AMI and the Crain Global Polymer Group are launching a major American exhibition focused on the design and production of injection-molded plastic parts and products. The first Injection Molding & Design Expo will take place on March 16-17, 2022 at the TCF Center (formerly the Cobo Center) in Detroit, Michigan, USA. It is backed by Crain’s Plastics News and AMI’s Injection World magazines.

The exhibition and its three focused conference theaters will be free to attend to ensure they attract a large audience of relevant specifiers and buyers from throughout the supply chain. Exhibitors that have already booked booths at the event include Wittmann Battenfeld, KraussMaffei, Tederic, Fast Heat, Mastip, Beaumont Technologies, Polykemi and Zeiger Industries.

“We believe that America’s large and diverse injection molding market will really benefit from a focused expo that provides a cost-effective and time-efficient way to exchange information and build new business”, said Brennan Lafferty, VP and group publisher for the Crain Global Polymer Group. “The Injection Molding & Design Expo will fulfill an important need in this market, similar to what the Fakuma show achieves so well in Europe.”

Andy Beevers, AMI’s events and magazines director, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Crain to launch this exciting new exhibition, which is a logical extension of AMI’s successful expos focused on compounding, extrusion and recycling that take place in Cleveland, Ohio. The initial reaction to the new event has been extremely positive, and working with Crain and Plastics News will enable us to deliver an exhibition that exceeds the expectations of exhibitors and visitors alike”.

Headquartered in Detroit, Crain Communications is one of the largest privately held business media publishers in the world. Its Global Polymer Group publishes Plastics News, which is the plastics industry’s only weekly magazine and has 45,457 print subscribers. In addition, Crain publishes Automotive News and local business titles in Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and New York.

AMI is a leading provider of market intelligence and events to the plastics industry. It publishes the global digital magazine Injection World, and organizes a group of expos focused on plastics compounding, recycling and extrusion that take place in Cleveland, Ohio. These attracted 261 exhibitors and 4,375 visitors from 42 countries when they last took place in 2019.

Visitors to the Injection Molding & Design Expo will include injection molders, OEMs, Tier Ones, brand owners, design consultancies and mold makers, all operating within a wide range of end-use markets. These include the automotive, packaging, electrical and electronic, medical, industrial and consumer sectors.

They will have access to three free conference theaters – one focused on Molding The Future, one on Designing The Future, and a third featuring a series of practical training seminars. The high-level programs will be curated by the expert conference, editorial and business intelligence teams at AMI and Crain.

Rita Andrews, AMI’s head of exhibitions, explained the reasons for selecting the Detroit venue: “It’s the ideal location for the Injection Molding & Design Expo because of the very high concentration of molders in Michigan and neighboring states, along with the importance of Detroit as a center for automotive design and production, plus the proximity of the mold making cluster across the river in Windsor, Ontario”.

Exhibitors at the event will include suppliers of: injection molding machinery; auxiliary equipment; automation systems; molds; hot runners; machine and mold components; plastic resin and compounds; additives, masterbatch and liquid colors; design and analysis software; and a wide range of industry services.