aimplas, is developing a sack that can used in emergency conditions by the International Committee of the Red Cross to hold food staples such as flour and dried beans as well as blankets and other essential items.

Aimplas has produced more than 2,000 sacks as part of the project, our sister paper Sustainable Plastics writes.

The sacks can be made with recycled material and use additives to delay degradation when exposed to extreme environmental conditions. More than 1,500 of them are slated to be field tested at sites in Cameroon, India and Turkey this year.