Conference Program/Sessions

Discuss the optimal time to sell your older assets and reinvest in the new.

Learn when to maximize machine value by knowing when to sell and upgrade.

Session Objectives

1. Discuss the best time to liquidate used Machinery
2. Discuss the best time to invest in new machinery
3. How strategizing between the two can amplify your return

Properly planning for the sale and exit of your plastics manufacturing business.

Attendees will learn the potential financial impacts of having a proper plan to sell and exit their business and why they will benefit from the timely preparation and development of such a plan.

Session Objectives

1. When should you begin a plan to sell and exit your business?
2. Why should you have a plan to sell and exit your business?
3. What are the consequences of not having a plan to sell and exit your business?

The SPE Foundation has programs to support our shared goals around the perception of plastics, improving material sustainability, and workforce development. We do this through positive plastics education programming. 

Why this is important: The world needs hopeful and innovative young people to join the plastics industry creating the changes necessary for a sustainable future. 
•    We change the perception of plastics one classroom at a time.
•    We engage students with opportunity and learning, giving them the confidence to become scientists and engineers who will join the plastics industry.  
•    We reach students, teachers, leaders, families, and communities. 

With 26 years of experience in the classroom we understand the methods and curricula that resonate with young people – it’s everchanging. Learn how PlastiVan® is changing in delivery and method, our concentrated outreach through after-school SPE STEM Clubs, mentoring, our SPE Junior Researcher programming, and SPE's Girl Scout Polymer Science patch program. Our expertise can help you meet your goals.

Session Benefits: We must continue educating our communities about plastics' value to our modern lifestyle.  1.    Get ideas to chart your own path for community outreach.  2.    Gain access to expertise in positive plastics education.  3.    How a partnership with the SPE Foundation and PlastiVan® supports your company/corporate goals through outreach and education.

Session Objectives

1. Methods for success for plastics outreach to your community. 
2. Details about the SPE Foundation’s educational programming portfolio.
3. What types of community support and education lead to workforce  development for our industry.

It's true that many industries, including thermoforming, often have hidden costs that can significantly impact a company's bottom line. Hidden costs can arise at various stages of the thermoforming process, from concept to production, and they may not always be immediately apparent. Here are some common hidden costs in the thermoforming industry and how they can be addressed:

1. Starting Costs:

Market Research: Understanding customer demands and market trends may require investment in research, which can be a hidden cost.

Material Selection: The choice of materials can impact costs significantly. Selecting the wrong material or not considering long-term factors can lead to hidden expenses.

Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring that your thermoforming process aligns with regulations may involve costs for compliance assessments and legal advice.

2. Pre-Production Costs:

Tooling and Prototyping: Developing molds and prototypes can be expensive but is crucial for product development.

Design Iterations: Iterating designs to achieve the desired outcome can lead to additional design and engineering costs.

Testing and Validation: Conducting thorough testing to ensure product quality and safety may involve hidden expenses.

3. Production Costs:

Material Waste: As previously mentioned, material waste can be a hidden cost during production if not managed efficiently.

Labor Costs: Labor expenses, including wages, benefits, and training, can add up and impact production costs.

Energy Consumption: Energy-efficient practices can reduce costs, but high energy consumption can be a hidden expense.

4. Post-Production:

Packaging and Shipping: The cost of packaging materials and shipping can sometimes be overlooked but should be carefully considered.

Returns and Warranty: Handling returns and honoring warranties can incur unexpected expenses.

Inventory Management: Costs associated with storing excess inventory can affect post-production finances.

Listening to a diverse panel of thermoformers from different regions can shed light on how these hidden costs are perceived and managed in various parts of the country. They might share insights on cost-saving strategies, innovative practices, or ways to minimize hidden costs throughout the thermoforming process.

Such interactive discussions can help companies better understand the challenges and opportunities in their industry and foster a culture of continuous improvement in cost management. Additionally, benchmarking against industry leaders can inspire companies to identify and address hidden costs effectively.

An interactive panel discussion with industry-leading thermoforming companies from different regions can be a valuable opportunity to exchange insights and best practices for identifying and managing hidden costs effectively. Sharing experiences and strategies can help companies in the thermoforming industry stay competitive and financially sustainable.

Come join the conversation!

It's true that many industries, including thermoforming, often have hidden costs that can significantly impact a company's bottom line. Hidden costs can arise at various stages of the thermoforming process, from concept to production, and they may not always be immediately apparent. Here are some common hidden costs in the thermoforming industry and how they can be addressed:

1. Starting Costs:

Market Research: Understanding customer demands and market trends may require investment in research, which can be a hidden cost.

Material Selection: The choice of materials can impact costs significantly. Selecting the wrong material or not considering long-term factors can lead to hidden expenses.

Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring that your thermoforming process aligns with regulations may involve costs for compliance assessments and legal advice.

2. Pre-Production Costs:

Tooling and Prototyping: Developing molds and prototypes can be expensive but is crucial for product development.

Design Iterations: Iterating designs to achieve the desired outcome can lead to additional design and engineering costs.

Testing and Validation: Conducting thorough testing to ensure product quality and safety may involve hidden expenses.

3. Production Costs:

Material Waste: As previously mentioned, material waste can be a hidden cost during production if not managed efficiently.

Labor Costs: Labor expenses, including wages, benefits, and training, can add up and impact production costs.

Energy Consumption: Energy-efficient practices can reduce costs, but high energy consumption can be a hidden expense.

4. Post-Production:

Packaging and Shipping: The cost of packaging materials and shipping can sometimes be overlooked but should be carefully considered.

Returns and Warranty: Handling returns and honoring warranties can incur unexpected expenses.

Inventory Management: Costs associated with storing excess inventory can affect post-production finances.

Listening to a diverse panel of thermoformers from different regions can shed light on how these hidden costs are perceived and managed in various parts of the country. They might share insights on cost-saving strategies, innovative practices, or ways to minimize hidden costs throughout the thermoforming process.

Such interactive discussions can help companies better understand the challenges and opportunities in their industry and foster a culture of continuous improvement in cost management. Additionally, benchmarking against industry leaders can inspire companies to identify and address hidden costs effectively.

An interactive panel discussion with industry-leading thermoforming companies from different regions can be a valuable opportunity to exchange insights and best practices for identifying and managing hidden costs effectively. Sharing experiences and strategies can help companies in the thermoforming industry stay competitive and financially sustainable.

Come join the conversation!

Embark on an immersive exploration of the PET thermoform recycling revolution! Join us for an exhilarating session that delves deep into the intricate workings of the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and PET reclaimer processing, unraveling the secrets of effective material separation. Prepare to be astonished as we uncover captivating data on the profound impact of PET thermoform on end markets, and witness how expert studies are propelling thermoform collection and processing to unprecedented heights. Don't miss out on this extraordinary opportunity to unlock the untapped potential of PET thermoform recycling and revolutionize your approach to sustainability!

Understand the US PET thermoform recovery market, material challenges, and getting real data.

Session Objectives

1. Deeper Dive on PET Thermoforms at the MRF and reclaimer.
2. Evaluating increasing levels of PET thermoform and the impacts on end markets.
3. Industry activities and next steps to increasing thermoform recovery.

The debut of the case study video produced by Universal Robot and sharing the details of the 3-year development journey, including Q&A with the audience.

An alternative to 5-axis CNC router that is cost-effective and easy to program

From the shop floor to the top floor – NetSuite’s manufacturing cloud ERP helps growing manufacturers control, coordinate and manage every aspect of their operations in one place.

Session Objectives

1. Scale up your business while managing your operations.
2. See a flexible solution that is powerful and agile to support and adapt to your process. 
3. Learn about a system that is setup to grow with you globally with multi-language, multi-currency capabilities support your global supply chain anywhere you operate.

Culture and Leadership (Transitions of Relationships and Mindsets) 

• Set your culture: Review the direction of your business and how you are getting there.  Write down the things that define your culture and expectations so that employees know what is expected of them. 

• Set your goals: communicate with them and measure yourself against them.   

• Systems can help: Anything worth doing in Leadership was probably stolen from someone, adapt a best practice that matches what you want to do. 

• Transition from “Bud to Boss”: How to work with employees now that you are the boss 

• Be ready to be challenged and have answers: May not do things the same as your father or other leaders, be ready to address this. 

• Create things that show change:  Create Milestones and events to signal that a change has happened. 

Financial Resources needed (The stuff that is never fun!) 

• KNOW your costs, KNOW how they connect to your business. 

• Bank relationship for LOC, Assets, Valuations 

• Law Relationship for contracts, Stock Exchanges, and compliance 

• Insurances, wills, Assets, etc. 

• Create a framework that has deadlines, covenants, milestones, requirements, and expectations. 

• Do NOT let anything simply be verbal with agreements if it is worthwhile to discuss its worthwhile to document.  NO HANDSHAKES. 

Management of Key Customer/Vendor Relationships 

• Meet with them and make sure you understand critical items, people, projects, personalities, culture. 

• Be ready to “Reset” relationship.  Opportunity for both positive and negative impact. 

• Be prepared but do it rather quickly. 

Management – Man, Machine, Process 

• Know your machinery, People, and Process.  Create Metrics.  Plan, Do, Check, Adjust. 

Tips 

• Get people who can help and answer questions –  

• Mentors to bounce ideas off of,  

• peer groups that might have more support, get equal parts of advice on different areas to ensure no blind spots. 

• Make yourself accountable to someone for your goals. 

• Best practices sources and benchmarks 

• Create a system of leadership from System like EOS, Gazelles, or others. 

A review and comparison of 6 different prototype tooling materials.

Session Objectives

1. Provide the industry with tool material comparisons.
2. Provide real data. 
3. Explain the pros and cons of the 6 different materials.

Join us on Tuesday, October 24, 2023!

Understand Sustainability related to the business: what is it, why is it needed, how to go about it, how to measure it?

Session Objectives

• Better understanding of how thermoforms are recycled today.
• Identify opportunities to get involved.
• Learn about new technologies and practices that will make a positive impact.

On-Site Training on October 25th from 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at the Plastics Machinery Group facility. Additional Fee. Open to the first 25 paid registrants.

The bus will leave from the Marriott at 8:00 a.m. to go to the PMG facility.

On-Site Training on October 24th from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. at the Plastics Machinery Group facility. Additional fee. Open to the first 50 paid registrants.

The bus will leave from the Convention Center at 12:15 p.m. to go to the PMG facility.