Rubber Expo '09 successful for VMI

The American Chemical Society’s Rubber Division hosted Rubber Expo ’09 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA in mid October. The bi-annual Expo brings together manufacturers and suppliers in the Technical Rubber Products business from around the world. In addition to the Expo, technical papers are presented covering a range of subjects including the latest developments in rubber compounding, extrusion, and molding.

VMI, VMI-AZ Extrusion, and VMI-MTI exhibited together under the VMI Group name this year. Current customers and prospects could visit a single booth to inquire about a broad range of machinery to source a wide range of projects from a single supplier. Representatives of all three companies were often seen sitting together with potential customers developing ideas and plans for these projects throughout the world.

Of special interest was an “invitation only” breakfast seminar presented by Florian Fischer of VMI-AZ and representatives of Rhein Chemie on the patented iCOM continuous mixing process. More than thirty participants found the seminar informative and challenging, as Mr. Fischer asked, “Do you want to only “continuously improve” old processes, or are you ready to take a revolutionary step in mixing?”

Based on meetings held during the show, as well as a large number of inquiries for information about VMI Group’s products, Arie Kroeze, President of VMI Americas, Inc. described the expo as a success, stating, “Despite recent trends in the economy, the show was well attended, and attendees were motivated to find new and better ways to optimize their processing of rubber products. With the wide range of our product offerings, our team has many potential customers to follow up.”