First up on the calendar is TAPPI's PLACE event in Brogans, Austria. TAPPI is the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, packaging and converting industries; it's 13^th European PLACE (Polymers Laminations Adhesives Coatings Extrusions markets) event in Europe this year is held in May 30-June 1 in the Festspielhaus und Kongresshaus Bregenz in Bregenz, Austria. The program has a lot to offer processors of plastic film; updated information on the program is available here.

Another excellent event takes place June 13-15 at the 3rd Injection Molding Conference at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, in Erie, PA. This year's conference will focus on some of the hottest topics in the injection molding industry: medical molding, LSR molding, and sustainability. There will be morning technical presentations given by industry experts, followed by afternoon sessions that will offer hands-on tutorials by the Penn State faculty in their plastics research and instructional labs.

The Conference has an impressive agenda and is worth a look online at http://agsci.psu.edu/injectionmolding. 

Can't make it to Erie? Pity, but we can still make it an informative day, and from your own office. On June 15 we will host the next in our own Extrusion Expert webinar series, and on June 17 at 12:00 ET the second webinar in our Injection Molding Expert series.

The former is scheduled for June 15 at 14:00 ET. Allan Griff, our Extrusion Expert webinar series' host, will again pack his decades of experience into 60 minutes of fascinating presentation, with plenty of time for your questions too. The topic this time is „The Economics of Extrusion. " As Allan describes it, "Understanding extrusion costs is easy, but only if you avoid some popular misunderstandings." In this webinar he'll put the total cost of good extruded product into perspective: raw materials and the use of scrap and recyclate, energy, machinery and labor.

Allan recently attended the ANTEC conferences and has some new information from there to work into his webinar.  Find out more about the free webinar and register for it here.

Two days later Mike Sepe, The Materials Analyst of Injection Molding Magazine fame, will host the second in our Injection Molding Expert webinar series. The series is designed to cover topics ranging from "art to part"---materials and material selection and handling, design, processing equipment and best practices, and more. This second webinar (register here) is entitled "Material Selection - Sourcing by Quality, Cost, and Location." No cost is of greater consequence to injection molders than that of their resin and compounds. Internationally recognized injection molding expert Mike Sepe will dig into this cost and explain to molders how best to get the most and best material for their money. As in all of our webinars, there will be a presentation and then time to field your questions.

A little further out, plastic film processors and buyers may want to attend the Speciality Plastic Films conference organized for many years by Maack Business Services (MBS). This yearthe Conference willbe held November 15-16 at the Zurich Marriott Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland.

MBS also is holding its PEEP event, a technology and business forum for the polyethylene and polypropylene sectors, this fall. It's slated for Sept. 21-2 at the Wyndham Apollo Hotel in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Details on both conferences, including reports from the 2010 editions of PEPP and SPF, are available at www.mbspolymer.com/pepp and

Also on the horizon is an event organzied by plastics auxiliary machinery manufacturer Kreyenborg with partner firms and independant experts focused on PET processing. Called the Polyester Extrusion and Recycling Forum USA, it follows a similar event held last year by the companies in Europe.   

The Polyester Extrusion and Recycling Forum USA is scheduled for Oct. 11, 2011 at the Intercontinental Hotel Chicago O'Hare Airport. Full details of the event are available at www.polymermeeting.com. To book a room at the special event delegate rate use the following link: http://tinyurl.com/PETchicago.