The Price is Right for Buying at the Show

NPE is acknowledged to be the best opportunity in North America to see new technology for the plastics industry. It may also be the best opportunity to buy new technology.

Two Canadian exhibitors say if you are ready to buy new equipment, a show is the place to do it.

“You will definitely get the best price, because no exhibitor comes to a show with exorbitant pricing,” says Sandra Rosario of En-plas Inc. (Toronto). At Expoplast last fall in Montreal, En-plas sold all the machines it had on display — two Nissei injection molding machines and a Yushin robot.

Steve Goudie, vice-president, sales, for Berg Chilling Systems Inc. (Toronto) says the competitive environment of the show works to the buyer’s advantage. “Everyone’s concerned about competition at the show, because a competitive product is available right around the corner.”

In Goudie’s experience, buyers rarely purchase a floor model. More often, they sign a deal at the show for a unit to be built to their specification.

If you are planning to buy at the show, Goudie says do your homework first. “Usually, you need to have figured out all the details in advance. If you are looking for a 100-ton chilling package, you won’t have time at the show to compare different manufacturers and get details of all the systems.”

GETTING IT HOME

En-plas will often ship a show purchase direct from the exhibition to the purchaser’s site, but this is not feasible for some exhibitors.

“Generally, I think it is too difficult for the exhibiting company to separate one piece of equipment and ship it apart from the rest of the exhibit,” says Goudie.

In either case, your show purchase will probably be on your loading dock before you’ve had a chance to recover from the show.