From 20 to 22 November 2024, CA.PICARD^® Japan participated in the Nagoya Plastic Industrial Fair 2024.

This was our first opportunity to join this expo in Nagoya. Nagoya is a city where the automobile industry thrives, located around Toyota.

The expo showcased plastic machinery, plastic 3D modelling, processing technologies, raw materials, eco-friendly plastics, recycling solutions, mould-related equipment etc.

Approximately 17,000 people attended during the three days, and we were delighted to welcome more visitors to our booth than anticipated.

At this exhibition, we presented the following items:

• BMD (Barrel Measurement Device): Our BMD was presented via a promotional video emphasising its high efficiency in delivering precise information on barrel wear and analytical reports.
• FDS (Flexible Dismantling System): A promotional video showed its PLC control for the safe and efficient dismantling of screw elements from shafts. This system prioritises the protection of elements and shafts as well as - most importantly - the operators' safety. A demonstration unit is available at our Kawaguchi office, and we invited visitors to experience its efficiency and benefits there live.

The next expo will take place in Osaka from 14 to 16 May 2025.

We sincerely thank everyone who visited our booth, and we look forward to welcoming many visitors again at the next expo.

From 29 to 31 October 2024, C.A.PICARD^® Japan participated in the PLASTIC JAPAN - High-Performance Plastic Expo - in Tokyo.

This exhibition showcases a broad range of technologies related to the plastics industry, from raw materials and additives to moulding and processing machinery as well as recycling solutions.

This year, approximately 44,000 people attended in three days and we were pleased to welcome a larger number of visitors at our booth than anticipated.

At this exhibition, we presented the following items:

• BMD (Barrel Measurement Device): Our BMD was presented via promotional film highlighting its high efficiency by providing precise information on barrel wear and analytical reports.
   
• FDS (Flexible Dismantling System): A promotional video showed its PLC control for safe and efficient dismantling of the screw elements from the shafts prioritising protection for the screw elements, the shafts and especially the operators. This machine is available for demonstration at our Kawaguchi office and we invited visitors to have a look at its efficiency and advantages at our premises.
   
• BMD camera: We demonstrated this service with an actual device. It records inside barrels very clearly. This feature aroused significant interest of visitors.

The next expo will take place in Nagoya from 20 to 22 November 2024. It will be our first participation in the Nagoya Plastic Industrial Fair.

We sincerely thank all of our visitors and look forward to welcoming them again at our booth.

C.A.PICARD^® USA participated in the first GIFA Mexico, which has joined with the long-established FundiExpo, in Mexico City from October 16th-18th, 2024. The exhibition featured 344 exhibitors from 16 countries and attracted almost 5,000 visitors from Mexico, USA, Canada, as well as every other Latin American country.

We shared space with our new representative CastMet. CastMet has been a market leader in promoting equipment and materials to the Mexican and Latin American markets for over two decades. Their staff of 18 technical service, sales, and customer representatives assisted us in the introduction of C.A.PICARD^® to the market and potential customers.

At this time, the potential market in Mexico is approximately 20% of that of the USA market but is quickly expanding. Many industries are currently in negotiation to move their production from the USA to Mexico (car manufacturing, John Deere, Caterpillar, etc.) and would likely be purchasing castings from foundries in Mexico instead of producing castings in North America and shipping them to Mexico to be assembled in cars, tractros, and heavy equipment.

Over the past six months, C.A.PICARD^® has been successful in getting the first orders from two of the largest potential foundries in this expanding market. The first one, who has 13 molding machines, and the second one with 7 will be installing and testing our wear parts starting in December of this year. Additionally, we met with two foundries that we were not aware had older machines which we specialize in. Since this exhibition, we have identified 29 new and old-style Disamatic machines at eleven different locations.

An important customer will be installing our parts during the Christmas shutdown, and if they work well, we will get more opportunities to quote them.

The next GIFA Mexico / FundiExpo will be held in October 2026 in Monterry, Mexico.

This year, we had again the opportunity to be one of the numerous exhibitors of the Fakuma trade fair on the exhibition area in Friedrichshafen.

More than 1,600 exhibitors from around 790 countries such as China, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Turkey again presented innovations and topics concerning efficiency, sustainability and circular economy. This year, the portion of foreign exhibitors even rose from 44% to 47.5%. By means of technical and organisational measures, the plastics converters influence all possible determining factors in order to secure their competitiveness. They are forced to produce even more economically.

From 15 to 19 October 2024, this year's Fakuma attracted 36,675 visitors, who frequented the booths of the exhibitors in the twelve exhibition halls which were almost fully occupied.

It was a pleasure for us to welcome approximately 50 visitors from all over the world at our booth in order to have intensive expert discussions.There were also some potential new customers. The major part of visitors came from Germany and other European countries such as Spain, Poland and, above all, Italy. We could also conduct interesting discussions with companies from countries like Japan and Venezuela, which delighted us very much with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic which is not too long ago.

Trade visitors focussed on topics such as increase in efficiency, process stability and the minimisation of set-up times.

On 11 and 12 September 2024, the AMI Plastics World Expos took place in Brussels and brought together industry leaders, experts and enthusiasts from the global compounding, recycling and extrusion industries for two days of networking, exchange of knowledge and innovation aiming at doing business and conducting interesting expert conversations.

The entrance card gave access to the more than 170 established exhibitors of the trade fairs Compounding World Expo, Plastics Recycling World Expo and Polymer Testing World Expo.

After the change of the meeting place of the Compounding World Expo from Essen to Brussels, expectations were high, but the attendance was limited. Brussels as location was much less visited than Essen was the years before. The change of the meeting place did not help to gain additional visitors from the Benelux region.

The trade fair provided the opportunity to present and network. However, activities with customers were rather restrained.

Among the exhibitors, all machine constructors were present (apart from Maris). As always, Coperion had the biggest booth, but was also very disppointed by the number of visitors.

The CPCA 2024 trade fair was held from 13 to 15 May 2024 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. It is committed to promoting industrial innovations and leading technologies, focusing on core technologies in the field of electronic manufacturing. C.A.PICARD^® has been participating in this show for many years.

The exhibition space of this year's CPCA show exceeded 55,000 m², attracted more than 775 enterprises to exhibit and a total of 70,990 visitors, including both domestic and international visitors.

The CPCA show brought together exhibitors from domestic and foreign industries for electonic circuits in an exhibition area with a theme dedicated to the electronic industry including printed circuit boards, electronic assemblies, intelligent manufacturing, environmental protection, water treatment, clean rooms, etc. The CPCA show integrated a diversity of concurrent activities including the International Forum on Information Technology PCB, technical exchange meetings and new product technology launches, providing ample opportunities under one roof.

Currently, the AI (Artificial Intelligence) market is experiencing rapid growth driven by technological advancements and the widespread integration of AI in diverse sectors.

For example:

• Major application possibilities will be in smartphones as well as the automotive, transportation/logistics and manufacturing sectors.
• In the financial sector, AI is being used to enhance risk assessment and fraud detection.
• Niche applications tailored to specific industries, such as healthcare to improve patient care and streamline medical processes.

C.A.PICARD^® Japan participated in the PLASTIC JAPAN trade fair during the Highly-Functional Material Week in Osaka from 8 to 10 May 2024.

This expo is one of the world's most advanced exhibitions for the plastics industry. It gathers all kinds of technologies from raw materials and additives to moulding and processing machinery as well as recycling technologies. It is held twice a year, once in Osaka and once in Tokyo, and it brings together manufacturers who showcase their latest advanced plastics products, manufacturing equipment and recycling innovations. About 21,000 people visited the exhibition during these three days and many more customers than expected visited our booth.

This time, we exhibited the following items:

Barrel camera: A camera developed by C.A.PICARD^® for inspecting the interior of barrels. Traditionally, the barrels had to be disassembled to visually inspect their inner surface, but with this camera, it is possible to take pictures without disassembling the barrel.

FDS (Flexible Dismantling System) with PLC control to dismantle the screw elements from the shafts efficiently with full protection for the screw elements, the shafts and especially the operators (presented via promotional film and a small model of the FDS).

The next PLASTIC JAPAN will take place in Tokyo from 29 to 31 October 2024. We look forward to welcoming many guests at our booth again then.

C.A.PICARD^® made a strong impression at the wildly successful NPE 2024: The plastics show took place in Orlando, Florida from April 6^th to 10^th, 2024 and drew a staggering 55,000 attendees from around the world. The company's booth was a hub of electrifying activity, with existing customers placing orders and numerous promising leads generated from attendees eager to learn more about C.A.PICARD^®'s products and service offerings. Jörg Vogel's presence from the German team added valuable global perspective and allowed for meaningful conversations with international attendees.

In total, C.A.PICARD^® captured an impressive 177 leads at the blockbuster event that the team is now aggressively following up on. The premier industry event provided an invaluable platform for the rapidly growing team to showcase their latest innovations and forge new connections within the plastics sector. Riding high on the momentum from this wildly successful showing at the event attended by over 55,000, C.A.PICARD^® views NPE 2024 as the start of an expansive growth phase.

Carsten Soendergaard, Jim Surma, and Eric Gilbert represented the company with great enthusiasm at the Petfood Forum, which took place in Kansas City from April 29^th to May 1^st, 2024. The newly released single screw extruder catalog was met with considerable excitement and interest from attendees. By proactively distributing the catalog and discussing the latest single screw innovations, the team generated numerous quality sales leads and had substantive conversations with prospective customers. Attendees were impressed by C.A.PICARD^®'s offerings and associated technology that could enhance their pet food manufacturing.

The buzz surrounding the catalog highlighted the company's industry leadership in single screw extrusion. Overall, the presence at the premier pet food industry trade show proved to be a resounding success in promoting the parts and services offered in the USA.

The CHINAPLAS 2024 International Rubber and Plastics Exhibition was held in Shanghai from 23 to 26 April. Back to Shanghai after a six-year interval, the scale of this rubber and plastics exhibition was unprecedented. The total area of the exhibition halls, the number of exhibitors and the number of visitors reached historical highs. According to the organiser's report, the total area of this exhibition reached 380,000 m². Not only the number of exhibitors amounting to 4,495 from 38 countries and regions set a record, but the number of visitors also achieved a new historical high: a total of 321,879 visitors from more than 170 countries and regions were welcomed. Compared with the Shenzhen exhibition in 2023, it increased by 29.67%. The number of overseas visitors amounted to 73,204, accounting for 22.74% of the total number. Compared with the Shenzhen exhibition in 2023, it increased by 157.50%.

At CHINAPLAS 2024, we presented die heads and cutters, a large screw element, our Barrel Wear Measurement Device (BMD) and the BMD camera with demonstrations at our booth, which attracted many customers. This exhibition allowed us to display our innovative products and technologies, it also provided an excellent platform for interaction and communication with customers. The event served as a valuable opportunity to build relationships, exchange ideas and explore potential collaborations. The positive feedbacks and dialogues at CHINAPLAS 2024 will drive us to continue innovating and improving our product lines to better meet the needs of the market. We look forward to continuing our story of success and growth in the future.

C.A.PICARD^® had an outstanding showing at the recent IPC APEX EXPO in Anaheim, California, which took place from April, 9^th to 11^th, 2024 and drew over 9,000 visitors from across the globe. As a leading premium parts and service supplier for the printed circuit board industry, our team was thrilled to connect with countless current and prospective customers at this premier event.

The IPC show provided an excellent platform to showcase our latest product offerings, discuss emerging industry trends, and reinforce our commitment to delivering exceptional value and customer service. The overwhelmingly positive response we received is a testamtent to C.A.PICARD^®'s rapid growth and strengthening position in the PCB marketplace.

We look forward to building upon the momentum from Anaheim as we continue expanding our reach and capabilities to better serve our customers worldwide.

This year's Anuga FoodTec took place from 19 to 22 March at the exhibition centre in Cologne with the guiding theme "Responsibility". With a widely-positioned team consisting of colleagues from the Sales, Development and Service Departments, we were one of 1,307 exhibitors from 133 countries. The portion of foreign exhibitors was more than 60%.

There were almost 40,000 trade visitors, who were provided with extensive information on alternative protein sources, energy and water management, digitalisation as well as artificial intelligence.

Originally, the trade fair arose from the former Anuga-Technica and DLG-FoodTec trade fairs and has been providing an extensive and process-oriented overview on all technologies required for the food production since 1996.

We were pleased to welcome approximately 40 visitors from all over the world at the booth of Carl Aug. Picard GmbH this year which allowed us to have expert discussions with them. There were also some potential new customers.

Our visitors were predominantly from Germany and other European countries. However, some customers also came from countries like India and China in order to visit our booth.

We look forward to welcoming again numerous visitors at the next Anuga FoodTec in Cologne from 23 to 26 February 2027.

VICTAM Asia 2024 took place at the BITEC Pavilion in Bangkok from 12 to 14 March with 315 international exhibitors from the animal feed, pet food and aquatic food industries as well as the rice, grain and flour processing industries.

Compared with the previous show in 2022, the number of visitors to VICTAM Asia and GRAPAS Asia increased unprecedentedly by 42.5%. This growth demonstrates the industries' growing interest in the show and the increasing importance of the show for the industries. The success of this exhibition marks an important milestone in the industries' recovery from the pandemic by demonstrating the resilience of the market after the pandemic and the new growth trends for the future.

C.A.PICARD^® have always committed themselves to provide customers of the feed and food industries with the best solutions including expertise and advanced materials in order to meet the ever-changing market needs and to supply individual services according to the specific needs of customers. We are very proud that our professional and impressing services are appreciated and recognised by many customers.

We look forward to meeting customers from around the world again at the VICTAM Asia 2026 in Bangkok.

The International Electronics Circuit Exhibition ("HKPCA Show"), a PCB and electronics assembly exhibition, was held at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center (Bao'an) from 6 to 8 December 2023.

The three-day event, which addressed the topic "Digitalisation + AI = Future", was completed successfully. With 3,263 booths and an exhibition space of 70,000 m², it attracted 555 exhibitors and registered a record number of visitors of 62,566 including both domestic and international visitors. There were more than 80 exhibitors from around the globe and a special "Thailand pavilion" to increase international cooperation and communication.

Overall, industrial electronics, consumer electronics, healthcare, communication products and automotive electronics accounted for the major part of the growth in the PCB industry and it is believed that these areas will continue to develop in the future. In particular, the following electronics sectors and their related products and equipment were highlighted and expect fast-paced growth from 2024 on:

• Education technology (EdTech) and digital learning
• Digital healthcare
• Clean energy
• New Energy Vehicles (NEV)

C.A.PICARD^® Japan participated in the IPF Japan 2023 (International Plastic Fair) from 28 November to 2 December 2023. 

Usually, the IPF Japan is held every three years. However, it was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus and held as an online exhibition. So, the real IPF exhibition was held for the first time after six years.

IPF Japan gathers a variety of raw materials, machines, moulds and services relating to the plastics and rubber production. This time, C.A.PICARD^® Japan participated in the extrusion area.

About 35,000 people visited the exhibition in five days. More customers than expected also visited our booth.

We exhibited the following items:

• BMD (Barrel Measurement Device): the high efficiency of our BMD by providing accurate information on barrel wear and analytical reports (presented via promotional film)

• FDS (Flexible Dismantling System) with PLC control to dismantle the screw elements from the shafts efficiently with full protection for the screw elements, the shafts and especially the operators without risk of injury (presented via promotional film and a small model of the FDS)
  The machine will be introduced at the C.A.PICARD^® Kawaguchi premises at the end of 2023. We promoted the efficiency and advantages of it to the visitors and invited them to visit our premises to see the machine on site.

We thank everyone for the good conversations at the IPF Japan 2023 and look forward to seeing many guests again at our booth at the Plastic Japan in Osaka from 8 to 10 May 2024.

The Compounding World Expo North America 2023 was a success! We left no stone unturned and sent all six sales guys to the show including Carsten Soendergaard, our new fearless leader in the USA. C.A.PICARD^® USA was able to obtain 18 leads for a total business opportunity of $ 2.25M. The conversion rate is currently at 35% resulting $790K in business. November 15^th and 16^th were the days of the event at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The show consisted of 347 exhibitors and 5,134 attendees, a gateway into the North American compounding industry.

This year, the 28th edition of the Fakuma exhibition took again place at the exhibition center in Friedrichshafen at the Lake Constance from 17 to 21 October.

1,636 exhibitors participated, 44% of them came from abroad. With approximately 40,000 visitors, the exhibition registered an enormous growth compared to the previous time.

Our booth attracted numerous visitors including potential customers, many familiar people and industry experts. The intensive interaction enabled us to gain valuable insights into the needs of the market. The aim was to establish new business contacts and consolidate existing relationships. Overall, the event was very successful for us as exhibitor and we look forward to integrating the impulses received in future projects.

One of the focal points was efficiency and sustainability, in particular against the background of the forthcoming challenges resulting from the energy transition. Some visitors were very interested in solutions which optimise the energy consumption of extruders.

The discussions during the trade fair also reflected the increasing significance of recycling management in the plastics sector. Our spare parts help to use resources more efficiently and minimise waste. This fact gets more and more important in view of increasing sensitivity with regard to environmental issues and the focus on sustainable production processes.

Altogether, the Fakuma trade fair was once again an optimal platform to exchange information with our customers and to get an overview of the current trends and developments in the market.

C.A.PICARD^® Japan participated in the PLASTIC JAPAN in Tokyo from 4 to 6 October 2023. The show gathers all kinds of technologies related to the plastics industry, from raw materials and additives to moulding and processing machinery as well as recycling technologies.

This year, it was visited by approximately 44,000 people in three days and more customers than expected visited our booth.

We presented again the items below:

• BMD (Barrel Measurement Device): the high efficiency of our BMD by providing accurate information on barrel wear and analytical reports (presented via promotional film)

• FDS (Flexible Dismantling System) with PLC control to dismantle the screw elements from the shafts efficiently with full protection for the screw elements, the shafts and especially the operators without risk of injury (presented via promotional film)
  The machine will be introduced at the C.A.PICARD^® Kawaguchi premises, probably at the end of 2023. We promoted the efficiency and advantages of it to the visitors and invited them to visit our premises to see the machine on site.

• BMD camera: We demonstrated this service with our actual device. The camera can record inside barrels very clearly and many customers are interested in it.

The next PLASTIC JAPAN will take place in Osaka from 8 to 10 May 2024. We are looking forward to welcoming many guests at our booth again then.

This year's Compounding World Expo took place at the exhibition centre in Essen on 14 and 15 June 2023 and more than 200 exhibitors again joined this networking event of the plastics industry.

Apart from Carl Aug. Picard GmbH, further well-known exhibitors from Germany participated such as Coperion, KraussMaffei and Leistritz, but also smaller competitors and exhibitors from Japan, Italy and China such as JSW, Maris, Icma, Bandera, Jwell and Lesun participated again and thus provided international input.

This year's industry get-together with specialist lectures about the theme of recycling attracted numerous visitors from within an approximately 200 km radius and resulted in interesting expert discussions with local customers.

The Compounding World Expo was supplemented by events of the Plastics Extrusion World Expo, Plastics Recycling World Expo and Polymer Testing World Expo. In this context, various panel discussions about current trends and developments relating to the topics material availability, innovations in the analysis of plastic materials and the general development of the market took place.

The next exhibition will be held in Brussels in September 2024. Then, the focus will surely be on Benelux.

The Plastic Japan Osaka (plastics exhibition in West Japan) was held at the International Exhibition Center Osaka from 17 to 19 May 2023. The show embraces a wide range of highly-functional materials and processing equipment, testing/analysis equipment, recycling technologies etc. It is held twice a year - once in Osaka and once in Tokyo.

More than 23,000 people visited the exhibition during these three days and a lot of potential customers visited our booth. Besides our products for the plastics industry, customers were interested in our BMD (barrel measurement device), which enables us to record the interior of a barrel very clearly.

The next Plastic Japan will take place in Tokyo from 4 to 6 October 2023. Furthermore, the IPF (International Plastic Fair) Japan 2023 will be held in Tokyo from 11 November to 2 December 2023. There will be more than 700 exhibitors including us.

Many thanks to all visitors and we are looking forward to seeing them at our booth next time.

CHINAPLAS 2023, the 35th International Exhibition on Plastics and Rubber Industries and Asia's No. 1 plastics and rubber trade fair ended successfully at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center, China on 20 April.

According to the organiser, 248,222 visitors went to Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center during the four-day exhibition and explored the latest innovative high-tech solutions for the plastics and rubber sectors. The numbers of visitors of CHINAPLAS 2023 were as follows:

The total number of visitors of CHINAPLAS 2023 represents a phenomenal increase of 63.16% compared with CHINAPLAS held in the same venue in 2021. Compared with the exhibition held in Guangzhou in 2019, it marks an increase of 51.99%. The C.A.PICARD^® booth was nearly crowded with guests this time.

At CHINAPLAS 2023, we demonstrated the Barrel Wear Measurement Device (BMD) at our booth and, for the first time, our new product BM endoscope. The efficient real-time reports on barrel wear and high-definition wear videos attracted both new and old customers for discussions. In addition, our new products, die plates and knives, also drew high attention of the visitors.

We hereby thank everyone who came to our booth for discussion and cooperation. We are looking forward to another successful CHINAPLAS in Shanghai next year.

The 31st International Electronic Circuits (Shanghai) Exhibition was held from 22 to 24 March 2023 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai.

Figures of the event
Number of exhibitors: 729
Exhibition space: 55,000 m²
Number of visitors: 62,423

The exhibition focussed on current and future challenges of the industry. The PCB industry is expediting the transfer of manufacturing away from China. Additionally, core topics like zero emissions and EVs were clearly pointed out.

C.A.PICARD^® exhibited at the 2023 IPC APEX EXPO in San Diego, California January 24-26: one of 375 exhibitors featured in the San Diego Convention Center. Show attendance surged to the highest levels in a decade as renewed optimism abounded among visiting electronics manufacturing professionals. Mark Fink and Dylan Rogan relished the opportunity to reconnect with many customers and communicate the quality and value of C.A.PICARD^®'s solutions to a diverse range of attendees.

The PLASTIC JAPAN Tokyo Show was held in December 2022. This show is one of the world's leading materials shows consisting of six specialised exhibitions for advanced films, plastics, metal, ceramics, joining and coating technologies.

C.A.PICARD^® Japan participated in this show in the plastics zone. The show gathers a wide range of highly-functional materials and processing equipment, testing/analysis equipment, recycling technologies etc. It is held twice a year, once in Osaka and once in Tokyo.

This show was visited by approximately 44,000 people in three days and more customers than expected visited our booth.

This time, we presented the items below:

• BMD (Barrel Measurement Device): the high efficiency of our BMD by providing accurate information on barrel wear and analytical reports (presented via promotional film)
• FDS (Flexible Dismantling System): with PLC control to dismantle the screw elements from the shafts efficiently with full protection for the screw elements, the shafts and especially the workers without risk of injury (presented via promotional film)
• BMD camera: This is our new service which we demonstrated by means of our camera. The camera can record inside barrels very clearly and many customers are interested in it.

The next PLASTIC JAPAN - High-Performance Plastic Expo - will take place in Osaka from 17 to 19 May 2023. We are looking forward to welcoming many guests at our booth again then.

AMI's Plastics World Expos are the leading co-located exhibitions for plastics compounding, recycling, extrusion, and polymer testing in North America. The show is made up of four co-located exhibitions: Compounding World Expo, Plastics Extrusion World Expo, Plastics Recycling World Expo, and Polymer Testing World Expo. This Expo has always proven to be one of the most highly attended in North America. The two-day event took place on November 9^th and 10^th, 2022 and was also well attended this year. For both days, we were able to identify 47 opportunities with new and existing customers. 16 of those opportunities were with new customers. We are actively following up on those now. 

After the long period of time influenced by Covid-19, many companies of the plastics and rubber industries had started preparing for the 19th edition of their most important and biggest exhibition with tremendous excitement: The K 2022 took place in Düsseldorf from 19 to 26 October 2022.

3037 exhibitors looked forward to finally being able to communicate again personally with their approximately 176,000 trade visitors from 157 nations.

We also participated with our own booth and an international team of 20 colleagues this time. Mr Josef Posniak, Spokesman of our Management Board, was also frequently involved in customer discussions.

28 of 89 trade visitors at the booth of Carl Aug. Picard GmbH came from Germany. It was a pleasure for us to welcome also our Asian customers despite the difficult situation, who travelled the long way, for example, from Japan, China, Thailand and Malaysia in order to visit us at the exhibition. The other visitors came from Europe and the USA.

Beside our known products and services in the field of co-rotating twin-screw extruders, our newly designed FD systems for stripping off elements gently were focussed on this time.

A distinction is made between the "FDS & FDX" system and the "FD200" system. While the "FDS & FDX" system can strip off elements with diameters of 20 - 160 mm, the "FD200" system is suitable for elements with a diameter of up to 270 mm.

This innovation makes it possible to strip off elements hydraulically even with these particular diameters in order to reduce the risk of injury and to carry out a time-saving change of configuration.

The next K show will take place from 8 to 15 October 2025. We are already looking forward very much to welcoming many guests then again at our booth.

C.A.PICARD^® Japan participated in the "High-Performance PLASTIC EXPO Osaka Show" in May 2022. The EXPO is an exhibition embracing highly-functional materials technologies that are indispensable to various high-technology industries, e.g. advanced materials, processing technologies, production equipment and testing equipment. In addition, active negotiations took place among researchers and manufacturers of various fields such as automotive, electronics, medical and aerospace industries.

This EXPO was visited by about 17,000 people in three days. Compared with the last EXPO 2021 also held in Osaka, which was influenced by COVID-19, the number of visitors recovered very well and many current and potential customers visited our booth.

This time, we presented BMD and FDS via promotional film:

• BMD (Barrel Measurement Device): the high efficiency of our BMD by providing accurate information on barrel wear and analytical reports
• FDS (Flexible Dismantling System) with PLC control to dismantle the screw elements from the shafts efficiently with full protection for the screw elements, the shafts and especially the workers without risk of injury

We appreciated everyone for coming to our booth, for the discussions and the cooperation. We were very pleased to meet our customers and other visitors.

The next "High-Performance PLASTIC EXPO" will be held in Tokyo from 7 to 9 December 2022. We look forward to seeing you at our booth.

C.A.PICARD^® exhibited at the 2022 IPC APEX Expo in San Diego, California January 25-27: one of 282 exhibitors featured in the San Diego Convention Center. 3,647 electronics manufacturing professionals visited this year's expo. Mark Fink and Dylan Rogan relished the opportunity to reconnect with many customers and communicate the quality and value of C.A.PICARD^®'s solutions to a diverse range of attendees.

C.A.PICARD^® Japan participated in the "Highly-functional Material Week" in December 2021. The EXPO is an exhibition embracing highly-functional materials technologies that are indispensable to various high-technology industries, e.g. advanced materials, processing technologies, production equipment and testing equipment. In addition, active negotiations took place among researchers and manufacturers of various fields such as automotive, electronics, medical and aerospace industries.

This EXPO was visited by about 40,000 people in three days. Compared with the "Highly-functional Material Week 2020" also held in Tokyo, which was influenced by Covid-19, the number of visitors recovered very well and many current and potential customers visited our booth.

This time, we presented BMD and FDS via promotional film:

• BMD (Barrel Measurement Device): the high efficiency of our BMD by providing accurate information on barrel wear and analytical reports
• FDS (Flexible Dismantling System) with PLC control to dismantle the screw elements from the shafts efficiently with full protection for the screw elements, the shafts and especially the workers without risk of injury

We appreciated everyone for coming to our booth, for the discussions and the cooperation. We were very pleased to meet our customers and other visitors.

The next "Highly-functional Material Week" will be held in Osaka from 11 to 13 May 2022. We look forward to seeing you at our booth.

The Compounding World Expo in Cleveland, OH took place November 3^rd-4^th. C.A.PICARD^® was accompanied by 238 other vendors and close to 4,000 attendees during the two-day show. Vendors included other Twin Srew Extruder (TSE) spare parts manufacturers, TSE OEMS, single screw manufacturers, raw material suppliers and more. Paul Diaz and Ray Herring attended the show to represent C.A.PICARD^® to inform attendees how C.A.PICARD^® can be of service to their needs. Paul and Ray had a handful of new prospects visit the booth during the two-day show and many existing customers stopped by as well. The Compounding World Expo will be returning to Cleveland, OH November 9^th-10^th, 2022.

The Fakuma trade fair in Friedrichshafen was the first major international trade fair for the plastics industry which could finally be opened for visitors after some time. A bit of normality, after almost all events and exhibitions had been cancelled due to Covid-19 in the last two years. 1,470 exhibitors from 39 countries came to the 27th Fakuma - international trade fair for plastics processing - at the Lake Constance. In these times of pandemic, it was not very surprising that the number of visitors was lower than it was in the past 15 years. After all, there were 29,543 specialist visitors. The major part of them came from the DACH region as well as from the European neighbouring countries such as Italy and France. 33 companies from twelve countries visited the C.A.PICARD^® booth: Finland, Hungary, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, France, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

Sustainability: C.A.PICARD^® services
The main topics of Fakuma 2021 were recycling management and sustainability. A perfect match for the C.A.PICARD^® services like barrel repair (among others renewal of the inliner) which were picked out as central themes with almost all visitors at the C.A.PICARD^® booth.

The next two Fakuma trade fairs will also take place at Messe Friedrichshafen in 2023 and 2024, the 28th Fakuma from 17 to 21 October 2023 and the 29th Fakuma from 15 to 19 October 2024.

The second Compounding World Expo in Essen was again organised by AMI and took place on 29 and 30 September 2021. It was held at the same time and place together with the Plastics Recycling World Expo, the Plastics Extrusion World Expo and the Polymer Testing World Expo.

The exhibition was a good opportunity to be actually "on location" again and the numbers confirmed the regained confidence in face-to-face meetings and the possibility of networking. This year's event recorded an increase of 18% in the number of exhibitors compared to the previous time and saw the presence of European exhibitors and visitors alike, whereas overseas visitors were limited due to the travel restrictions caused by COVID-19. More than 50% of the visitors came from outside Germany.

The two days were filled with seminars, technical presentations and debates, that were attended with utmost interest. The themes ranged from the discussion about the future of technical compounds to recycling and upcycling solutions for compounding extruders to measuring and understanding extruder wear.

It was interesting to notice that many Italian OEMs attended both the exhibition in Essen and the Packaging & Recycling convention in Arese (which took place at the same time). All major Italian players were present: Maris, Icma, Comac, Fimic, Filtec, Bandera as well as some well-known companies such as Sirmax, Mepol and Benvic.

One of the guiding themes was the green economy and one of the mostly discussed themes was recycling.

The conference event was held in Kansas City, Missouri, September 22-24 and included an exhibition hall in which C.A. Picard, Inc. participated with a booth to exhibit our Single Screw Extruder (SSE) products. Mark Fink and Paul Diaz represented C.A. Picard, Inc. by engaging persons interested in our displayed products. Several pet food producers were very interested in our portfolio and in learning more about the chance to increase the lifetime of their extruders and decrease maintenance costs. The exhibition included 300 suppliers. Attendees to the conference included professionals working in pet food nutrition, ingredient and processing technologies, packaging, food science, R&D, product development, food safety, QA/QC, purchasing, import/export and regulatory compliance. Petfood Forum 2022 is scheduled for May 2-4, 2022.

The 30th International Electronics Circuit (Shanghai) Exhibition was held from 7 to 9 July 2021 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai.

Figures of the event
Number of exhibitors: 712
Exhibition space: 55,000 m²
Number of visitors: 53,491

In 2021, with the recovery of household incomes, successful control of the pandemic, availability of vaccine and policy normalisation, China's economy is on the right track to recovery. During the exhibition, we learned from our visitors and customers that - in the short-to-medium term - the main driving forces of electronics and PCB industries will be:

1. New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) are expected to grow continuously. Major manufacturers of NEVs forecast an average annual growth of approximately 15 % from 2021 to 2025.
2. 5G with high demand:
   • High acceleration of 5G infrastructure drives the industries of 5G base stations and terminals.
   • Manufacturing industries of 5G mobile phones, associated products and peripherals
   • With the advancing development of 5G technologies and infrastructures, enormous Internet of Things (IoTs) application opportunities and more diversified IoT applications for industry and households will continue driving the demand of electronics and PCB markets.
3. China is enhancing the existing 5G technology to develop its "5G+ Industrial Internet" strategy and has more than 1,100 "5G+ Industrial Internet" projects ongoing, covering 22 industries including cement, automobile, petrochemical, steel, mining and oil fields.

The 34^th International Exhibition on Plastics & Rubber Industries

CHINAPLAS 2021 took place from 13 to 16 April and had a total of 152,134 visitors (149,771 local and 2,363 overseas visitors). Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the move to the new venue at Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center, the number of domestic visitors increased by 23.46% compared with 2019 in Guangzhou.

During this year's exhibition, we promoted a new material with high-performance wear protection by on-site demonstrations ('scratch test'). We also offered our latest FD system (flexible dismantling system) emphasising efficiency, safety and protection for the operators as well as the screw elements and shafts. Last but not least, we presented our BMD (barrel measurement device) which allows customers to improve their maintenance in a highly-effective, accurate and time-saving way by checking the barrel wear at their extruder lines.

We hereby thank everyone for coming to our booth, for the discussions and the cooperation. It was a great pleasure to meet our customers and other visitors.

CHINAPLAS 2022 will be held in Shanghai from 25 to 28 April. We look forward to seeing you again at our booth.

The International Electronics Circuit Exhibition 2020 took place in Shenzhen from 2 to 4 December 2020. The world's leading PCB and EA show was a great success. Last year's show was themed "5 Era • Smart Future" and once again increased compared to previous shows. 431 exhibitors at 2,890 booths showcased an array of products and solutions and consolidated the fair's leading status as an ideal one-stop trading platform for the PCB and EA industries.

Key facts and figures:

• 431 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions
• 3 exhibition halls with 2,890 booths on 52,500 m²
• 48,234 visits in three days
• Bookings for 2021 were enormous with 4,432 booths

During the three days of exhibition, we learned a lot about the latest information from the PCB industry.

C.A.PICARD^® participated in the IPF Japan 2020 Virtual Trade Show in November 2020. IPF Japan is known as a "High-tech" Plastic & Rubber trade show. It is held in Japan every three years.

This time, however, it was held on an online platform due to the coronavirus. You can access this online exhibition until 21 May 2021. Registration is required under https://www.ipfjapan.jp/english/registration/.

384 companies participated in this trade show as exhibitors and 18,000 people visited this online exhibition so far. Compared to IPF Japan 2017, the number of people who visited our online booth was quadrupled. We believe that this good result is one of the benefits of online events.

IPF Japan 2020 Virtual Trade Show had six areas and our booth was in the "Molding Machines/Auxiliary Equipment" area. We presented our general items such as elements, barrels, shafts, FD system and Barrel Measurement Device (BMD) via promotional film. A lot of customers visited our online booth.

The next Plastic Expo will be held in Osaka from 23 to 25 June 2021. We are looking forward to seeing you.