PLAST 2015 has opened its doors and welcomed the first visitors into its halls with big news - it is breaking its triennial cycle.

PLAST 2015
Rather than waiting three years for the next PLAST, which was due to take place from May 8th-12th 2018, the Italian plastics and rubber exposition will instead be held in 2017, moving from springtime to early autumn.
So exhibitors, investors, developers, OEMs, the media and everybody else will need to have September 26th-30th 2017 in their diaries from today.
The decision was made as a result of NPE in the US moving to May 2018 from its usual March-time position in the calendar, while PLAST 2015 has overlapped with FEIPLASTIC in Brazil, causing a difficult clash for many companies and visitors.
Here is the official word from PLAST 2015 organisers, released earlier today:
Every operator of the sector knows that PLAST in 2018 would have taken place in a year already crowded of important exhibitions: PLASTINDIA (in February), NPE (as just mentioned from 2018 in May) and, in addition, CHINAPLAS (yearly exhibition held at the end of April when in Shanghai and at the end of May when in Guangzhou) and also the already mentioned FEIPLASTIC every six years (being biennial).
It is known that those above are very important events not only for Italian but also German manufacturers and more in general for everybody working in the plastics and rubber field.
A huge effort on an organisation and commercial but also (and most of all) economic level for small and medium enterprises that are the core of this sector.
In light of this we have decided to break up, just for once, our three-year cycle.
In accordance with their exhibitions' schedule (already congested for the next three years), FIERA MILANO proposal of the last week of September 2017 made to the Board of Directors and Committee of ASSOCOMAPLAST - Italian Plastics and Rubber Machinery and Moulds Manufacturers' Association – (controlling 100 per cent of PROMAPLAST srl, PLAST Organizing company) appeared to be the best solution. A favourable moment, that separates PLAST from a very hard cycle of events taking place in March/May 2018. This solution has satisfied the majority of our executive bodies.
In addition, PLAST will be taking place three weeks away from FAKUMA (which dates are not yet official, but it is historically held in the third week of October), a reasonable time to let everybody working in the automotive sector (the main target of such exhibition) organise.
First reactions of exhibitors are all positive and we hope that this decision will strengthen PLAST, further increasing the number of visitors and exhibitors.