Every processor should go to the NPE and shop aggressively. This time around it is a certifiable buyers’ market: interest rates are low; machinery and equipment prices are competitive; there are more global exhibitors than ever; and there may never be a better time to maximize value in upgrading or extending process capabilities.

Fence-sitters and tire-kickers might as well stay home. Yet if anyone needs convincing about the value of placing orders at NPE, or of going to the show, here are points to consider.

• New machinery and materials are sure routes to competitive advantage in today’s market. Product development among suppliers has maintained momentum despite the recession. It is difficult, if not impossible, for processors to meet the volume, quality, and cost demands of oems without the latest in primary and auxiliary machinery and materials.

• Buying new equipment is a way of expanding as well as upgrading capabilities. Processors must offer a range of services to be competitive. NPE provides all the machinery, systems, and expertise necessary to settle on new capabilities and install them swiftly and economically.

• Suppliers want relationships, not just sales. Exhibitors understand that their businesses will grow in direct proportion to the value and services they provide customers and the ways in which they help them prosper. Providing solutions and partnering with customers are key components of every supplier’s strategy. NPE is a great place to establish a relationship with a supplier that goes beyond a routine sales call. It is also an opportunity to review an existing program and explore ways to improve the service and support a supplier provides.

• Buying equipment is good for morale. It demonstrates that a processor is moving ahead with a business plan and making the investments necessary to achieve its goals. Workers, especially, understand that new machinery improves their skills, value to the company, potential for success, and helps assure their livelihood.

• Investing in new equipment or materials demonstrates a company’s commitment to the future. It’s a vote of confidence in the plastics industry and in the processor’s ability to compete and thrive within it. Sales and profitability are critical, but so are less quantifiable assets like product achievement, corporate stature, and the satisfaction that comes from producing well-made goods to ever-higher standards of quality. These are valid measures of a processor’s ability to grow and prosper. The buying decisions made at NPE lay the foundation for continuing success on both a professional and personal level.

The landscape of manufacturing is changing. Processors can’t afford to let the ground shift under their feet by passing up opportunities to make intelligent investments in their capabilities. NPE2003 is a sound way to give a business the assets necessary to remain viable in an ever more competitive environment.