Expoplast Composites Council lineup introduced

The Composites Council of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) announced plans to heighten activity focusing on the composites industry at the upcoming Expoplast 2008 trade show in Montreal.

Significant interest has led to the inauguration of a composites pavilion and a number of accompanying activities, the organization said. The composites pavilion will feature a mix of commercial booth space as well as an association meeting/common area.

Also, CPIA and Expoplast have made available, free of charge, an area within the pavilion for not-for-profit composites associations, groups, and universities to display literature, congregate, and network. The booths and display area will be open during the entire ExpoPlast show, but composites interests will culminate on October 21 with a full slate of activities.

“Although there are many regional and sector specific composites events throughout the year, there is no national get-together, and over the years, many fabricators, suppliers, as well as academics, have wondered why we don’t develop a Canadian composites show and conference,” said the CPIA’s Duncan Cross. “The Composites Council of CPIA is hopeful that this Expoplast effort may be the catalyst that will evolve into an on-going composites event for Canada.”

In conjunction with the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). CPIA’s Composites Council has put together an educational program featuring some of Canada’s leading composites experts for the morning of October 21, to be followed by a luncheon.

The morning session will include presentations from NRC, Composites Atlantic, RICQ, McGill University, Concom, CTMP, CDCQ, CREPEC and others. The afternoon will feature an open forum or town-hall type meeting on the vision of the Canadian composites sector. Discussion will be encouraged with presentations from three of North America’s leading composites experts: Pierre Lariviere, president of RICQ and president of PCPL Consulting; Lou Luedtke, president and CEO, National Composite Centre, Kettering, Ohio; and Dr. Michel Dumoulin, director of the Advanced Materials Program at NRC-IMI in Boucherville, Que. The day will end with an afternoon reception and networking session.

For more information or for commercial booth space rental, contact Duncan Cross at 902-820-2550, dcross@cpia.ca; or Tom Sockett at 905 678-7405, ext, 283, tsockett@cpia.ca.

Expoplast 2008 will take place on October 20 and 21, at Montreal’s Palais des Congres.

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