K 2016: Media preview highlights innovations to come at mega event for plastics industry

In my 20+ years in business-to-business publishing, I have attended more trade shows than I care to count. In all that time, I’ve never known a show organizer to put together a media preview of an event several months in advance, until now. But then the K, held every three years in Düsseldorf, Germany, mobilizes an entire industry like few other events, and it has earned the right to make its own rules.

Organizers of K 2016 invited reporters and editors from around the world for a 2 1/2-day tour d’horizon at Messe Düsseldorf last week. The heads of several companies that will be exhibiting at K 2016 took the stage to outline the innovations they will be presenting at the “world’s number one trade fair for plastics and rubber,” which runs from Oct. 19 to 26. Here is a small sampling of what you can look forward to when the event rolls into the ‘dorf in the fall.

Machines, machines everywhere

There will be machines—lots of them—on the show floor, and they will all be running, stressed Messe Düsseldorf President and CEO Werner Dornscheidt speaking to the press at the K 2016 Preview. “The K is to the plastics industry what the Frankfurt car show is to automotive OEMs,” he told the 80+ journalists present. “It’s where innovations are first unveiled.” 

Agreed, said extrusion technology developer Reifenhäuser (Worms, Germany), which will reintroduce attendees to the Evolution Ultra Stretch system. It was first presented as a prototype at K 2013; three years on, the system provides a proven method for down gauging without sacrificing film properties.

The technology enables the production of compression bag film that is approximately 30% thinner than film blown using a conventional stretching system while ensuring process stability and reduced energy consumption. Reifenhäuser also will present a die head for blown film lines that combines the benefits of spiral mandrel and stack die designs. Shorter flow channels than conventional die heads, a smaller diameter and reduced heating times result in the fastest blown barrier film die head on the market, according to the company. 

New single-screw extruders based on the solEX 40 D series will be introduced by battenfeld-cincinnati (Bad Oeynhausen, Germany) at K 2016. The next-generation equipment features a barrel with internal grooves, designed according to the principles of dispersive melting, and a feed zone with a new geometry and fitted with spiral grooves. Benefits include increased melt capacity in the processing unit and a reduction in axial pressure in the feed zone and barrel, resulting in increased output. The solEX NG extruder series is available in four sizes—60, 75, 90 and 120 mm—and offers 25% greater output than the original solEX series.

Shortly before the K 2016 Preview, the battenfeld-cincinnati group announced that it had been bought by European investment group Industrie Holding Nimbus. As Karen Laird wrote in PlasticsToday in June, Nimbus styles itself as a “hands-on investor” with offices in Zeist (Netherlands) and Munich (Germany) that controls a portfolio of European companies generating an annual turnover of more than one billion euros.

Injection molding machine manufacturer Sumitomo (SHI) Demag (Schwaig, Germany) comes to K 2016 with a new slogan—Electrified 4.0—exemplified by a hybrid El Exis SP 200 press that will be featured at the company’s booth producing in-mold labeled cups. An IntElect 50T will be exhibited running a brand new consumer packaging application, but the company’s Gerd Liebig was not at liberty to say quite yet who the partner company would be.

Philippe Porret, Deputy General Manager in Germany for China’s injection molding machine maker Haitian (Ningbo), announced at the K 2016 Preview that the company would be showing an upgraded Jupiter two-platen machine at the event. Improvements include a new Keba control, shorter dry-cycle times and an optimized clamping unit and traveling cylinder.

Robotics company Sepro (La-Roche-sur-Yon, France) is looking at its fourth record sales year in a row in 2016, with global turnover expected to surpass €100 million for the first time, but it’s not resting on its laurels. “We will bring a total of 26 robots to K 2016,” said CEO Jean-Michel Renaudeau, “our biggest display ever at K.” Nineteen of them will be running at the booths of injection molding partner companies. Sepro is also bringing what Renaudeau believes will be the biggest robot at the show: The new 7X-100XL, which has a maximum payload of 100 kg. It will be shown manipulating a C class car bumper using a servo-driven wrist developed by Staübli Robotics.

Recycling is good for you

The plastics industry must take a page out of the paper and metal industries book, said Manfred Hackl, CEO of plastics recycling pioneer Erema (Linz, Austria), at the K 2016 preview. “There is no discussion around whether or not a product is made from recycled materials within those industries. It just doesn’t come up,” said Hackl, adding that this is something to which the plastics industry should aspire. He points to the recent acquisition of German plastics recycling companies mtm plastics and mtm compact (Niedergebra, Germany) by chemicals giant Borealis (Vienna) as a step in the right direction.

“It’s the right deal for the future. Recycling has a positive effect on [the image] of the industry,” said Hackl, adding that a recycling company coming under the wing of a resin producer will further that message as well as improve reliability within the supply chain.

Erema will use K 2016 as a platform to demonstrate how far plastics recycling technology has come within the last few years. Under the banner of “we recycle the K,” Erema will process different material waste streams and “show what can be produced with recycled materials. In collaboration with Borealis, the company will demonstrate how these materials can be incorporated into sustainable designs.

K organizers also will be on message at the “show within a show,” called Plastics Shape the Future. Different themes are featured each day at the booth in hall 6, explored via keynotes, presentations and panel discussions. On Oct. 22, the day will be devoted to marine litter, which is certain to spark a lively discussion. Other themes at the Plastics Shape the Future stand include Industry 4.0, new materials, lightweighting, youth and training, plastics design and resource efficiency.

No end to Industry 4.0 buzz

Industry 4.0 continues to be a buzz word, and many companies exhibiting at K 2016 have embraced the concept and will highlight ways in which their technology facilitates its integration. In some cases, it may be more of a marketing device than actual technological leap, but astute attendees will easily be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Dubbed the fourth industrial revolution—it follows the invention of the steam engine, mass production driven by steel and electricity, and electronics and information technology—Industry 4.0 blends sensor technology, IT, automation and cyber-physical systems into a smart manufacturing construct. (For a more detailed explanation of the concept and how it affects the plastics processing industry, in particular, I invite you to download a special report, “Industry 4.0: The factory of the future,” on the PlasticsToday website.)

K 2016 will devote a full day of keynotes, presentations and panel discussions to Industry 4.0 on the event’s opening day, Oct. 19, in hall 6 within the Plastics Shape the Future space. “The use of digital equipment alongside production processes . . . allows plastics processors to analyze data from their own production in order to collect information and practical intelligence from their processes,” noted show organizers.” The long-term impact of this data flow will enable manufacturers to boost production efficiency to unprecedented levels as it allows them to adapt machinery, automation systems, dies and molds to the needs of day-to-day operations in a holistic manner.

The pragmatic side of the technology will be on display throughout the 19 exhibition halls.

Battenfeld-cincinnati said at the K 2016 Preview that it will introduce new control technology that offers a novel operating and visualization concept along with features that are a “perfect tool for processors in the realization of Industry 4.0 agendas,” said the company.

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag's Liebig also promised to unveil new "4.0-ready" features at K 2016, but said at the preview that he was not at liberty to provide any advance information as the company was still finalizing details "with a close partner."

Under the banner of Careformance, Erema will unveil its recycling 4.0 initiative at K 2016. Building on the high level of automation of its Interema recycling technology that it introduced at K 2013, the company has developed what it calls a smart factory package for recyclers and producers.

The technology builds on the process stability of the Interema system, which facilitates automation, with integrated sensors to capture and evaluate melt volume rate, color and moisture. The QualityOn package enables recyclers and producers to achieve consistency in the recyclate and document recipes via online data acquisition and analysis, according to the company. It will demo the technology at booth C05 in hall 9, where quality and process data will be transferred in real time from the company’s recycling center set up in the messe’s outdoor area.

Booth numbers for these exhibitors along with complete information about K 2016 is available on the event website.

This article only skims the surface of a plethora of announcements made by companies at the K 2016 Preview. Stay tuned, as PlasticsToday presents extensive preshow coverage in the next three months leading up to the event.