Preparations for "K 2019" have begun. In its first meeting, the exhibitors' council set the course for the world's leading trade fair for the plastics and rubber industries, which will take place in Düsseldorf / Germany from 16 - 23 October 2019. Ulrich Reifenhäuser remains chairman of the exhibitors' council, which advises Messe Düsseldorf (www.messe-duesseldorf.com) on preparations for K 2019. He is managing partner of the machinery manufacturing company Reifenhäuser (Troisdorf / Germany; www.reifenhauser.com) and chairman of the German plastics and rubber machinery association (VDMA KuG, Frankfurt; http://kug.vdma.org). His deputy is Rainer Büschl (Innovation Management/IP & designfabrik Performance Materials, BASF), who is also chairman of the concepts committee. The organising committee is again led by Thorsten Kühmann, managing director Plastics and Rubber Machinery, Forum Composite Technology, within VDMA.

The exhibitors' council also comprises Marc Gregor Baier (BBP Kunststoffwerk Marbach Baier), Michael Baumeister (Brückner Maschinenbau), Rüdiger Baunemann (PlasticsEurope Deutschland), Siamak Djafarian (Evonik), Boris Engelhardt (wdk - Wirtschaftsverband der Deutschen Kautschukindustrie), Manfred Hackl (Erema), Juliane Hehl (Arburg), Rainer Höfling (Borealis), Ulf Kelterborn (IK - Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen), Ulrich Liman (Covestro), Oliver Möllenstädt (GKV - Gesamtverband Kunststoffverarbeitende Industrie), Klaus-Uwe Reiß (Mitras Materials), Christoph Steger (Engel), Peter Steinbeck (Windmöller & Hölscher), Frank Stieler (KraussMaffei) and Pascal Streiff (Euromap/Swissmem).

Last year, a total of 3,293 exhibitors and 232,000 visitors took part in K 2016 from 19 - 26 October (see Plasteurope.com of 27.10.2016). The exhibitor invitations to K 2019 will be sent out in early 2018.