SPI announces NPE incentives

The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), organizer of Chicago plastics exhibition NPE, announced what it calls “extraordinary measures” to ensure that exhibitors and attendees can afford to participate in the NPE2009 trade show in June. 

Exhibitors with 4,000 square feet or less will get an across-the-board credit of $US1.50/square foot that amounts to a 32 per cent discount on the cost of general exhibit contracting services, according to Washington-based SPI. Companies with more than 4,000 square feet will get a one-time move-in allowance to help reduce those costs. The maximum credit will be US$150 for a small exhibitor, US$4,500 for a large exhibitor.

Another measure to keep costs under control, SPI said, involves exhibitors’ move-in and move-out expenses, will be fixed because the family-owned Freeman company in Dallas, Tex., will be managing service costs at NPE2009. In the past, exhibitors had to negotiate such costs with individual unions and the trades.

SPI is also offering discounts to attendees. Individual attendees will pay the 2006 rate of US$60, a US$20 discount. Buying teams with six or more registrants will pay US$50 per person. Companies registering more than 20 employees at a time will pay US$40. The organization is also offering deep discounts to those who register for the co-located “Business of Plastics Conference” by May 1.

“SPI understands that these extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures to ensure that the entire plastics industry can afford to participate in NPE2009,” said SPI president Bill Carteaux. “Along those lines, we are now working with our vendors to cut NPE’s operational expenses so savings can be passed through to NPE exhibitors and attendees without compromising services.”

SPI, which sponsors the June 22-26 trade show in Chicago, is calling the measures a “stimulus package” for exhibitors.

“We are taking a balanced, formulaic approach based on square footage and weight of exhibits because we recognize that the large machinery manufacturers will incur higher costs,” Carteaux said.

SPI also will offer discounts to all attendees and greater savings for group delegations and SPI member companies.

The incentives are seen as part of an attempt to counter a slew of recent withdraws from the show by high-profile exhibitors. Injection press makers JSW Plastics Machinery, Nissei Plastic Industrial Co. Ltd., and Netstal-Maschinen AG have all bowed out of the show in recent weeks.