21st edition breaches 1500 mark

 Global offer ings for plas t ics technology in top form – 1,564 exhibitors from 34 countries - are expected at the upcoming 21st FAKUMA international trade fair for plastics processing scheduled to take place from 18 – 22 October 2011 at its time-tested venue in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance.
An impressive list of exhibitors, of which 1,056 come from Germany, are now preparing to show off their best products. According to FAKUMA project manager, Ms. Annemarie Lipp, further bookings are yet to be expected, because there's strong demand above all from overseas (Asia and America) and from Turkey. This new record for event participation has broken previous records. As a result, not only are nearly all of the halls fully occupied with the exception of a few isolated booth locations, the Friedrichshafen Exhibition Centre is also provided with confirmation that it has created a basis for successful further development of FAKUMA by means of prompt expansion.
The theme park for "Plastics in Medical Engineering", promoted for the first time in this year's edition, has been allotted more than 5,300 sq.ft. of space. The theme park will serve as venue for specialists to exhibit their technologies, processes and solutions for the efficient production of medical products which have to be manufactured under special conditions. Another area has been set aside for efficient recycling of plastics and plastic products, especially in light of the fact that plastics recyclers are expanding their capacity because in the end ever scarcer resources lead to a higher recycling quota and to more reprocessing of used materials, waste and residual materials from production.
Ultimately, more than just additional or new approaches to increasing efficiency in all areas of plastics processing result in combination with FAKUMA's broad-based, but nevertheless well focused, product and service offerings. Exhibits will focus on technologies, products, subsystems and complete systems for production, processing and recycling of all types of plastic parts.
Weight reduction, l ightweight engineering, reduced materials consumption, efficient use of resources, production, material and energy efficiency, alternative materials – plastics and the associated processing methods provide conclusive answers again and again to currently significant issues such as these, which will become even more important in the future. This became especially apparent in the wake of the crisis during 2009 and the impending crisis. A new awareness evolved regarding the use of natural resources and, at the same time, rekindled competitive pressure necessitated new options for value creation. In order to assure sustainable success in all sectors, manufacturers of plastic processing machines and equipment, as well as raw materials producers, are keeping their noses to the grindstone.

Venue for launching new technologies
FAKUMA has evolved in to the Mecca of the European plastics industry in the non-"K" years. It is where European companies launch their latest technologies and materials, and demonstrate their benefits to the plastics industry.
Automatik Plastics Machinery GmbH and Maag Pump Systems AG wil l be appearing jointly at this year's FAKUMA, under the combined banner of Maag Group. The two sister companies will be presenting their complementary expertise as an integrated system provider, displaying as a special highlight a complete compounding line with a throughput of up to 1,000 kg/ h . The displayed system will consist of an extrex? 56HV gear pump, a CSC continuous screen changer, and aNike Hypervenom Phantom II FG Low