The Italian plastics trade fair "Plast" (www.plastonline.org) opened its doors on 29 May 2018. Under the motto "Driving the Change", the event is taking place on exhibition grounds in Rho-Pero near Milan until 1 June.

This year, Plast is for the first time taking place concurrently with four other trade fairs – "IPack-Ima" (packaging technologies; www.ima.it/Ipack-IMA/Packaging), "Print4All" (printing technology; www.print4all.it), "Meat-Tech" (meat processing and packaging; www.ipackima.com/it/pages/meat-tech-2018) and "Intralogistica Italia" (logistics; www.intralogistica-italia.com).

More than 3,500 exhibitors will be showcasing their goods in 17 halls, covering an area of more than 140,000 m². The organisers expect at least 120,000 visitors – across all five exhibitions. At the opening event with around 250 attendees, Fabrizio Curci, CEO of exhibition organiser Fiera Milano (Milan; www.fieramilano.it), spoke to representatives of the joint trade fair industries.

Afterwards, a panel of experts discussed the situation in the Italian processing sector. Issues such as automation, Industry 4.0 and sustainability were addressed. Domenico Guzzini, head of kitchen and home accessories provider Fratelli Guzzini (Recanati / Italy; www.fratelliguzzini.com), said that while Italian companies have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to digitalisation, one strength lies in the country's "DNA for design."