9 - 10:45 am
‘Open Invitation’ Keynote Presentation
The PET Strategies+ Keynote Presentation is open to all NPE2009 attendees. It will be held in the Technology Theatre, located in the West Hall at McCormick Place.

Technology Theatre
Plastics Packaging’s ‘Uber’ Triple Bottom Line Play
Nilang Patel, Senior Vice President, Innovation and Development
Coca-Cola North America

For the world’s most prolific buyer and user of PET resin, the January 2009 opening of the world’s largest food-grade PET recycling facility represents much more than a multi-million dollar investment in the future of plastics recycling - this effort is part of a long term vision that Coca-Cola has been working on for the past decade. With more than $60 million invested in recycling infrastructure, businesses and programs in the U.S. alone, Coca-Cola has staked a clear leadership position in sustainable packaging and as a recycling technologies innovator.

Nilang Patel, a Coca-Cola senior Innovation & Development executive, will share with PET Strategies+ and NPE2009 attendees how Coca-Cola was able to bring this visionary strategy to reality through the combination of the very best plastics packaging and recycling infrastructure technologies with industry-leading sustainability goals.

Keynote Panel Discussion
Technology Theatre
Brand-owners & Consumer Insights Professionals’ Perspectives
On Preserving Plastics’ Position As A Preferred Packaging Material

Surendra Agarwal, PhD, Kraft Foods Fellow
Casper Chiang, Research Fellow, Clorox Global Packaging
Dan Friedrich, VP, Customer Development, Nestle Waters North America
Lynn D. Dornblaser, Consumer Insight Director, Mintel

11 am - 12:30 pm
The Business of Plastics Packaging

Plastics Futures Contracts: Managing & Mitigating Global Price Volatility
Robert Sheldon, Business Manager, Plastics, London Metals Exchange

Financial risk management is paramount in today’s economy. Hear from the world’s leading plastics contracts futures firm how the packaging industry can utilize hedging tools to manage risk and mitigate the impact of significant price movements during periods of intense global price volatility.

Strategies of A World-class Rigid Plastics Packaging Company
Mark Burgess, Chief Executive Officer, Graham Packaging

It takes a world-class innovations provider to strategically drive the still-growing global shift of branded consumer products from glass and metal into rigid plastics. This session will feature the newly appointed CEO of Graham Packaging addressing best practices to grow new plastics packaging opportunities by relentlessly emphasizing brand-building customer solutions, using innovation and technology to grow a business in a tight economy, and staying relevant to fend off commoditization of plastics packaging.

11 am - 12:30 pm
Recycling, Sustainability, and Operating Energy Reduction

Cracking The Recycling Code For Multi-layer & Coextruded Plastics Materials
Joseph Hensel, CEO, Polyflow

Holding the potential to crack the recycling code for multi-layer containers and flexible plastic bags, Polyflow will share new details on its revolutionary reactor system capable of breaking these materials down into feedstocks for new resin production.

Extrusion Revolution -- An Exclusive Debut Technology Presentation
To the North American Plastics Packaging Market!
Stefan Lehner, General Sales Manager, M-A-S Maschinen- und Anlagenbau Schulz GmbH

With 25% lower operating energy requirements and lower potential shear and melt temperatures than single-screw extruders, M-A-S’ fledgling high-volume, high-output, large in-feed conical-shaped co-rotating twin screw extruder has the potential to revolutionize the recycling process for PET bottle flake. Included in this PET Strategies+ exclusive debut presentation will be b*, IV, AA content, and specific attributes of sustainable operation values as compared to a single-screw extruder.

Taming The PET Raw Materials Processing Energy Hog
Pete Stoughton, PET Systems Specialist, The Conair Group

Control PET resin processing energy efficiency and you’ll control your bottom line. This session will reveal next-generation raw materials processing technologies and the Triple Bottom Line benefits possible with smart and intuitive process controls.

1 pm
Box Lunch & Technology Tour
Following the first morning’s sessions, PET Strategies+ attendees can relax, network, grab a bite to eat on us, and then embark on a self-guided tour around the NPE show floor to view and experience hundreds of companies’ technologies that reflect the morning’s business and technology sessions.

Wednesday, June 24

9 - 10:30 am
The Business Of Plastics Packaging
The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis On PET and Polyester Raw Materials
Francesco Zanchi, CEO, Global Service International Srl

This session will share the clearest and most current forecasts for PET and polyester raw material flow trends among continents; bring the industry up to date on current and forecasted global overcapacity situations, fully examine the cost advantage of Asian producers, and offer insights CEOs can use to predict price movements by examining business cycles through 2010.

Plastic Resins Executives Panel

Strategy, tactics, and focus. This session features a professionally moderated, open-mic session in which executives representing top plastic raw materials companies will respond to the previous address on how the global economy is impacting plastics raw materials, and how they are working to ensure a steady stream of high-performance materials, uninterrupted capacity supply, and ever-more environmentally responsible processing technologies.

William Wight, Business Strategy Manager, Eastman Chemical Co.
Steve Russell, Managing Director, Plastics Division, American Chemistry Council

9 - 10:30 am
Biopolymers, Oxobiodegradablity, and Compostability
Biodegradability, Oxobiodegradablity, and Compostability of Plastics Packaging: Science, Principles, Concepts, and Widely Believed Myths
Ramani Narayan, Professor, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
Michigan State University,
Scientific Chairman, Biodegradable Products Institute’s ASTM Committee

This unbiased presentation will call on academia to use science to bring clarity to the confusion and misinformation surrounding terms and technologies related to plastics packaging biodegradability, oxobiodegradability, compostabiliy, anaerobic digestion, and landfill and marine degradation of plastics.

Turning Up The Heat On Microwavable Biopolymer Technologies
Daniel Tein, Vice President, Teinnovations
Finding a heat-stable biopolymer – especially one that can be thermoformed by the burgeoning freezer-to-microwave or fresh-to-microwave markets – has been an early, yet heretofore, Holy Grail for the biopolymer and compostable plastics packaging segment. PET Strategies+ attendees will learn the science behind the high-heat tolerant PSM material.

11 am - 12:30 pm
RPET Innovations
Building An RPET ‘Locavore’ Business & Technology Model
Robert Deardurff, President, Phoenix Technologies International, LLC
The PET segment would do well to emulate the hot “locavore” consumer trend of buying and consuming locally produced products. This presentation will explore divergent thought processes and outline business models associated with a “collect, convert, and consume locally” RPET strategy.

Putting those theories and models in an eco-oriented strategy, the session leader will present for the first time publicly, actual production performance numbers generated from Phoenix’s LNOc recycling operation. The technology and strategy will also be evaluated against “fit-for-use” business models in environmental harmony with a collect, convert, and consume locally business model.

Leveraging & Leading: Using Technologies & Leveraging Trends
To Spur Profitable New Applications for Thermoformed RPET
Anthony Gallo, Director of New Applications Development, Associated Packaging Technologies
Ron Skotleski, Market Analyst, Associated Packaging Technologies
Thermoformed RPET trays for freezer-to-microwave applications are set to hit the U.S. market full force this summer – just in time to meet consumer demand and projections for double-digit growth forecasts for heat-and-eat tray entrees. APT will discuss industry and market lessons learned from its highly successful applications in the U.K. and how it will leverage technologies, consumer attitudes, and RPET’s sustainability attributes for such applications as ConAgra’s Healthy Choice®, Banquet®, Kid Cuisine®, and Marie Callender’s® products in North America.

11am - 12:30 pm
SPECIAL ‘SIMULATION IMMERSION’ EXPERIENCE!

‘Sim’-Sational! Virtual Design, Prototyping & Testing of Plastics Packaging
Tom Lange*, Senior Director, Modeling and Simulation, Procter & Gamble
*A P&G Prism Award Winner

Virtual simulation has been identified as one of the fastest-growing best-practice tools to accelerate package design, performance validation, and total production speed-to-market time, while significantly reducing the total cost of ownership.

This is an unprecedented opportunity to be totally immersed in the package simulation experience. Lead by Procter & Gamble’s top modeling and simulation thought leader, attendees will hear real plastics packaging case examples demonstrating the concepts, processes, and results made possible by the systematic use of powerful, cutting-edge simulation software.

1 pm
Box Lunch & Technology Tour

Following the second morning’s sessions, PET Strategies+ attendees can relax, network, grab a bite to eat on us, and then embark on a self-guided tour around the NPE show floor to view and experience hundreds of companies’ technologies that reflect the morning’s business and technology sessions.