This year’s International FSK Specialist Conference Polyurethane 2019 will take place from 13 to 14 November. The Specialist Association Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes (FSK) is inviting participants to Reutlingen, near Stuttgart in Southern Germany. Last year’s International Specialist Conference focused on foam plastics, at this year’s event polyurethanes will be at the centre of attention.  The two-day specialist conference will begin on 13 November with the FSK General Assembly, including board elections and honours. Participation is reserved for FSK member companies only.  For all other participants, the industry event will begin immediately after the assembly. The venue is the Stadthalle in Reutlingen. The conference will be opened by Albrecht Manderscheid, FSK CEO and Managing Director of Cannon Deutschland GmbH and Jörg Arntzen, Dow Deutschland Anlagengesellschaft mbH, Werk Ahlen and spokesman for the FSK Polyurethanes Specialist Group. The following is a brief excerpt from this year’s FSK Specialist Conference programme. For more information and download please visit the Specialist Association for Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes website at: www.fsk-vsv.de.

The opening presentation "Internationalisation in the medium-sized business sector using the RAMPF Group as an example" will be held by Matthias Rampf, Managing Director of RAMPF Holding, and will provide an introduction to the Rampf company. The company is based in Grafenberg near Reutlingen and is a leader in the development and manufacture of reactive plastic systems based on polyurethane, epoxy and silicone. The FSK-member RAMPF will open its doors for the participants of the conference and at the end of the event will offer the opportunity to take part in an exciting tour of the plant. The Interessengemeinschaft der Thermischen Abfallbehandlungsanlagen in Deutschland (ITAD), based in Düsseldorf and represented by Martin Treder, Managing Director of Energy, Climate and Sustainability at ITAD, will provide an insight into the topic "From waste incineration to multi-output plant".

Christoph Lindner, Managing Partner of the B2B consulting, project management and market research company Conversio Market & Strategy, with offices in Mainz and Aschaffenburg, will speak on the topic "Plastics material flow in Germany". Angelika Schöffel, Head of Marketing & Sales at FSK member Georg H. Luh from Walluf, will explain “How expandable graphite improves flame retardancy in foamed plastics and polyurethanes” and Dr. Wolfgang Raffelt, Lead Engineer Development RPM at KraussMaffei, will hold a presentation on "Processing expandable graphite as a flame retardant – Machinery and process technology". The FSK Innovation Award for Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes 2019 will be presented at the end of the first day in the Stadthalle in Reutlingen.  This year, for the first time, the two areas – foam plastics and polyurethanes – were jointly announced. The application deadline is mid-August. The 22nd FSK Innovation Award ceremony will take place in a festive setting. Following the ceremony, the evening event at the SixFeetUnder in Reutlingen will be the relaxing end of first the day. Besides a wide range of presentations on polyurethanes and interesting industry topics, the specialist association also offers participants plenty of opportunities for questions, discussions and networking.

The second day of the FSK specialist conference also promises an interesting agenda.  Angela Austin, Associate Director at Labyrinth Research & Markets, will hold her presentation "A review of the global PU industry 2018/2019 and outlook for 2020", in English. There will be information on "Cybercrime and hacker attacks", a contribution by Florian Beutemüller, Managing Director of the Academy and Digital Agency Mecodia. Dr. Matthias Grimme, Software Architect, at FSK-member Fill in Gurten, Austria will report on "Closing the Engineering Loop – Data usage in all life cycle stages of a machine".  Dr. Christian Weber, R&D Director at RAMPF Polymer Solutions, will speak on "PU foam sealing systems for applications in the field of electromobility". Before concluding the specialist conference with a highly interesting tour of the RAMPF plant in Grafenberg, Alexander Ege, Director R&D and Head of Research & Development at RAMPF Tooling Solutions, will offer interesting information on "High-performance plastics in model and mould making industry with polyols based on recycled PET waste".

The agenda for the International FSK Specialist Conference Polyurethane 2019 can be found online. Registrations for the conference and further information are now available online on the association website at http://www.fsk-vsv.de/termine-veranstaltungen/.