Helping you plan for NPE. (Editorial).

* It's coming to Chicago next month: that once-every-three-years extravaganza, the biggest plastics show in this hemisphere, with over 2000 exhibitors from all over the world--NPE 2003. Whether or not you plan to attend, NPE is important because it will showcase so many thousands of new developments. PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY editors and our colleagues at Gardner Publications have been working overtime to help you absorb it all.

This is the first of two issues devoted to preparing you for the show. We run down the new developments to be displayed in blow molding machinery and provide quick peeks at some of the other new things that will be on view. Next month, you get the full treatment: As you have come to expect from PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY Show Guides, our editors will preview every one of the exhibitors' booths, which are grouped by topic: injection molding, extrusion, decorating, materials, and so forth. We'll tell you what you'll find in every booth and highlight what's new.

With next month's issue you'll also get something never seen before: the NPE 2003 Agenda Planner CD. It contains the complete list of exhibitors and the categories of products they will show, as well as floor plans. The Agenda Planner function of the disk allows you to select the booths you want to visit and then print out your own personal itinerary with notes attached and floor plans that highlight those specific booths.

Don't forget to put PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY on your show agenda. At our booth we'll host representatives of ManufacturingQuote.com who will demonstrate their database of plastics manufacturing jobs available for quoting. Also sign up for our Big Prize raffle--the details will be at booth 2255 in the South Hall. See you there!