Association News

The Sign UK, Outdoor Media, Digital Expo & Screenprint 2006 will be taking place in Birmingham, just prior to the conference. The event takes place 9 to 11 May 2006, and is one event for the combined four areas and focuses on the blurred boundaries, related applications and similar user groups, where all disciplines, equipment, applications and services are brought together. Consider arriving early to the Marriott Forest of Arden and staying through the conference. Expo room rates start as high as £239. Book now as they are selling out. Call +44 01676 522335. Then, stay and enjoy EPDA’s special room rate of £110 Friday, Saturday and Sunday and £149 Wednesday, Thursday and Monday for a single room, and £130 Friday, Saturday and Sunday; £169 Wednesday, Thursday and Monday for a double room. For more information on the expo, please visit www.signuk.com.

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Company News

EPDA members are invited to submit news on their company and products for publication in EPDA’s E-Update newsletter. Submissions should be about 100 words and may include photographs. News may be submitted in any language, to be translated by EPDA staff. Please e-mail news (in a Microsoft Word document or as text in an e-mail) to epda@epda.com. Please note that submissions may be edited for length and clarity.

LINATEX A/S OFFERS NEW CATALOGUE
LINATEX A/S has announced its new catalogue is available to customers. The catalogue covers a wide range of products and solutions.

For 50 years, LINATEX A/S has delivered technical plastic and rubber to the industry. The company supplies technical plastic for its own production as well as produces machined products to fit the production needs of its customers. LINATEX A/S has produced many special parts for all types of industries and specializes in replacing metal machine components with plastics.

For more information, visit www.linatex.dk.

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Product Showcase

Articles reporting on plastic products are prepared from information furnished by
members of EPDA. It should not be assumed that the publisher has reviewed or tested
any of the products. For more information, contact the companies listed.

POLYAMIDE-IMIDE MEETS THE HIGHEST REQUIREMENTS
The choice of which high performance material to use is often based on slight variations in its properties. For this reason, ENSINGER has complemented its product range with the high performance polyamide-imide thermoplastic, TECATOR, to satisfy the highest requirements. The material has particularly high thermal resiliency and can be used both for cryogenic and high temperature applications up to 270° C. Furthermore, the very rigid material TECATOR exhibits high mechanical strength and toughness.

Due to its low coefficient of thermal expansion and extremely high creep resistance, the material is particularly suited for highly demanding components. Further characteristics are high long-term stability and high fatigue strength; TECATOR is self-extinguishing in accordance with UL 94 V-0.

TECATOR is also resistant to conventional solvents, lubricants and fuels and can be used in contact with many different acids. It is also very resistant to high-energy radiation.

ENSINGER supplies the unfilled yellow-brown TECATOR 5013 and the black tribologically modified TECATOR 5031 PVX in the form of rods and sheets. Both versions can be easily machined using conventional tools and machinery.

For more information, visit www.ensinger-online.com.

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NEW MATERIALS FOR NEW CHALLENGES
In Murtfeldt’s view, nothing is so good it can’t be improved. So the company has put a lot of thought into developing specific versions of its Material ‘S,’ for the specific areas of design/construction and application. Much of its focus was on the needs of a high-performance modern plant. For example, at peak periods, the conveyors of big beverage companies might handle up to a million bottles a day, leading to far, far higher stresses on their bottling plant than even just a few years ago. The resulting demands on abrasion resistance, slide and antistatic properties challenged Murtfeldt to develop a new generation of materials based on the established Material ‘S’.

The ‘S’® Plus+ family, developed by Murtfeldt, is a new group of materials designed for specific applications and for the very highest demands. Made from high-quality UHMW polyethylenes, they all offer individually different properties. The newest addition to the family, is the ‘S’® Plus+ GB.

‘S’® Plus+ GB is a material specifically designed for use in high-pressure production and materials handling applications. Combining maximum wear resistance with maximum abrasion resistance while tolerating extremely high stress conditions, it significantly exceeds even the properties of PE UHMW TG 2 and ensures long life and reliable operation for your plant. ‘S’®plus+ GB is also electrically insulating.

For more information, visit www.murtfeldt.de.

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THE DEFINITIVE SOLUTION FOR STYLE
Definitive is one of the UK’s leading exponents of stylish interiors and sophisticated furniture.

Specialising in the design and creation of furniture, the Liverpool-based design group prides themselves in using only the very best materials for the creation of its distinctive and individual pieces.

The company places great emphasis on choosing materials that offer something extra in terms of texture and form, which is why for its new Flux range, the company chose Perspex® from Lucite® to create a range of desks and tables that combine light, cool modernity with an elegant form and strength.

These exciting new pieces were made using 15 mm and 20 mm thick Perspex clear acrylic, supplied by Perspex Distribution Ltd., the UK’s largest supplier of Perspex from Lucite and manufactured by leading plastics fabricators Inplas. These pieces add a completely new element to the company’s range of furniture, which creates an eclectic fusion of stone, wood, steel and Perspex.

“We place a great deal of emphasis on the texture and form of the materials we use,” said lead designer Helen Brown, “and working with Perspex has allowed us to rethink light and space as they are defined by our living space.”

For more information, visit www.perspexdistribution.com.

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THE ART OF PLASTICS DESIGN 2005 REPORT AVAILABLE
The conference proceedings from the Art of Plastics Design in Berlin, Germany, 18-19 October 2005, are available for purchase for Euro 176. The report covers the following subjects:

• How do you make products that appeal to the senses?
• Consumers are demanding aesthetic appeal as well as functional attributes. How do you turn a utility product into a desirable item?

This first international conference on the Art of Plastics Design brought together designers, manufacturers, plastics engineers and end-users, together with producers of innovative plastics materials.

For a complete index of this report, please visit www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c30302.

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DELIVER WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT
By Roy Chitwood
I recently had the daunting experience of calling my mobile provider to upgrade my phone service. As anyone who has called a large corporation in the past five years or so can tell you, it was an arduous task. Just trying to choose the right option from the company’s lengthy, and at times, baffling touch tone menu to talk with a live person was a challenge to say the least.

Needless to say, four telephone numbers, three departments and six disinterested and/or helpless representatives later, on my seventh call, I finally reached someone who was not only pleasant and knowledgeable but he was so happy to help me with what I needed that we laughed and joked throughout most of the transaction. By the end of the conversation, I had not only upgraded my telephone service, I had purchased a second phone, a hands-free headset and a protective carrying case.

Embracing the opportunity to interact with customers, instead of hoping they’ll get lost or just give up in the maze of a cleverly-crafted touch-tone menu, is the single best way to show your customers you value their time, their needs and their business. Regardless of the product or service you sell we are all, ultimately, in the people business. As in any relationship, if a company is willing to talk with its customers and interact with them effectively, customer problems and complaints can be minimized and even eliminated in most cases. When customer needs are met, as in the story I just relayed, the possibility for future business is limitless.

There is more to this article. To see it in its entirety, please go to www.maxsacks.com/articles/article0805.html.

Roy Chitwood is an author and consultant on sales and customer service. He is the former president and chairman of the Board of Sales & Marketing Executives International and is president of Max Sacks International, www.maxsacks.com. If you would like to subscribe to his free Tip of the Week please e-mail contact@maxsacks.com.

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NEW EUROMAP RECOMMENDATION FOR EXTRUSION
A working group of the EUROMAP Technical Commission has prepared a further recommendation (EUROMAP 31) on melt-temperature measurement. In this document, a method to measure a representative mean value of the melt temperature in a flow channel with a circular cross section is defined. It allows the comparison of measuring data from different sources.

The new EUROMAP recommendation 31 “Extrusion: Melt-Temperature Measurement” is now available on EUROMAP’s web site at www.euromap.org.

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Industry Events

For a list of all events, please visit www.epda.com/industry.cfm

PLASTIC PIPES MARKETS: RUSSIA AND CEE 2006
13 to 14 March 2006, Corinthia Towers Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic
The Russian and Central and Eastern European regions are the next big areas for processors supplying the building and construction market. New infrastructure developments and urban water reform will mean new opportunities for plastic pipes. This conference will bring together an industry panel to discuss the latest trends and developments in this promising market. For more information, visit www.cmtevents.com.

FLEXPO 2006
15 to 17 March 2006, Marriott Hotel, Singapore
FlexPO 2006, the 11th international conference on global polyolefins and elastomers innovations, is intended for marketing/technical representatives from the polymer industry, applications, government and academia who are interested in the latest developments. Further information can be obtained at www.cmrhoutex.com.

EPDA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
12 to 15 May 2006, Marriott Forest of Arden, The Midlands, England, UK
The European Plastics Distributors Association’s Annual Conference will provide a unique opportunity for those in the plastics distribution industry to discuss trends in the market. The conference will bring together managing directors of plastics distributor and manufacturer companies from throughout Europe to share the challenges facing their companies. The conference, open to members and nonmembers throughout the world, will provide attendees with numerous networking and educational opportunities. Registration information will be available in late January. Visit www.epda.com for information.

MEDICAL POLYMERS 2006
6 to 7 June 2006, Cologne, Germany
Medical device manufacturing is a high value marketplace, but one where mistakes can be very expensive. Materials are highly regulated and medical grades are subject to extensive quality controls and specified for particular applications. Polymers are being used in a broad range of items, from bulk blood and drug infusion bags, tubing and catheters, to joint replacements, implants, cardiac stents and other intravascular devices, needle guards, tissue scaffolding, suture materials and wound adhesives.

Rapra Technology Limited is pleased to announce the Fifth International Conference on Medical Polymers, to be held in Cologne, Germany 6 to 7 June 2006. This event will bring together world experts in plastics and rubber to talk about the latest materials and to tackle issues affecting medical device manufacturers.

For more information, please visit www.medicalpolymers.org.

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Copyright 2006
European Plastics
Distributors Association
Beethovenstraße 12
63846 Laufach Germany
Phone: +49.6093.9942852
Fax: +49.6093.994077
epda@epda.com
www.epda.com