How can designers prevent failure in plastic parts’ design? What are the factors affecting consumer behaviour and influencing their packaging choices? How can rapid prototyping reduce project timescales? Can production costs be reduced without compromising quality? How can plastics product design improve recyclability? These design considerations and many more will be addressed at the Plastics, Design and Moulding exhibition and conference, PDM 14, taking place 18th – 19th June 2014 at the Telford International Centre.
Philips Consumer Lifestyle, Jaguar Land Rover, Fiat, Kiska and WRAP are among the organisations that have confirmed their representatives will be speaking at the PDM conference, while over 100 of the biggest names in the plastics industry have booked stands in the exhibition. PDM exhibitors include companies offering practical tools for keeping costs under control and materials specialists who can provide expert advice. The full plastics design and manufacturing chain is represented including masterbatch, additives and compound suppliers such as Gabriel Chemie and polymer distributors such as Distrupol and Plastribution. Exhibiting companies offering design and prototyping services through to completion include 3di, AK Industries, Agentdraw, Chess Plastics, Hi-technology Group, LGG Charlesworth, Malcolm Nicholls Limited, Proto Labs, Rutland Plastics and Spaceclaim.
TRUMPF will be demonstrating its very latest laser marking technology for plastic parts and Pantone LLC will be showcasing its expanding range of colour products, services and solutions which includes PantoneLIVE, a cloud-based service for consistent colour, recently adopted by Asda across its packaging workflow.
Meanwhile the two-day conference examines design, sustainability and packaging with market focus sessions covering the automotive, consumer goods and medical sectors. Speakers include Steve Masterson, partner and COO at Kiska, who will explore how the freedom in design (when working with plastics) is commonly underestimated and cover the use of plastics in high stress environments and Dave Rafferty, principle engineer at Jaguar Land Rover Material Engineering, will present on the challenges for plastics in automotive applications.
PDM 14 will be co-located at the Telford International Centre with the new Plastics Recycling Expo, Europe’s first exhibition and conference dedicated to plastics recycling. The conference programme features a presentation from the Coca-Cola Company’s director of environment & water resources Europe on a fully recyclable PET bottle made from plant sources and Ford’s first-ever car interior made from PlantBottle packaging. Other sessions of interest to designers include a presentation from a materials design specialist at Nissan, a packaging recycling case study from Muller and a panel debate on increasing the specification and use of recycled plastics.
