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Tantec Excited to exhibit at the leading UK Plastics Industry Event: Interplas 2026
Plasma and corona treatment works in a number of industries and with a number of materials, but none are more important than the plastics industry. Spanning a wide range specific industries such as building and construction, automotive, aerospace, medical device manufacturing and packaging to name a few, the world of plastics and importantly sustainable plastics is a world we live and breath every day.
Keep reading to find out our Top 5 Reasons to Visit.
Interplas has been a staple show for Tantec for many years along with European shows like K Show which focus on plastics and processing technology for the industry.
If you haven’t been before, it’s certainly an interesting show to visit and many show exhibitors go out of their way to bring new equipment and working demonstrations to their stand to showcase what they can do. There are always working robot cells from the likes of Universal Robots, Kuka, ABB and Kawasaki and injection moulding machines creating real parts at the show for interesting samples like frisbees and cases from the likes of Arburg, Engel and Haitian.
For more information on exhibitors and what’s going on, view the Interplas website where you can book tickets, view speakers and much more, with a lot of the information becoming available closer to the event date.
Our Top 5 Reasons to Visit
Tantec have exhibited at Interplas in one way or another for nearly 20 years and in that time we’ve had some excellent shows and seen some fantastic things, here are five of our reasons we think you should visit!
1. Live Demos of Everything Plastic
There are working injection moulding machines, robots, conveyors, polymer drying systems, material handling systems and so much more. Maybe it sounds a little geeky, but it’s all really cool. Even if you see the machines on a daily basis it’s still a different experience to see the newest, latest and often biggest systems being shown by manufacturers and when you’re looking at the machines from a visitor point of view instead of your own because you’re setting or fixing them, you can see new aspects of the machines and get professional opinions from the teams showing them off.
2. Networking and Visiting Suppliers and Customers
When we exhibited at Interplas 2023 we were amazed at how many customers responded to our invite to come along, the show was full of people we knew and the whole event had such a friendly atmosphere. It was a great way to catch up with suppliers and customers at the same time as meeting new ones.
We also found that a few customers and suppliers sat down with us and took time out from the show – there are breakout areas and large stands which makes it a good show to do over the whole day rather than rushing around everything in a few hours.
3. Free Samples
Without trying to sound like a student rushing around trying to get free pens, it’s actually a really good place to grab some free bits. From frisbees and widgets from the moulding machine stands to sweets and drinks from others, there’s also a lot of interesting information such as informative brochures and guides that many of the exhibitors keep for the shows.
One of the really interesting brochures we picked up gave an in-depth overview of polymers, their manufacturers and the material properties. We gained new information from it and a lot of engineers could too!
4. Learning and Industry Trends
Many exhibitions have a speaker line up, and many offer really interesting and thought provoking topics, but the line up for Interplas is always exceptionally good. The quality of the show draws in speakers from around the world who are experts in their field and it really helps to break up the day and can turn the show from a quick walk around to a full multi day event.
5. A Day Out In Sunny Birmingham
The show in 2026 will be taking place in June and with temperatures high, it will be an amazing day out of the offices and factories. Interplas 2026 takes place at the NEC, which is on the same site as Resorts World full of shopping and restaurants. The view from the Sky Bar is especially good!
The NEC also connects to Birmingham airport and international train station so you can be in to Birmingham city centre, out to London or connect anywhere by air quickly and easily.
Plastic Industry Trends We Think People Will Be Talking About
The trend of the plastic industry world wide for some time has been on sustainability, carbon footprint and recyclability of materials and it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon.
The use of plastics for many applications is the right tool for the job and alternative materials may have significant drawbacks. If the engineers from design and specification through to end of life are pushing for customers to use their products in the right way then recyclability of products should be key and using plastics in the right way will lead to a positive impact on our planet.
Green washing to say that all plastics are bad is not the way forward and it’s well known that a light weight, easy to recycle product made from plastic is often significantly better in many aspects than an alternative made from metal or glass. The problem isn’t plastics, it’s how people use and handle them and the perception of plastics in the industry.
Chris Howey, Managing Director believes “Discussing plastics and their future at Interplas is important, but I hope that the message goes further than those already in the industry. As a pretreatment specialist, we work with a number of materials to make sure their surfaces are right for the job at hand. Material selection for manufacturers should be based on what is right for the job and not what is right by public perception. I hope the public begin to understand the importance and correct usage of plastics and that the industry embraces sustainability and responsibility.
Exhibiting at Interplas and being part of these discussions is important to us as a business and I hope it’s another great event”
Tantec Look Forward To Seeing You At Interplas 2026
Being keen and planning ahead, we booked to exhibit while at the show in 2023 so as we write this blog in 2024, it’s certainly a long way away. We’re not sure what we’re going to take to show off, we don’t know who’s going to go and we don’t know all of the exciting things that will surely be planned by the Interplas team but we do know that it’ll be another fantastic instalment and we’re going to be planning to take some special machines… hopefully something new and cool that we haven’t even released yet!
