A lot of plastics companies seem to be exploring social media these days. Interest in Twitter is growing, in addition to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube ... you name it.

Acrilex Inc., a producer and distributor of custom-colored acrylics, announced a major social media initiative this week, include sites on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The company hopes the platforms will help generate discussions on key trends with important customers including distributors and store fixture designers.

On a related front, Plastics News staff reporter Rhoda Miel wrote about a new iPhone app that DuPont Co. is using to reach out to designers, to let them know about available color samples in its Corian cast acrylic product line.

It takes time and effort for companies to create compelling social media sites -- I've seen plenty of blogs created by plastics companies wither after a few months, for example.

Still, there are a lot of exciting things happening. Some companies -- like Acrilex -- are jumping in with both feet, while many others are just dipping a toe in the water.

Three new technology forums at next year's Antec conference will explore ways to improve the environmental sustainability of plastics.

The half-day forums will begin at 1:30 pm on three successive days of the May 16-20 conference in Orlando, Fla:

• On Monday, May 17, Polymer Applications for a Clean Environment. This symposium on plastics as keys to clean air and water. The moderators will be Sadhan C. Jana of the University of Akron; Prithu Mukhopadhyay of Ipex Inc.; and Vassilios Galiatsatos of LyondellBasell Industries.
• On Tuesday, May 18, Successful Case Studies in Bioplastics. Presentations will focus on commercial bio-content applications, including film, fiber, and molded parts for use in automotive, building and construction, industrial, medical, and packaging markets. The moderators will be Maggie Baumann of G.H. Associates; and Roger Avakian of PolyOne Corp.
• On Wednesday, May 19, Latest Developments in Non-Halogenated Flame Retardants. This forum will cover recent advances in technology and applications for mineral fillers such as alumina trihydrate, phosphorus compounds, antimony trioxide, borates, intumescent materials, nanocomposites, and other flame retardants. The moderators will be Baumann and Avakian.

Scott Joseph, an Orlando restaurant critic, was part of the team that convinced SPI to move NPE to Florida.

Joseph writes in his blog that plastics industry representatives were worried that Orlando didn't have appropriate restaurants to wine and dine business clients. One in particular asked,"What are we supposed to do, have all of our client meetings in Golden Corral?"

And there we were, back at the same stereotype that the rest of the world has about Orlando restaurants. Most people see us as a city of theme parks with little more than corn dogs and turkey legs to sustain us. All-you-can-eat buffet restaurants represent haute cuisine, if any of us even knew such fancy words.

To battle the stereotype, Orlando's team took Joseph along on their trip to the SPI's national board meeting last month in Washington. His mission -- to convince the plastics industry exhibitors that Orlando's restaurants had a lot of offer.

Joseph writes that "all of the people associated with the plastics board were very nice, and they all said they were pretty sure Orlando would get the show...."

Still, it took another four weeks -- and another visit to Orlando -- before today's announcement sealing the deal. (Another stumbling block was assurances that local roads could withstand the weight of the house-sized manufacturing equipment that will be transported from railroad to the convention center.)

After no phone calls all those years from Chicago's Mayor Daley, the plastics board members were most appreciative that Mayor Crotty took the time to come along. And during the pre-dinner reception, Crotty called two of the organization's leaders into an unoccupied meeting room and handed his cell phone to them. On the other end of the line, Governor Charlie Crist extended a personal invitation to them to bring their convention to Florida.

So that's some of the backstory about how Orlando landed the NPE. Congratulations to the efforts of Sain and his team -- they impressed me with their dedication and vigorous pursuit of the prize. And congratulations to Central Florida's restaurant scene for being tout worthy. And that's just today -- imagine how much more vibrant and exciting the restaurant community will be by 2012.

Great insider stuff... thanks for sharing that. It's nice to have a fun NPE-related blog post.

Meanwhile, there's more bad news for McCormick Place today. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the National Restaurant Association is considering taking its 2012 trade show to Orlando or Las Vegas.

Three big-name executives with plastics connections are in IndustryWeek magazine's inaugural class of the IW Manufacturing Hall of Fame.

Gordon Lankton of Nypro Inc., Jack Welch of General Electric Co., and Charles Holliday Jr. of DuPont Co. were among 10 men honored.

According to a news release, the hall of fame's purpose is to recognize individual leaders in the manufacturing community "whose vision, leadership, and legacy not only provided value to their individual organizations but also beneficially impacted the larger business community and our society."

During the span of their careers, these 10 leaders have helped to shape a historic and challenging era of change in the manufacturing enterprise. Companies have become increasingly global, sourcing their products across continents, seeking new markets in developing nations and welcoming talent from around the world. They have invested in new technologies that have made manufacturing operations faster, more flexible, leaner and more productive. At the heart of many of these changes has been unprecedented access to, and use of, communications and information technology, allowing component orders placed in Atlanta to be processed in Bangalore, manufactured in Shenzhen and shipped to Seattle with increasing precision, speed and clarity.

Lankton, Welch and Holliday are in good company -- others in the class include George David of United Technologies Corp.; Joseph Engelberger, the "father of robotics,"; William George of Medtronic; Andrew Grove of Intel; Lee Iacocca of Chrysler; Steve Jobs of Apple; and lean manufacturing guru James Womack.

Congratulations to all, especially the three with strong ties to the plastics industry.

NPE is moving to Orlando, Fla., in 2012 and 2015 -- and now Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is calling for changes at McCormick Place.

"It's a very serious loss. It's a major show," he told the Chicago Sun-Times. "They were very upset with a lot of the rules and regulations that McCormick Place has. When I met with [SPI President and CEO Bill Carteaux] and others, they were very concerned about the cost factor compared to Orlando, Atlanta and Vegas," Daley said.

"McCormick Place has a difficult chore in dealing with keeping shows and trade shows unless they get their costs down," he said.

The story also quotes Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon, who said the unions understand their role -- but he didn't jump at the offer to make more concessions.

"Organized labor has made significant changes in work-rules at McCormick Place. We've done more than our fair share. We have showed we care about the investment in conventions and tourism through our actions," Gannon told the Sun-Times.

I'll definitely miss having NPE in Chicago -- the location is part of what's always made NPE special for me. But now it's time to start looking forward to Orlando. Put the dates on your calendar: April 1-5, 2012. It will be interesting how the show changes with the new dates and venue.

Scott MacDonald of Maryland Thermoform Corp. saw the blog post on milk crate bandits and passed along a tip for other plastics processors:

Plastic pallets aren't the only things being stolen for the scrap value, he says, pointing to a story from the Baltimore Business Journal about a wave of scrap metl thefts at an industrial park in southwest Baltimore.

According to the story, thieves have stripped copper parts from Maryland Thermoform's rooftop air-conditioning units twice in the past 18 months, causing more than $100,000 in damages.

"In all fairness to the police, they're professional, courteous and hardworking, but they're overworked," MacDonald said. "They don't have enough resources. More patrols would stop this, but I don't think the city is going to put the money into it," he told the newspaper.

Wow. I guess people will steal anything that's not nailed down... or in this case, even things that are attached. I've heard of people stealing copper plumbing from vacant homes, but nothing like this.

MacDonald suggests that other plastics processors take steps to guard against this sort of vandalism.

What's new and interesting in plastics packaging? DuPont Co. is on the lookout once again -- the company today issued a call for entries for its 22nd annual DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation.

The awards are pretty big in the packaging sector -- DuPont touts them as the industry's longest running, independently judged competition.

As you'd expect, sustainability is an important criteria this year. The company also is looking for products that are innovative, and packaging that helps customers (and consumers) reduce cost and waste, according to Carolann Haznedar, global business director for DuPont Packaging.

Entry forms and guidelines are available at www.packaging.dupont.com.The deadline for entries is Feb. 12. There's no fee for entry, and DuPont materials do not need to be in the packaging structure.

Crates and pallets used to transport soda bottles and milk are apparently popular with some thieves, but the legal authorities in Maryland are on the case.

According to several reports today that are very likely to be picked up in other news media, Prince Georges County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey and representatives from a Coca-Cola bottler and a Baltimore bakery today announced the indictment of five people suspected of stealing the containers from retail and industrial businesses.

Allegations of milk crate banditry aren't new -- I had a similar blog post back in 2007.

Just like the last time, the authorities in Maryland say the alleged thieves were selling the pallets and containers to overseas recyclers, who grind them and use the plastic to make new products.

The authorities claim that nearly $10 million in losses from plastic pallet theft have occurred in Maryland in the past year.

Really? $10 million in stolen plastic pallets? Sold to apparently unsavory overseas recyclers?

This just sounds too much like a bad script for "CSI New York."

Dow Chemical Co. will sponsor a new showcase at the 2010 North American International Auto Show that will feature innovations related to electric vehicles.

The exhibit, dubbed Electric Avenue, will include advances in lighweight design and battery technology. It will include almost 20 vehicles, plus related symposiums and special events on an adjacent stage.

"We believe developing and commercializing next generation battery technology, for example, will help ensure the sustainability of the automotive industry while meeting the nation's energy and environmental goals and generating tens of thousands of green collar jobs in Michigan and throughout the nation," Dow's Heinz Haller, executive vice president for performance systems, said in a news release.

The auto show will be here before you know it -- the press preview starts Jan. 11, and the industry preview on Jan. 13.

While the plastics industry waits on SPI to decide on a location for NPE, another big trade show has already decided to move away from Chicago.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has decided to hold its 2012 gathering in Las Vegas, instead of Chicago, because of the high cost of labor at McCormick Place, according to a story on the Chicago Tribune's Web site.

The story quotes an unnamed source, and describes the annual show as "a choice piece of business for the city. It draws 24,000 delegates and generates about $52 million in spending locally."

The show rotates between cities -- the next one is scheduled for March 1-4, 2010, in Atlanta.

2012 had been the next time it was scheduled for Chicago.

The medical society's decision "comes less than a month after Mayor Richard Daley told the Tribune editorial board that he will seek a major overhaul in the way Chicago markets itself as a destination for tourism and conventions," the story says.

This decision seems to put more pressure on Chicago to put together a proposal to keep NPE in Chicago in 2012 and 2015.

Plastics Blog readers know SPI plans to choose between Chicago and Orlando, Fla., soon.