Rubber Expo Post-Show Wrap-Up

Congratulations on organizing the best Rubber Expo since I started participating in 2001! The quantity and quality of visitors was excellent, and my company generated literally hundreds of new sales inquiries from this 3-day show. Even though we recently sold our Royalene EPDM business, our Adiprene Urethane Elastomers business was able to put the Rubber Expo to very good use, launching a new time-labor saving technology, and generating a significant amount of potential new business. So keep up the good work.

--JON M. AMDURSKY, Director of Marketing Communications (Chemtura Corporation)

On the last minute of the last day of the 2007 Rubber Expo, we had a visitor that ended up giving us the single largest order in the 30+ years that Mid-States Tool has been in business. Actually our first order was more than twice the amount of any previous single order and we're expecting more.

--DON NORDSTROM (Mid-States Tool & Machine)

 

More Than 5,200 Attendees Hosted at Rubber Expo, 172nd Technical Meeting and IRC2007 in Cleveland, Ohio

The Rubber Division, ACS hosted more than 5,200 attendees from around the globe for the 30th Rubber Expo and the 172nd Technical Meeting and IRC2007 in Cleveland, Ohio, October 16-18, 2007. More than 700 attendees came from 43 different countries outside the United States. Review of all Rubber Division events held in Cleveland are noted below.

 

International Rubber Conference (IRC2007)

The Rubber Division, ACS, hosted the International Rubber Conference Organization (IRCO) delegates and international attendees at the International Rubber Conference (IRC 2007) in Cleveland, OH on October 16-18 in conjunction with the Rubber Expo & 172nd Technical Meeting. Twenty-three IRC organizational planning board delegates representing 17 countries attended the conference.

The IRCO Committee elected John Long of the United States as its executive chairman for 2008. He will work with the organization’s secretary-general in coordinating the work of the Committee, ensuring continuity from one meeting to the next. Mr. Long is one of two delegates from the US on the IRCO Committee and he is a member of the Rubber Division, ACS and serves on the organization’s executive committee in the position of councilor. Mr. Long is employed by Lion Copolymer LLC as a field technical service manager.

There was a special dinner held to welcome the IRCO Delegates, as well as all international and national Rubber Expo and Technical Meeting attendees. June Hawkins, IRCO Secretary-General, made the IRC Medal presentation to Dr. Yury L’vovich Morozov of Russia during the dinner. American Chemical Society President Dr. Catherine Hunt served as keynote speaker for the International Dinner. Here presentation was titled, “Reigniting Our Commitment to Science and Technology: Innovation, Collaboration, and Education.”

The IRCO comprises representatives of 16 Rubber Technical Societies from around the world that organize conferences and expositions in the member countries once per year. The next meeting of the IRC will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October 2008.

172nd Technical Meeting

A total of 148 papers were presented at the 172nd Technical Meeting. Sixty-four of those papers were presented by international attendees representing 16 different countries. Individual meeting papers as well as a complete set of conference proceedings on CD-Rom are available for purchase by contacting the Rubber Division’s Library Services. For more information, contact Chris Laursen at 330-972-7197.

Rubber Expo

This year, the Rubber Division celebrated the Rubber Expo’s 30th Anniversary in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Rubber Division began holding a rubber exhibition in 1965 that was known as the International Conference and Exhibit.  Based upon historical data from the Division’s archives, it wasn’t until 1977 that the exhibition was officially named “Rubber Expo™.”

During the first year of the Rubber Expo, 67 companies exhibited in the show, while this year there was nearly 300 exhibitors.  The Division was pleased to have 21 of the original 67 exhibiting companies participating at every show since its inception.  The Rubber Division would like thank all of those companies (listed below) for their continuing support of the industry and the Division.

30-Year Exhibitors:

Alpha Technologies US LP

CW Brabender Instruments Inc

Desma

Farrel Corporation

Flexsys America LP

Huber Engineered Materials

ISP Elastomers

Kenrich Petrochemicals Inc

Lanxess Corporation

Lord Corporation

Reliable Rubber & Plastics Machinery

Rep Corporation

Rhein Chemie Corporation

Rohm & Haas

Rubber & Plastics News

Rubber Molding Technologies Inc

Rubber World Magazine

Sartomer Company Inc

Wabash MPI

Wallace Instruments

Zeon Chemicals LP

 

Continuing the international theme, the exposition included the first International Pavilion on the show floor. The pavilion was filled with exhibitors from different countries, with many new companies from China exhibiting for the first time.

Another initiative on the exposition floor was to re-establish the Rubber Recycling Pavilion. This continues the Rubber Division’s theme of providing forums to promote and encourage recycling through recycling workshops, technical symposia and bi-annual Rubber Modified Asphalt Conferences. The Division is also dedicated to promoting the virtues of recycling through the Rubber Recycling Topical Group.

Workforce Recruitment & Development

The Rubber Division continued implementation on its Workforce Recruitment & Development Program during the Expo and technical meeting. The program is based on six initiatives that attract and help students during their college years, assuring the right education, training, experience and networking with the industry. These initiatives include Student Chapters, National Scholarships, National Internships/Co-Ops, Student Colloquia, Education & Training, and Career Assistance.

A Student Colloquium and Poster Sessions were held with a combination of graduate and undergraduate paper presentations. This year’s colloquium opened with a keynote presentation from Dr. Hans-Martin Issel, Rhein Chemie, on the topic of Silica Processing Promoters. Ten students representing The University or Akron (Ohio), Chonnam National University (Korea) and University of Massachusetts-Amherst presented papers during the colloquium. Twelve students from The University or Akron (Ohio), Chonnam National University (Korea), University of Cincinnati (Ohio) and Western Kentucky University presented posters during the colloquium.

All graduate and undergraduate participants are eligible to win one of four $1,500 awards. Awards for best papers and posters were:

1. Undergraduate Paper - Lindsay Kelderhouse (The University of Akron) for “Anionic Synthesis of In-chain Functionalized Polymers”
2. Undergraduate Poster - Jon Nienaber (Ferris State University) for “Nitrosamine Free Cure Systems in EPDM”
3. Graduate Paper - Ling Du (The University of Akron) for “Highly Conductive Epoxy/Graphite Composites for Bipolar Plates in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells”
4. Graduate Poster - Mustafa Y. Sen (The University of Akron) for “Functionalization of Polyisobutylene-based Biomaterials Using Enzymatic Catalysis”

The Rubber Division held a Student Job Fair aimed at graduate and undergraduate students in attendance at the Rubber Expo and 172nd Technical Meeting. Six participating companies provided approximately 30 attending students with information about available job openings, as well as internships and co-op programs.

The Rubber Division also hosted a classroom of high school students and their teachers from the Lake Academy in Willoughby, Ohio, who visited the exposition and interviewed exhibitors as part of a school project.

The Rubber Division Undergraduate Scholarship winners for the 2007-2008 school year were: Sgt. Matthew Carper, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, Mechanical Engineering Junior; Michael Frank, The University of Akron, Mechanical Engineering Senior and Tyler Hershberger, The University of Akron, Mechanical Engineering Junior. The Rubber Division Rubber Technology Training Award winners for 2007 were: Kelly Combs, Cooper Tire and Rubber Company, Findlay, OH, and Dean Hoy, Rohm and Haas Company, West Alexandria, OH.

Education and Training

The Rubber Division held five business and technical courses that totaled 125 course participants. Three of the courses were sold out.

The Division and the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) are building on their partnering efforts with a new initiative. For the first time, RMA held its TPE Symposium for senior leaders during the technical meeting. The intent of this symposium was to brief senior leaders on key concerns in consideration of business opportunities in TPE/TPV materials, including market trends, conversion economies and innovation.

During this year’s Business Summit, 56 rubber industry executives joined nearly 60 registered Business Summit participants for a luncheon to kick-off the event. During the luncheon, the theme was unveiled for the Rubber Division’s 100-year anniversary. Richard Steevensz of Lanxess submitted the winning theme “100 Years! . . . And Still Stretching Beyond Your Imagination.” The Business Summit continued with a keynote speaker and three additional presentations all focused on providing a heightened awareness of economic issues impacting the rubber manufacturing industry on a domestic and international scale in today’s globally competitive environment.