Plastics Design Contest Now Open to All

2008-11-29 8:46:11

The Alliance of Plastics Processors (APP) is now accepting applications for the International Plastics Design Competition (IPDC), which will be co-located with NPE 2009, the international plastics exposition, at Chicago’s McCormick Place on June 22–26 next year. The IPDC will be the first competition produced by the APP that is open to innovative products from any country in the world and for use in any end market.

Designers, processors, mould makers, material suppliers, OEMs, and other parties involved in the development of innovative products have until April 1, 2009, to enter a product in the competition. Full information, including award categories, judging criteria, entry fees, and an application form, is available on-line. Or, visitors to the NPE 2009 home page can click on the IPDC logo there.

The APP is a unit of the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. (SPI), which produces the triennial NPE event. The group is the successor to SPI’s Structural Plastics Division. For 35 years, it has sponsored a design competition renowned in North America as a showplace for innovative plastic products.

The IPDC will be the first such competition to be international in scope and open to the full range of applications, from automotive to packaging.

“Participants in the International Plastics Design Competition will benefit from the enormous exposure their achievements receive during NPE 2009, whether or not their entries are selected for awards,” says Kevin Brady, chairman of the IPDC planning committee. “Their most innovative accomplishments will be on display at a special IPDC pavilion in the West Hall of McCormick Place, certain to be a prime attraction for the 75,000 industry professionals expected to attend NPE 2009.”

The IPDC Awards will be presented at a gala ceremony during NPE 2009, and winning companies will be invited to a breakfast with members of the press from many industries.

Awards will be presented in the categories of overall achievement, ens-use market, sustainability, and emerging technology.