At home to the world of polymer engineering. (the United Kingdom's major plastics exhibition, Interplas 1993)(includes related article) (Interplas Preview)

Interplas opens on November 7 to a bruised, battered, but, we are told, burgeoning British engineering sector. Investment has been devalued over the past couple of years from a tool for growth and expansion to a lifeline for survival. The climate now is that of, for want of a better hackneyed cliche, cautious optimism. Like the unfortunate bricklayer in Gerrard Hoffnung's celebrated tale, British Industry is on the rise as the European -- more specifically the German -- barrel is descending. The coincidence could be similarly devastating.

Is this, then, a good time to go shopping? The organisers of Interplas would obviously like us to think it is. They are stuck with a situation not entirely of their making in that the timing of Interplas is subject to many long term external pressures, and once set, years ahead, is difficult if not impossible to rearrange. Chief among these external pressures is the position of Interplas in the international exhibition cycle. Despite the Dusseldorf men-in-suits' insistence that their K show is the European exhibition in the world cycle -- a cycle that the rest of the world seems to set less importance on -- the organisers of the traditional European fair circuit are hanging doggedly on to their own claims to stage international exhibitions.

Interplas has always been an international exhibition, and the organisers emphasise with their forecasts for this year's event that the nearly 39,000 visitors to Interplas '90 spanned 95 countries. While that may be so, a quick comparison between the exhibitor lists for 1990 and the impending exhibition shows that while just about all the major machinery companies who were at the '90 event will be back again this year, some of …