Letter from the Chair
The SPE Decorating & Assembly Division is gearing up for a very busy year in 2019. We will be sponsoring a track of programming at the upcoming ANTEC 2019, taking place March 18-21 in Detroit, Michigan. ANTEC is making some changes that will include megatrend sessions that will start the afternoon of the 20th and run through the 21st. There will be sessions on packaging, building and construction, sustainability and transportation. In addition to the normal technical sessions, these presentations will provide attendees an opportunity to interact with expert representatives from these leading plastics industries.
Furthermore, the Decorating & Assembly Division will be sponsoring a half-day of programming that will include papers on new trends in specialty coatings, PVD chromium coatings, laser marking, and flame plasma surface treatment. We are still finalizing the details and exact speakers; however, it should be a great session on new plastics decorating and assembly technologies.
We also are excited about the SPE Decorating & Assembly Division Topical Conference (TopCon), which will be held June 1-3, in Franklin, Tennessee. The TopCon once again will co-locate with the In-Mold Decorating Association (IMDA) Symposium. Program Chairs Paul Uglum, Aptiv, and Ken Holt, Dukane, are helping secure papers on new decorating and assembly technologies. Last year’s TopCon introduced a series of workshops where attendees were able to talk in smaller groups and ask questions of leading experts in specific fields of decorating/assembly. The workshops were well received last year, and, therefore, will be included in this year’s conference.
The TopCon also will include a Supplier Trade Fair of leading suppliers to the industry. If you are interested in exhibiting, you can contact me directly at jeff@petersonpublications.com. More information on TopCon will be available on our Plastics Decorating website (plasticsdecorating.com) in January.
I am very excited about leading our division into this next year and continuing our quest to provide quality educational materials and events. I hope to see many of you at ANTEC, TopCon and other shows throughout the year. It is shaping up to be a very busy and exciting 2019!
Jeff Peterson
President, Peterson Publications, Inc.
Chair, SPE Decorating & Assembly Division
Mark Your Calendar: 2019 TopCon and IMDA Symposium
You will not want to miss the 2019 SPE Decorating & Assembly Division Topical Conference (TopCon) and IMDA Symposium slated for June 2-4 in Franklin, Tennessee. The conference will feature two days of papers on the latest technologies in plastics decorating and assembly, as well as in-mold decorating innovations. It also will include interactive workshops on several subjects where attendees can ask and answer questions in a smaller setting. “We are extremely excited to partner with IMDA again in 2019 for the combined conference, stated TopCon Co-Program Chair, Paul Uglum, Aptiv. “Those involved with decorating, assembly, and/or in-mold decorating processes will not want to miss this event. It will be the best opportunity this year to learn about the latest technology advances.”
