Technological watch

On April 16, CHINAPLAS 2021, the first post-pandemic international trade fair for the plastics and rubber industries, has come to an end in the Greater Bay Area. It was the first time that CHINAPLAS was held at Shenzhen, PR China, and the result was remarkable! With an exhibition area of over 350,000sqm, CHINAPLAS 2021 attracted the participation of 3,576 leading exhibitors from 41 countries and regions, and 152,134 professional visitors from 85 countries and regions! Amongst the visitors, 2,363 were from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas.
CHINAPLAS 2021 has come to a successful conclusion. The next edition of show will be rotated to National Exhibition and Convention Center, Hongqiao, Shanghai, PR China on April 25-28, 2022.
"Both exhibitors and visitors were satisfied with the outcome of the event! This is a year full of uncertainties and challenges. Grateful that we have achieved such a satisfactory result through the collaborative efforts of all supporting parties!” said Ms. Ada Leung, general manager of Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd., organizer of CHINAPLAS.
Increase in China’s Economy
“China’s economy continuous to see a robust recovery, with the first quarter’s GDP increased by 18.3% comparing to the same quarter of last year. Under the effective pandemic prevention and control measures together with the speeding up of the ‘dual circulation’ development, CHINAPLAS achieved success through the unlimited potential of China’s domestic market and the increased demand for high quality innovation technology.”
“Compared with the Guangzhou edition of CHINAPLAS two years ago, the number of local visitors has increased by 23.46%, exceeding our expectations. The drop in the number of overseas visitors was anticipated and was sufficiently understood by most exhibitors.”
“To enable the participation of local and overseas buyers who couldn’t join CHINAPLAS in person, we proudly presented live streaming broadcast which has attained nearly 1 million online views! We felt closely the passion of the exhibitors and visitors, the vitality of the plastics and rubber industries, and the enthusiasm of the industry practitioners.”
Bunch of Cutting-edge Technologies at Display
After two consecutive years of technology development and advancement, a significant number of innovative solutions were launched at the fairground, indicating the future advance development of the industries.
With the coming of the "dual carbon" era, "carbon neutrality" related exhibits were put under the spotlight. Many solutions for efficient production, energy-saving and emission reduction, biodegradable plastics, bio-based plastics, recycling technologies, etc., were the focuses of visitors at CHINAPLAS.
Single-material solutions and post-consumption recycling (PCR) technologies in the packaging sector were also gaining momentum. There are growing demand for LCP for 5G application, low dielectric PP, PC modified materials, electroplatable PPS, etc..
Consumption upgrade inspires innovation; automotive lightweight materials and techniques together with smart surface decoration processes, such as IMD & IML and high sensory materials applying to AI cockpits were hot at CHINAPLAS. With regards to COVID-19, there is a rise in health awareness, which speeds up the advancement of medical technology. The new generation of cold chain packaging materials for vaccine, PEEK, COC materials, antibacterial and antiviral nylon 66 and melt blown materials to meet evolving needs were popular during the show.
In the machinery halls of the fairground, visitors were able to see plenty of impressive machine demonstrations, such as high-speed printing machines, ultra-high-speed thin-wall packaging machines, data management for intelligent injection molding factory and remote control enhancing the production automation production, etc..
Innovation never stops. Transformation has no limit. Plastics is widely introduced to various downstream application industries, including electronics & electric, automotive, packaging, building materials, medical, sports and leisure etc., shaping a better and more sustainable future for humanity.
Series of Concurrent Events
A series of concurrent events were held at CHINAPLAS, namely "SciXplore Forum", "Industry 4.0 Factory of the Future", "Tech Talk", "Design x Innovation", “Medical Plastics Connect", the 2nd edition of "CHINAPLAS x CPRJ Plastics Recycling & Circular Economy Conference and Showcase", "Applications in Focus", and "The 8th China International Biodegradable Resin Seminar". All these events focused on specific themes which were found popular among elites in the manufacturing industries.
Due to the pandemic, exhibitors and visitors reunited after two years since the last edition of CHINAPLAS held in Guangzhou in 2019, making this "face-to-face" large-scale event even more precious for all participants. People in the industries learnt, explored, inspired and improved here. Visitors not merely broadened their horizons and refreshed their knowledge, but also discovered resources & technologies and expanded business network. Many exhibitors signed new orders with visitors at the fairground. Exhibitors and visitors are generally satisfied with CHINAPLAS.

Statements from Attendees
Ms. Zhao Xuemei, Brand Manager, Guangdong Yizumi Precision Machinery Co., Ltd., "The Yizumi booth was immensely popular throughout the 4 show days. This surprised us a lot! We believe this fully demonstrated the strong industry influence and charisma of CHINAPLAS. Even in difficult times, the organizer still adheres to their original motive for promoting the development of the industries, to provide exhibitors with a platform to present the latest technological achievements and to facilitate industry exchanges."
Ms. Wang Huaqian from Nordmeccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., "Despite reduction in the number of overseas visitors as compared to previous years due to the pandemic, local visitors came with clear targets and objectives. We have received just as many inquiries and orders at CHINAPLAS as in previous years. Both the pre-show organization and the post-show results were very satisfactory."

Ms. Eve Cai, China Marketing Manager of HP Indigo Digital Printing Division of China Hewlett-Packard Co., Ltd. said, “From online orders to workflow automation, from environmentally friendly materials to successful business model demonstrations to customers, HP Indigo and our partners together with some successful customers have showcased end-to-end solutions for digital flexible packaging. Meanwhile, we also connected to the Singapore demonstration center for cloud-based equipment presentation. The sharing from HP Indigo customers and partners has attracted great attention from potential customers; seemingly received an endless flow of visitors."

Ms. Jessica Chen, Marketing & Communications Director, Amcor (China) Holding Co., Ltd., "Not only a large number of upstream suppliers like us, but also a great amount of active participations from the downstream brand owners and their teams have participated in CHINAPLAS. As far as for Amcor, CHINAPLAS is not merely a good opportunity to showcase products, but also an excellent platform to enhance upstream and downstream communications in the flexible plastic packaging industry. From the total numbers of visitors and exhibitors, we can recognize that China's economy remains strong in the post-pandemic era, serving as a ‘booster’ for many multinational companies to continue exploring business opportunities in China and invest into the Chinese market."
Mr. Reus Wang, Marketing Manager of Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd., “Although number of overseas visitors has dropped sharply due to the pandemic, the quantity of local visitors has significantly increased and reached a record high. Material solutions are evolving and enhancing, advancements in the automotive lightweighting and degradable plastics fields are apparent! In addition to the promotion of environmental protection policies, how to thoroughly achieve ‘emission peak’ and ‘carbon neutrality’ are adequately worthy of our further exploration."

Mr. Gerhard Böhm, Managing Director of Sales and Service, Arburg said, “The CHINAPLAS trade fair was a great success for us. The number of visitors to our booth was consistently high! They came to us with specific projects and presented us with their task parameters, all are very interesting and with great future potential.”

Not only exhibitors showed their appreciation, visitors were also impressed by the fruitful trips.

Mr. Lin Conglong, Senior Engineer of Fuyao Group, "I bask in different achievements every time I visit CHINAPLAS. CHINAPLAS 2021 makes me even more impressed. As an automotive manufacturing related company, I am able to find materials and equipment of the era at CHINAPLAS, for instances, carbon fiber, continuous fiber, etc. which can achieve materials lightweight; environmentally friendly materials such as low VOCs materials, pray-free, two-platen machine and bi-colour machine, etc.. The understanding of existing technology and development trends allows our company to enhance independent research and development capabilities. Thanks to CHINAPLAS for providing an accessible, efficient communication platform that leads everyone to shape the future together and catch up with our dreams."
Mr. Wen Chunli, Equipment Department Manager of Shenzhen Chuangwei - RGB Electronics Co., Ltd., "We look for HIPS/PC/ABS and other raw materials, as well as injection molding machines, material-feeding machines, robotic arm, mold temperature machines, shredders, central feeding systems and other equipment. Steam-heated injection molding, gas-assisted injection molding, foam molding and water-aided injection molding are all at the forefront of the industries. Here at CHINAPLAS, we can fully understand the market trends and products, which provide a good reference and guidance for our equipment selections.”
Fang Liuying, Vice General Manager, Southern Packaging Co., Ltd., "CHINAPLAS 2021 totally demonstrated the technical strength of China's intelligent manufacturing. Industry 4.0 digital production and 5G technology industrial applications enabled the realization of unmanned factories and remote control. Whereas, green and recycling closed-loop technology has become more and more mature, supporting the national environmental protection development. On the other hand, technological breakthroughs in the medical and health industry have created new growth points for the company. These technologies have refreshed us and opened up a new direction for the development of packaging companies!"
Mr. Zhang Baofeng, Vice President Assistant of China Lesso Group Holdings Ltd., "At CHINAPLAS, we visited a lot of advanced injection molding machines, extruders and other equipment and materials, which will greatly improve our product quality and production efficiency."
Mr. Emil Lau, Manager of Tooling & Technology Group of Philips Respironics Medical Products (SZ) Co., Ltd., "This visit is purely out of my expectation. I did not expect that there were so many exhibitors, especially with materials that we were interested in, e.g. liquid silicone molds, injection molding machines and feeding system. It is absolutely brilliant to be able to collect all of the relevant information at one go! CHINAPLAS really takes the lead in driving the development of the plastics and rubber industries!"

The official live streaming of CHINAPLAS also received plenty favorable comments from our visitors. Many online visitors reckoned that watching live streaming helped them understand industry trends & innovative application areas and obtained a wealth of new product information. The official live streaming platform has received nearly 1 million views from Pakistan, India, the United States, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries and regions. If you would like to review the interviews of big-name exhibitors, displays of cutting-edge technology exhibits and expert guided tours, you can simply click here or scan the QR code below to watch the live streaming.