Sponsor's Dinner at 'Villa Miani'

Thursday evening 15th March

Time to relax with your peers and enjoy a first class dinner with colleagues in delightful, traditional Italian surroundings with view over the Vatican and Rome.

The Sponsor’s dinner is included in the conference fee.

12th European “Thermoforming” Conference 2020 Announcement

18 – 20 March 2020 – Starling Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland

12th SPE European Thermoforming Conference - First announcement

Questions

Contact:
Yetty Pauwels spe.etd(at)skynet.be, Tel. +32 3 541 77 55, www.e-t-d.org

Report on the 11th European Thermoforming Conference 2018

"THERMOFORMING 4.0"’

March 2018 – Rome, Italy

The European Thermoforming Division held their 11th bi-annual conference at the Marriott Park Hotel in Rome.

There were around 250 attendees who came from all over Europe, USA, China, India, Middle East and the Far East.

The conference was very successful thanks to the several sponsors and exhibitors who showed their products, but last but not least thanks to the quality of the speakers wo presented their technical presentations.

Over the last years the thermoforming industry has gone through major changes as the companies involved had to adapt and innovative to be ahead of the market needs.  This is one of the main reasons that thermoformers from across the world attended the SPE ETD Conference.  Speakers and delegates discussed a wide range of subjects that are pertinent to todays and tomorrow’s needs.

The conference was opened by Antonio Staffoni, (CEO of OMV) who was Chair of the Conference.  He introduced the Theme of this year’s conference: “Thermoforming 4.0”, which was discussed and developed in the various presentations that followed.

The first presentation was made by Ruggero Frezza from M31 in Italy, by entitled “Industry 4.0, the revolution beyond efficiency”.  Mr. Frezza explained how big data, blockchain protocols and internet can improve the world of industry.

The second speaker was Jacob von Wolff from Kiefel Packaging. His theme was “Industry 4.0; work digital for smart Thermoforming solutions”.

The following presentation was from Willemijn Willemen from Avantium.  Her presentation focused on the opportunity of sustainable materials.

The next presentation was made by Fabian Schmitt from Street Scooter, a subsidiary company of Deutsche Post DHL Group.  They develop, manufacture and sell electric vehicles for short journey use.

Claudio Menini from Polytype was the next speaker and his presentation was on Digital printing ‘a B2C concept for custom made decorated cups’.

The afternoon theme in the Thin Gauge sessions were based on the status of recycling of plastic waste from the thermoformed products.

The first speaker, Paolo Glerean of Aliplast in Italy, discussed the status of PET thermoform recycling in Europe (PETCORE).

This presentation was followed by Ton Emans of Plastics Recycling Europe.  Ton discussed some of the issues such as picking out black plastic trays and containers. They cannot be easily picked out by IR scanners, so the question is why still produce black plastic containers.

‘Reduction in food waste by plastic packaging without wasting the plastic’ was presented by Christina Busk of the Danish Plastics Federation. She presented some interesting facts, such as 1.3 billion tonnes of food is junked every year, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation.

Thomas Tang of Faerch continued on the same theme that there is a need to educate the public to recognise that plastic packaging is a force for good and that the savings in food waste would be many times higher if plastic packaging was not used.  Therefore there is a need for education but also to develop and use more sustainable plastic packaging.

In the evening the delegates were invited to a nice dinner at the splendid ‘Villa Miani’ with a view over the city of Rome.

Friday opened with a presentation by Amit Dharia from Transmit Technology Group, USA.  His theme was Thermoforming-Art-Science: Material testing.

A practical presentation was then made by Cristiano Roncato of Italy who discussed the reason why thermoforming is used in the manufacture of suitcases.  They compared the use of thermoforming against their other method which is injection moulding.

Thierry D’Allard CEO of Styl’monde then spoke on the subject ‘How safe is your process?  Perceptions versus reality’.  He elaborated on the misconception that as long as orders are following and products are being made and sold, all in the company is fine.

The next presentation came from Thomas Hoefels of Senco Europe who presented ‘Inline coating material-curing with temperature during the thermoforming process’.  Senco can now produce a thermoformable hard coat on their film that is applied during the extrusion process and will withstand damage and scratching and even has higher chemical resistance.

Karen Brock Amoah and Dennis Kelso of Sekisui SPI, USA spoke about Bonded Build-ups: improving strength to weight ratios of thermoplastic components.

The delegates then split into two groups, one group continued to discuss Heavy Gauge type activities while the other group went into a session of commercial presentations by Thin Gauge thermoformer suppliers.

In the first group the first presentation was by Fabian Kayatz from Fraunhofer 1VV Dresden, Germany who spoke about Production of material efficient mould parts using moulding air.  His presentation specified the use of forming air (FIT) blow air into sheet to push into mould.

Marco Lanulfi from Lanulfi then spoke about in-mould cutting and the testing program they had developed until they now have reached a mould with cutting ability that although more expensive than a normal forming tool can ensure both the forming and cutting can take place while the part is on the mould.

The final presentation in this session was by Paolo Ronca from SAFEMAN Thermoforming/Cannon.  This presentation was about the SAFEMAN Plastic Modular Shelter which is a not for profit partnership to provide shelter for refugees.

The conference was brought to a close by Antonio Staffoni who was Chair of the conference and the incoming chair of the ETD (2018-2020).

We hope to see you all again at our next event 18-20 March 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland!

Questions

Contact:
Yetty Pauwels spe.etd(at)skynet.be, Tel. +32 3 541 77 55, www.e-t-d.org

11th European “Thermoforming” Conference 2018 Announcement

14 – 16 March 2018 – Rome, Italy

Questions

Contact:
Yetty Pauwels spe.etd(at)skynet.be, Tel. +32 3 541 77 55, www.e-t-d.org

Report 10th European “Thermoforming” Conference 2016

‘Evolution Thermoforming Destination’

10 – 11 March 2016 – Sitges (Barcelona), Spain

The conference was an outstanding success, this year we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the formation of the SPE European Thermoforming Division and our 10th conference.

From its initial beginning in 1996 until today there has been a growing together of the thermoforming industry as it expands into different parts of the plastics market and the theme of this year’s conference was Evolution- Thermoforming-Destination. Over the last 20 years the thermoforming industry has gone through major changes as the companies involved have had to adapt and innovate to stay not only current but to be ahead of the market needs.  This is one of the main reasons that thermoformers from across the world attend the SPE ETD Conference. Speakers and delegates discussed a wide range of subjects that are pertinent to todays and tomorrow’s needs.

There were more than 250 delegates from 28 countries in Europe, North America, India, The Middle and the Far East.  Thermoformers, material suppliers, end users as well as machine builders were able to listen to a variety of speakers during the two-day conference.

The conference was opened by Marek Nikiforov who was the current chair of SPE ETD and Gabriel Bernar who was conference chair.

The first speaker was Thomas Drustrup who spoke about ‘Plastic Pollution in the sea and asking what is the solution’. It was an interesting presentation and it generated a lot of discussion on the various ways this problem can be overcome.

The second presenter was Wim De Vos who is CEO of The Society of Plastics Engineers who spoke about the ‘Future use of Plastics’. There were many ideas and projects already in development or even in use, that were very exciting and some were so innovative that the normal individual in the plastics industry would not have realised such a use of the material could be possible.

Then presentations became more technically detailed in relationship to subjects such as a 3D session that covered areas such as the latest update on ‘3D-Tec’ from David Bue Pedersen from The Technical University in Denmark. ‘Tooling in Thermoforming by 3D’ by Djamila Olivier from Spain.

During the coffee and lunch breaks there were over 40 table top displays from a variety of suppliers to the industry from machine manufacturers to material suppliers with all other aspects of the industry covered as well.

In another section there was a display of thermoformed parts that showed the wide range of products. A jury of experts in their fields were asked to judge the winners and they were as follows:

Heavy Gauge Automotive: Winner:” Engine Hood” produced by Technoplast, France.  This was a large part for an industrial application that had post forming assemble.

Heavy Gauge Non-Automotive: Winner: “VELUX Roof Dome” produced by Formplast, Sweden.  This had a excellent clarity using a fairly complex sheet material.

Thin gauge Food Packaging Application: Winner: Part” Veggiefresh” produced by RPC, Germany. An in mould labelling product that was thermoformed and would be strong competition to injection moulded product

Thin gauge Non-Food Packaging Application: Winner:” Back lighted Day-Night effect baguette” produced by company Walterpack, Spain. An advance high pressure formed part.

An innovation used at the conference this year was to split the delegates into two groups. The Technical conference presentations on thin sheet subjects were held in one room and heavy gauge commercial/technical presentations were held on the next room. This was then reversed the following session so all could enjoy both technical as well as commercial/technical presentations.

On the last day there was a very interesting presentation by a representative from SEAT on lighting which was well received by the delegates.

In the afternoon of the final day that session was devoted to presentations by Universities on various subjects such as optimisation of thermoforming process, increased material efficiency and Heat under control.

The conference was brought to a close by Gabriel Bernar who was Chair of the conference and the incoming chair of the ETD (2016-2018)

Next conference is scheduled from
14th to 16th of March 2018 in Rome, Italy.

Questions

Contact:
Yetty Pauwels spe.etd(at)skynet.be, Tel. +32 3 541 77 55, www.e-t-d.org