SPE Automotive TPO Conference features four keynote speakers

At this year's SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference, held October 3-6 in Sterling Heights, Michigan, US, Four keynote speakers will highlight the trends that are profoundly reshaping the global automotive plastics market.

This annual two-and-a-half-day event, the twelfth organized by the Detroit Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) International, offers attendees a rich environment in which to network and explore the latest developments in materials, processing, and applications for the versatile polymer family of thermoplastic olefins (TPOs).

First up on Monday morning, October 4 will be keynote speaker, Deborah Mielewski, Ph.D., technical leader-Plastics Research at Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, Mich.), who will give a talk entitled: "Greening the Blue Oval: Ford's Vision for a Sustainable Automotive Industry." Mielewski says she will discuss Ford's initiatives in developing a global sustainability vision for itself, including processes that help engineers determine the best solutions to meet all durability and functional requirements, while also considering the environmental impact of materials they use in vehicles. She will also discuss the company's leadership in the area of biomaterials-the successes they have had thus far and the challenges that still must be overcome-as well as new efforts to deal with some old problems around recycling materials into high-value car parts.

Monday's luncheon speaker is Robert Nadin, vice-president-Innovation & Technology at Braskem America, who will give a talk entitled "Braskem, A Continued Commitment to the TPO Marketplace." Braskem acquired Sunoco Chemical's polypropylene business this year and reaffirmed the legacy company's strategic focus of supplying a full palette of polypropylene resins to the compounded TPO market.

On Tuesday, October 5, the show will begin with a keynote by Dietmar Ostermann, director and -Global Automotive Practice leader, PRTM Management Consultants, who will discuss the timely topic of "Bankruptcy & Consolidation in the Global Automotive Supply Industry." Ostermann's talk will draw from results of a soon-to-be-released 2010 PRTM study summarizing over 500 global suppliers worth US$2-trillion in revenues. The study provides insights into the consolidation and restructuring activities in the global automotive-supply industry and forecasts industry restructuring activity while identifying suppliers likely to be acquired, or to acquire, divest, or fail. Reportedly, the study has already been broadly quoted in global media outlets.

The last 2010 SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference keynote will be given on Wednesday morning, October 6 by Bryan W. Milton, vice-president-Basic Chemical Global Business Unit at ExxonMobil Chemical, who will present a talk on "Feedstock Drivers & their Impact on Automotive Plastics." Milton will provide a brief overview of the company's energy outlook and summary of product supply and demand, which in turn will provide a view of the chemical-industry market. He will also give an overview of ExxonMobil's portfolio of products and the company's role in the automotive industry.