Detailed SPE Automotive Conference program announced

The 13th annual SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference, which will be held in Detroit, the US from October 2-5, announced most of its program on August 25. During the two and a half day event, four keynote speakers, a panel discussion, two networking receptions, and special new technical sessions on polyolefin foams and advances in process developments and automotive TPOs/TPEs join traditional sessions on materials development, surface enhancements, process enhancements, and applications development.

Technical Program Chair, Norm Kakarala, Senior Technical Fellow from Inteva Products LLC, noted, "This year's technical program features more than 40 talks from all sectors of the automotive plastics industry - from OEMs and molders to materials, additives, and reinforcement suppliers, to universities - and we've seen increased participation from our colleagues in Europe and Asia."

After opening remarks by 2011 SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference Co-Chair, Bill Windscheif, Advanced Innovative Solutions, Ltd, the event's first keynote address - Global Automotive Light-Weight Marketing, Where Do We Go from Here? - will be given by Jeff Schuster, Executive Director, J.D. Power and Associates.

This will be followed by brief comments by Mr Kakarala on the event's technical program, and then the Materials Development session will begin. Moderated by Patricia Tibbenham, Ford Motor Co and Neil Fuenmayor, LyondellBasell Industries, the daylong technical session will start with a plenary presentation by Todd Glogovsky, LyondellBasell Industries on Automotive Thermoplastic Polyolefins: Challenges and Opportunities and will be followed by 10 presentations throughout the morning and afternoon.

After lunch, a second keynote entitled Polyolefins is a Sustainable Solution will be presented by Tom Henry, Global Automotive Business Manager, ExxonMobil Chemical Co. The day ends with an open networking reception sponsored by ExxonMobil Chemical Co to which all conference participants are invited.

The second day of the conference opens with a keynote by Leon Jacobs, Polypropylene (PP) Global Business Director, SABIC Innovative Plastics on The Opportunities & Challenges of a Globalizing Automotive Industry. Immediately following this talk, a half-day session of six papers begins on Advanced Polyolefin Compounds, moderated by Mike Balow, Asahi Kasei Plastics North America and Sassan Tarahomi, IAC.

After lunch, the event's annual Executive Management Panel Discussion returns for 75 minutes with a theme of On the Road Again Toward 2016 and will be moderated by Bob Eller, Robert Eller Associates LLC and Ron Price, Global Polymer Solutions. Immediately following the panel discussion, two concurrent technical sessions will begin. The first session, Automotive TPOs/TPEs, moderated by Bob Eller and Jeff Valentage, features six presentations.

The second concurrent session on Tuesday afternoon, Surface Enhancements, will be moderated by Rose Ryntz, International Automotive Components (IAC) and also features six presentations. The evening will end with a networking reception sponsored by SABIC Innovative Plastics, to which all conference participants are invited.

The conference's last day begins with a keynote address on CAFE Requirements: Lightweighting for Improved Energy Efficiency by Dagmar van Heur, Vice-President-Automotive at Styron LLC. Immediately following the talk, two parallel technical sessions will begin. The first, Polyolefin Foams and Advances in Process Developments, will be moderated Dave Okonski, General Motors Co and Suresh Shah, Delphi Corp and features six presentations.

The second session on Applications Development will be moderated by Tom Pickett, General Motors Co and Tom Traugott, Advanced Composites and also features six presentations.