Optimism Abounds at NPE2015

Americhem's booth saw a steady stream of traffic throughout NPE2015.

NPE2015 is now in the history books and what a show it was! Optimism abounded among the visitors, exhibitors and show owners, the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI). According to Plastics News, 65,810 visitors attended the show, representing almost a 20% increase over the 2012 show in Orlando. That first NPE show in Orlando was considered highly successful, so exceeding the attendance by that kind of  margin is noteworthy.

So what made this NPE so great? Certainly the enthusiasm of the visitors was noticed at the Americhem Group booth. They came from over 23,000 unique buying companies and they came to spend money, as more than a half dozen major machinery manufacturers announced purchases on the show floor. A continuing trend was the global nature of the show, with more than a quarter of the attendance from visitors outside of the U.S. More than 5,000 visitors were from Latin America and our Latin American representatives were the busiest guys in the booth for much of the exhibition.



Our booth featured a full-sized Arctic Cat® ATV featuring
material from Infinity LTL Engineered Compounds.

NPE records were set in the number of exhibitors and amount of booth space sold. For a show that has been in existence for 69 years, these records are especially meaningful. We observed optimistic exhibitors at nearly every turn as our staff walked the show floor. Traffic to the Americhem Group booth was especially heavy Monday through Wednesday and we even had significant conversations with buyers on Friday, the last day of the show, which is typically sparsely attended.

The favorable economy certainly contributed to the upbeat nature of NPE2015. Attendees were especially interested in innovation. “What do you have that’s new?” was the typical question asked by visitors and Americhem Group delivered with new nDuramax™ UV products for films, new Color Rx® medical grade flame retardant compounds and new manufacturing capacity at both Americhem and Infinity LTL plants.

Having Americhem and our new sister company, Infinity LTL Engineered Compounds, exhibit at the same booth was a first. Representing a broader product selection including both color and additive masterbatches and engineered compounds led to some interesting meetings and discussions. Visitors also got to check out an Arctic Cat® ATV featuring color compounds from Infinity LTL, a 3D printer demonstration, and participate in the NPE Color and Plastics Challenge, a contest testing participants’ knowledge of the industry.

So Americhem Group left NPE2015 with a very optimistic view about the industry and our place in it. We’re excited that the 2018 and 2021 shows will stay in Orlando, as this venue has been a successful one for SPI and for our Americhem group. We’re following up on discussions with dozens of companies and we’re excited to try and help their businesses grow, mirroring the optimism of the industry. 

Scott Blanchard

Corporate Marketing & Communications Manager

Buzzing About NPE2015

It’s almost here: NPE2015. In just a few short weeks (or 34 days, but who’s counting?), the largest plastics show in North America will kick off in Orlando, Fla. Since the show is only held every three years, significant changes happen to the global economy and to the plastics industry between shows. In 2009 the show was characterized by declining attendance and fewer exhibitors at the height of the global economic crisis, while the 2012 show was upbeat with the recovering economy and a new show location (Orlando), Everyone is buzzing about the prediction of a  robust and exciting show in 2015.

Americhem has proudly exhibited at every NPE since 1988 – so NPE2015 will be our tenth show as an exhibitor. We even have an employee, national account manager Doug Croley, who has worked at every single Americhem booth since that time. Congratulations, Doug, on your upcoming 10^th show.

The show takes place at a time of steady growth in the economy. Manufacturing in the U.S. is strong. 2014 witnessed the best performance from U.S. factories since 2010. Pundits predict that U.S. factories will outpace foreign plants since oil prices are falling and domestic job growth has boosted consumer spending. Favorable raw material costs seem to be benefitting companies at almost every link in the supply chain.

In fact, plastics industry insiders, like Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) President Bill Carteaux have stated that falling gas prices have “made U.S. plastics a competitive industry.”  We’re excited about the prospects of a great NPE show and look forward to hosting lots of customers and other visitors at our booth 24027 in the South Hall.

This year’s NPE has lots of special pavilions including NPE3D, which NPE is billing as a “show within a show.” This pavilion will feature everything you ever wanted to know about 3D printing, including a wide variety of working 3D equipment. Americhem has been working in this industry for some time now, and we will also feature a working 3D printer demonstration in our own booth.

The Zero Waste Zone will teach visitors how the industry is recycling, processing and using them in new products. The zone will also have demonstrations as well as a display of products created from recycled materials. It will also feature a self-directed educational tour conveying the recycling value chain and process.

Americhem is excited about all the possibilities this year’s show represents for our company and for our industry. The plastics industry is the U.S.’s third biggest manufacturing industry and we’re proud that it is going strong after all these decades. NPE will be a great place to celebrate and grow.

The Vinyl Siding Institute and Americhem

Americhem as been a member of The Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) since the institute’s inception. VSI started off in the 1960’s and at that time, they were a part of the Society of the Plastics Industry. Americhem was involved with the organization from the very beginning of the vinyl siding industry, which also started in the 1960s.

Americhem has played a key role in the coloring and color retention of vinyl siding. Former Director of Research Rick Mathew knew that color retention was going to be crucial in the industry’s foundation.

Based on his knowledge of color science, he knew that the numeric ΔE value, which measures the color difference between the initial color and the color of weathered siding, does not always agree with visual assessments of color difference.  Rick lead the industry in establishing hand drawn ellipses for multiple regions of color space that corresponded to a visual assessment of the limits of acceptable color change in siding after weathering.

Back in those days, in order to determine if a vinyl siding color was within the acceptable color change limits, Americhem employees made hand drawn ellipses for each of the vinyl siding color spaces, plotting the ΔE’s by hand. This was in the time before personal computers which now make such tasks much easier. The work done by Americhem helped establish a new standard in the industry, ASTM 3679. This specification establishes requirements and test methods for the materials, dimensions, warp, shrinkage, impact strength, expansion, appearance, and wind load resistance of extruded PVC siding. The weathering component of the standard was an appendix which remained in place until the late 90’s, when Americhem scientist Phil Ledgerwood urged the industry to move to mathematical equivalents of the hand drawn ellipses. This resulted in a new, easier method of determining if weathered panels met the color retention requirements.

Americhem has continued its contributions to VSI until the present day, including the introduction of CIEL*a*b* ΔE2000 as the method of choice for vinyl siding color retention over the previous Hunter Lab method. This move redefined what was acceptable and unacceptable in the industry.

Americhem employees have served on committees within the VSI, including several polypropylene task groups, the heat distortion committee and the life cycle analysis group. Beyond the organization, Americhem has helped dozens of vinyl siding manufacturers over the years to optimize their product offerings.

In 2005, Ledgerwood won the VSI’s Ken Mieure Award for distinguished service, which was one of the first awards given to an employee of an industry supplier (most past awards went to employees of vinyl siding makers.) The award was created in the late 1990s and recognizes extraordinary efforts of members in helping to build and advance the industry. 

We continue our active participation in VSI and recently, market segment manager Mike Fair was named to VSI’s board. Americhem’s contributions continue with our work in dark color spaces, where the goal is to prevent heat distortion, and in variegated products that simulate the look of natural wood grain. The VSI has served a valuable role in the industry by establishing standards and monitoring for the industry’s products. Many industries could benefit from following VSI’s model.