The organizing committee for the SPE Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) announced that it has teamed with Missouri University of Science & Technology (Rolla, Mo.) to develop an online survey to query members of industry, academia, research groups, media, and government organizations globally about the importance of sustainability in the field of polymer composites. The survey, which is available at the University website during the month of April, is open to anyone who wishes to participate. Results of the survey will be presented at this year’s SPE ACCE, September 11-13, 2012 at the MSU Management Education Center.The survey has been designed by and is being managed by Bonnie Bachman, Ph.D., professor of Business & Information Technology at Missouri University and former president of the Society of Plastics Engineers, and Shristy Bashyal, a Master’s degree student at the school as well as an instructor in the English and Technical Communications Department.
About the survey’s purpose, Bashyal says, “Often the question is asked, ‘How is business impacting environmental and social issues?’ That is only part of the larger question, which we feel can be summed up with a quote from an MIT article on Sustainability and the Completive Advantage">Sustainability and the Completive Advantage: ‘How will sustainability change management?’ Through our ongoing survey work, we hope to learn what challenges businesses are facing, how sustainability can become part of their strategy for competitive advantage, and what organizational challenges lay ahead as firms include sustainability initiatives.”
Bachman adds, “Versus our 2011 survey of sustainability in the general plastics industry, this time around we are narrowing the field to organizations involved in the polymer composites sector. With the results that come in, we hope to gain a more focused understanding of what sustainability means in this industry and how organizations are already beginning to define, discuss, and incorporate this topic in their strategic initiatives and in work with the entire composites supply chain.”
Held annually in suburban Detroit, the ACCE draws almost 500 speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, and attendees and provides an environment dedicated solely to discussion and networking about advances in the transportation composites. Its global appeal is evident in the diversity of exhibitors, speakers, and attendees who come to the conference from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia / Pacific as well as North America. Fully one-third of attendees indicate they work for automotive and light truck, agriculture, truck & bus, heavy truck, or aviation OEM, and another 25% representing tier suppliers. Attendees also represent composite materials, processing equipment, additives, or reinforcement suppliers; trade associations, consultants, university and government labs; media; and investment bankers. The show has been jointly sponsored by the SPE Automotive and Composites Divisions since 2001.
The mission of SPE is to promote scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics. SPE’s Automotive and Composites Divisions work to advance plastics and plastic-based composites technologies worldwide and to educate industry, academia, and the public about these advances. Both divisions are dedicated to educating, promoting, recognizing, and communicating technical accomplishments for all phases of plastics and plastic-based composite developments, including materials, processing, equipment, tooling, design and testing, and application development.
