Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'

Many companies that planned to exhibit at NPE2021 are relieved that the Plastics Industry Association chose to cancel the show.

That includes Conrad Bessemer, president and CEO of auxiliary equipment maker Novatec Inc. After being part of Operation Warp Speed — the national effort to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines and diagnostics — he has been wary about attending NPE2021, which had been scheduled for May 17-21 in Orlando, Fla.

"We're not in a young industry. Most of us are mature people and with the age factor there are comorbidities like hypertension and diabetes," Bessemer said in a phone interview.

In addition to plastics machinery, the Baltimore-based company supplies equipment to virus test makers and makes fever-scanning devices to screen people for high temperatures, one of the signs of the deadly disease that has killed more than 350,000 Americans and 1.87 million people worldwide.

While Bessemer was among the first to publicly say that his company would not exhibit at the show, a lot of plastics industry executives quietly agreed with him. Some now say that they also leaned toward not attending or at least scaling back their presence at the event, which is organized by the Washington-based Plastics Industry Association.

Injection press and robot maker Wittmann Battenfeld Inc. in Torrington, Conn., suspended plans for an in-person NPE2021 a couple months ago, President David Preusse said in an email.

"We had decided some time ago that May was too early to allow risk to our staff," he explained. "The viral spread is well underway these days, which shows how aggressively these various strains can travel. Unfortunately, no one exactly knows who may have serious or tragic outcomes.

"As staff would have returned from the show, some carriers would be affecting other staff, family, friends, and we couldn't take that risk. Ethics is still important," he said.

The danger of exposing people to a deadly virus weighed heavily against the trade show, which was first held in 1946 as the National Plastics Exposition. Exhibitors were also concerned that attendance would be limited. In 2018, NPE had 56,034 registered attendees. Bessemer thought the 2021 show might attract just 10-20 percent of that total.

Beyond the reduced numbers, with social distancing, companies would not be able to send as many staff and machines.

Also, Novatec employees weren't embracing the idea of traveling to Florida and spending long hours indoors in a crowded place.

"I'd have to be drawing short straws to determine who would go to the show to be fair," Bessemer said, adding the sales team was "overjoyed" with the company's decision to halt in-person NPE plans even before the association made its move to cancel an in-person show.

"On a three-year cycle like this, you keep hoping for the best. But, the closer we got, it increasingly looked to us like the stars were not going to align," Bessemer said.

Novatec had made a $50,000 down payment for its booth to the association. Another $50,000 was due Jan. 8. After that, Novatec would have faced "significant" expenses to build out its booth, transport machines, lodge and feed employees, and more.

"For $100,000, you get a pad of concrete," Bessemer said. "The booth cost is like a down payment. Our budget for the event is $750,000. Last time, the lighting alone was $60,000."

Preusse doesn't think it will hurt Wittmann Battenfeld or the plastics industry to skip an NPE cycle.

"I confess, with a smile, my budget improved dramatically without such resources and investments for 27 truckloads to build a molding plant in two weeks in Orlando," Preusse added. "Our sales and management are still currently having difficulties to get client appointments in groups of two to four people, with precautions as masks and frequent testing. We are very hopeful customer meetings may improve in the second half of 2021 and we look forward to it."

At some point, Bessemer expects the booth deposit money to be rolled forward to the next NPE event, which is set for 2024, or for the company to be recompensated somehow.

"In our case, $50,000 is not small change, but it's nothing compared to exposing people," Bessemer said.

NPE organizers took some heat for waiting until Jan. 5 to call off the event. One plastics executive took the trade group to task on social media for being motivated more by "pressure" than "concern."

However, others, like John Jorgensen, president of Conventus Polymers, mustered patience and reserved judgment.

"[It's] impossible to know the first week of January whether [the association] made the right call on an event happening five months into the future," Jorgensen said in an email. "They had a tough decision to make. While Conventus is disappointed there will not be NPE2021, it would be presumptuous to judge the decision at this point."

Conventus had been moving forward with its show plans, but not at its usual pace, Jorgensen added.

"Given the circumstances, we were a bit behind schedule compared to preparations for other shows and would have had some catching up to do," he said. "It was important the decision was made when it was."

At GN Thermoforming Equipment Co. in Chester, Nova Scotia, company officials were "quite far out" in their planning, according to Paul Phillips, sales and marketing manager.

"Hotels are booked. Booth space is paid for. We already had machines in our production schedule specifically to take to the show. Our booth was fully designed and we had negotiated with vendors to build it," Phillips said in an email. "In most years, we would have already had this contract issued for the booth build but had waited due to the uncertainty around the show with COVID-19."

As it held off on finalizing its booth contract, GN officials debated their next step and surveyed staff about their comfort levels to attend.

"We had been touching base with customers to see if they would attend to help make our decision but we had only started that before the show was canceled," Phillips said.

A decision came from the show organizers and Phillips said it was the right one.

"Health and safety are the most important factors for our employees, customers and industry colleagues," he added. "Without a full vaccine rollout, we do not think that the NPE2021 would have been able to be done safely."

The Plastics Industry Association made its call to cancel earlier than the organizers of Fakuma, the trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany, Preusse said, also crediting the trade group for being helpful.

"We salute them for this move," Preusse said. "Given many more weeks, as major OEMs pulled out, then the smaller folks would pull out, [and] likely bring the show down and possibly only raise for some constituents more unrecoverable expenses. Attendance would be 10-15 percent of the last show, so the return on investment for exhibit expenditures on a business level alone is prohibitive."

Mac Jones, president of Milacron Injection Molding and Extrusion, said he appreciates the work of association President and CEO Tony Radoszewski and his leadership team that assessed the situation and made a tough call.

"Although it was a very difficult decision to make, they are acting in the best interest of everyone involved," Jones said in an email.

Mark Sankovitch, CEO of Engel North America, agreed.

"We absolutely think this was the right call considering the situation at hand and we appreciate [the association] making this decision now, instead of dragging it out," Sankovitch said in an email. "Without a vaccine being available for the general public, it just would not have been safe to conduct an event of this size. Many of our customers and business partners had already indicated that they would not attend the show. Consequently, we were expecting very low visitor numbers."

Engel, an injection molding machine builder, had already come up with an NPE2021 exhibit plan that met the safety requirements and guidelines put in place by the trade group and the Orange County Convention Center.

"But in reality, it would have been extremely difficult to set up a booth and make visitors feel comfortable," Sankovitch said.

Officials at LS Mtron Ltd. had similar concerns about its 3,500-square-foot booth. Many sales employees are over age 50 and have underlying health conditions, according to Peter Gardner, vice president of sales and general manager at Daiichi Jitsugyo America Inc., which sells LS Mtron injection presses in the United States.

"It would be immoral for us to require them to go and to travel in crowded airplanes, etc.," Gardner said in an email. "The same goes for the needed setup and salespersons who would be dispatched from LS Mtron in South Korea."

Then, there's the unknowns about travel restrictions, Gardner added. He said South Korea requires anyone coming from the U.S. to quarantine for two weeks in South Korea.

"It would be very difficult," Gardner said. "Even where I live, in the San Francisco area, there is currently a stay-at-home order in place. I'm technically not supposed to leave my county unless it's essential travel. Who knows what the situation may be in May? I certainly hope it's better."

Because of all the uncertainty, LS Mtron officials had not put a lot of effort toward NPE2021 plans.

"We had done very limited planning and had almost 100 percent decided that we could not attend and exhibit at a live event," Gardner said. "Frankly speaking, we felt we were just waiting for show organizers to cancel the event."

Now that it has been canceled, LS Mtron will reallocate its NPE2021 budget to technology investments, expanding its U.S. footprint and adding inventory, warehousing and other infrastructure, Gardner said.

Absolute Group, which sells Haitian presses, had three booths booked for NPE2021.

“While we are disappointed, we also believe that there is too much uncertainty associated with the pandemic to hold the event,” a company spokesperson said.

For many financial and health reasons, there seems to be a collective sigh of relief that the plastics show is canceled.

Techmer PM Chairman and CEO John Manuck put it this way in an email: "We think it is the correct move. ... It would be irresponsible to create a spreader event in our industry. Everyone in our supply chain is struggling with keeping plants staffed, testing employees, contact tracing and preventative measures against the virus. The vaccine is critical to getting this behind us by summer."

Davis-Standard LLC CEO and President Jim Murphy agreed.

"We understand this was a difficult decision, but the correct one given the pandemic and its impact on travel and large gatherings," Murphy said in an email.

The extrusion equipment maker will now move ahead with finalizing its contingency plans, he added.

"While the cancellation of NPE2021 is disappointing, we will utilize other mediums to communicate with the market about new products and new technology," Murphy said. "2020 was a successful year for Davis-Standard and we expect to see improved opportunities in 2021."

Sam Rajkovich, vice president of sales and marketing at Conair Group, an auxiliary equipment manufacturer, called the show cancellation "the right thing to do." The Cranberry Township, Pa.-based company is planning a digital event for the same time period.

"We will, of course, miss seeing everyone in Orlando, but we are happy with the decision. Conair has already begun developing tools that will allow us to meet customers virtually beginning on May 17 and introduce them to the exciting new product and technology developments we have been working on," Rajkovich said in an email.

Jim Healy, vice president of sales and marketing for robot and automation supplier Sepro America said: "While the in-person component of NPE 2021 has been canceled, we at Sepro America certainly understand and accept the decision -— as difficult as it must have been for [the association] to make it. We will wait for further news from Plastics regarding the virtual options available for reaching our customers and prospects and Sepro will support that aspect of the show."

Suresh Swaminathan, president of Teknor Apex, also expressed support to halt plans for an in-person NPE2021.

"As much as we look forward to this event and the ability to reconnect with our customers, supply chain partners and industry peers, the safety of all involved must come first.

"We are confident the plastic industry will continue to adapt to the challenges ahead and look forward to the day we can all safely come together again," Swaminathan said in an email.

Americhem officials issued a statement with similar sentiments.

"Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have held the safety of our employees, their families and our business partners as our top priority. While we truly value NPE and the ... association, we fully understand and respect their decision to cancel the in-person event. We look forward to coming together again when the time is right and it is safe to do so."

Paul Caprio, president of Engel North America, said the company developed a virtual platform that is a "fantastic alternative" to meet visitors, customers and present exhibits. Called the "Engel live experience," it allows for one-on-one meetings, small group discussions and lectures with industry experts.

"Visitors can stroll through our virtual showroom on their own or together with their team," Caprio said in an email. "They can spend as much time as needed to explore the machine, the application and the technology behind the exhibit. And of course, if they wish, our team will be available to guide them through the Engel showroom to explain each exhibit in detail and answer any questions. Just like at a real show."

Caprio said Engel will offer an extensive program live around the time that NPE was scheduled. Registration will open soon.

Like other companies, Preusse said Wittmann Battenfeld is revamping its website, active social media channels, continuing with its Innovations magazine and developing ways to reach its audience.

"We'll have to look at what the vaccines do to suppress the pandemic strains, and consider if in late fall we could have an open house," Preusse added. "We learned there is no script for pandemics."

Healy at Sepro said the company is considering Plastec West, now scheduled for Aug. 10-12 in Anaheim, Calif., but no definite plans have been made. Rajkovich said Conair is currently signed up to participate in the Anaheim show.

"Hopefully we will be in a better position with respect to COVID-19 by that time and we can continue with this event," he said.

Preusse said he couldn't say what trade shows Wittmann Battenfeld would likely attend next.

"I'll have to get back to you on that," he said. "My crystal ball on shows is black today."