Afera (The European Adhesive Tape Association) recently announced upcoming events for the European tape industry, including workshops, committee meetings, Tape College, and the association’s annual conference. Below are a list of events for the remainder of 2023 and 2024. 

Calculation Tool Workshops

The Afera and IVK new Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) Calculation Tool workshops on Scoping, the Adhesive Calculation Tool, and the Tape Calculation Tool will take place in September and November of 2023. The Scoping workshop is being held September 21, 2023, 10:00-3:00 CEST. The Adhesive Calculation Tool workshop will take place November 6, 2023,10:00-5:00 CET; the Tape Calculation Tool workshop is offered November 7, 2023, 10:00-5:00 CET. All workshops will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany. 

The PCF sums up the total greenhouse gas emissions generated by a product over the various stages of its life cycle. As enablers of material efficiency, durability, repairability, upgradability, recycling, and CO₂ reduction, the products of the adhesives and adhesive tapes industry make an important contribution to achieving the goals of the European Green Deal and at the same time must show themselves to be CO₂ neutral by 2050 at the latest. Against this background, PCF is also becoming increasingly important in the industry.

Meeting one of the targets set out in the Afera Flagship Sustainability Project (AFSP), Afera is working with IVK (the German Adhesives Association) to ensure that member companies are soon able to determine PCF values for adhesives and tapes in a straightforward, harmonized, affordable manner. This will allow businesses to meet future legal requirements as well as the demands of the supply chain. The next three of four free workshops will familiarize members with Afera’s harmonization project and the online platform Sphera is developing exclusively for Afera and IVK.

Learn more here. 

Afera Committee and Sustainability Project Meetings

The Afera Committee and Sustainability Project meetings are taking place October 3-4, 2023, at the Westin Dragonara Resort, Malta, and March 11-12, 2024, at the Le Méridien, Munich, Germany. 

As the lifelines of the European Adhesive Tape Association, Afera’s committees and working groups meet at least twice a year in person and as needed online to discuss and develop their action plans for carrying out Afera's mission: To unite stakeholders along the value chain of the European tape industry, ensuring and increasing the relevance of the tape industry in the world of tomorrow. Afera’s mission is carried out by a Steering Committee headed by the president of the association and supported by two additional bodies, the Marketing and Technical committees. The committees form working groups on an as-needed basis to provide key input and take action on Afera’s goals, emerging strategies, issues, and projects. A total of least 50 member company delegates participate in Afera's discussions and decision making on issues that affect the tape industry, including within the Afera Flagship Sustainability Project, which aims to translate the European Green Deal to the adhesive tapes industry.

Learn more here. 

Afera Annual Conference

The 66^th Afera Annual Conference will take place October 4-6, 2023, at the Westin Dragonara Resort in Malta. Each year Afera holds the annual industry event over 2.5 days in a different European city.  Known for its networking and active learning opportunities in a supportive, neutral atmosphere, the event offers an ever-evolving working program addressing the business challenges and opportunities of tape-related companies, such as manufacturers, suppliers (raw materials, machine and packaging), converters, distributors, research institutions, and trade organizations. Themed “Taping Our Future,” the conference will be held at the Westin Dragonara Resort in Malta.

Learn more here.

Afera Tape College

The 11^th Afera Tape College is scheduled for March 12-14, 2024, at Le Méridien in Munich, Germany. Tape College is a well-established technical learning event providing tape business professionals with the fundamentals and current technical essentials of adhesive tape technology. During this back-to-school experience, field experts will educate attendees on the principles involved in the selection, manufacture, conversion, application, and testing of tapes.

This educational event is designed for those new to the world of adhesive tape technology and is open to all industry professionals, both Afera members and non-members alike. Attendees include those affiliated with adhesive tape manufacturers, suppliers (raw materials, machine, and packaging), distributors, converters, end users, research institutions, universities, and national tape organizations. Industry professionals working in R&D, customer and technical service, sales, marketing, engineering, production, processing, and quality assurance — even general management — will benefit from receiving a solid overview of the current technologies of the tape business. 

To learn more, visit afera.com/agenda/afera-tape-college.  

Global Tape Forum and Global Test Methods Committee Meetings 

Hosted by the China Adhesives and Tape Industry Association (CATIA), the 7^th Global Tape Forum (GTF) and Global Test Methods Committee meetings (GTMC)  will take place April 24-26, 2024, in Shanghai, China. Before this, a set of pre-meetings hosted by Afera was held on April 16-17, 2023, at the Brussels Marriott Hotel in Brussels, Belgium, preceding Afera’s 10^th Technical Seminar. The GTF is a not-for-profit, international organization created by the global adhesive tape industry for the industry. Its mission is to enhance the worldwide adhesive tape market by providing a global forum for all tape trade associations, enabling them to add greater value to their memberships.

The GTF’s objectives are to increase the demand for adhesive tapes everywhere; to harmonize key adhesive tape test methods; to establish a database of environmental and regulatory trends per region; to gather top-level production data according to agreed-upon categories; to share an open calendar of global adhesive tape educational events, encouraging cross-participation; to hold biennial meetings hosted by member associations on a rotating basis; to establish a small shared fund for running costs; and to appoint a fixed team of volunteer delegates, plus a secretariat, from each member association to serve a three-year term.

The GTF holds its meetings biennially at the annual or technical conference of one of its members. The association also includes the Global Test Methods Committee (GTMC), the worldwide adhesive tape technical body, which usually meets at the same event at which the GTF meeting takes place.

Additional information is available at afera.com/agenda/global-tape-forum.