On 17 and 18 September 2025, the Fachverband Schaumkunststoffe und Polyurethane e.V. (FSK) held its Polyurethane Symposium in northern Italy. Together with its member company Cannon, the association’s largest specialist group, the Polyurethanes Specialist Group, organized the meeting in Milan and offered all participants a varied program with lasting impressions.
The two-day event began on 17 September 2025 with a visit to the Alfa Romeo Museum Arese, near Milan. Participants who arrived early were visibly enthusiastic about the impressive exhibits and enjoyed using their time at the museum to get in the mood for the event. The subsequent expert group meeting was reserved exclusively for FSK members. Numerous internal association topics were discussed, the expert group’s new logo was presented, and the election of the expert group spokespersons was also on the agenda. Sebastian Schmidhuber, KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH, and Dr. Thorsten Schollmeier, Klöckner polyPUR Chemie GmbH, will take on the role of expert group spokespersons together with Sven Müller, Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH, who was confirmed in his position in absentia. During the subsequent informal get-together and dinner at the La Perla restaurant in Saronno, there was ample opportunity for professional exchange and networking.
On the second day of the event, the association and the event participants were delighted to accept the invitation from The Cannon Group. The member is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The traditional family business showed that it is by no means old-fashioned, but rather highly modern and visionary. This is also due to the entrepreneurial spirit and ingenuity of the Volpato family, who recognized the enormous potential of plastics early on and committed themselves to the adventure in the polyurethane industry. It was therefore a particular pleasure that Marco Volpato, President & CEO of the Cannon Group, did not miss the opportunity to welcome the participants of the symposium on the day of the lecture on 18 September 2025. In his presentation “Driving growth through collaboration and connection,” he impressively presented the company, its extraordinary development, and current performance. During the subsequent factory tour of Cannon Afros in Caronno Pertusella, participants were able to gain unique insights into the innovative strength of The Cannon Group. FSK Managing Director Klaus Junginger thanked Marco Volpato for his hospitality: ‘This is not our first visit here, and we hope to be able to come back again next time. It is really impressive to be able to get to know such a great company up close. The enthusiasm for polyurethane, the know-how and the innovative strength can be felt and experienced here.’
The following technical presentations also left a lasting impression on the audience. The interesting contributions came from Elio Toni – Global Manufacturing Engineering Food Preservation and Corrado Cecchini – Global R&D Food Preservation from Electrolux SpA, who presented the PU foam process for domestic refrigerators in their technical presentation. Massimo Gilardi, Technical & Plant Manager at Toscana Gomma SpA, also presented an exciting topic with ‘Agile Foam: from car seats to cushions, adapting polyurethane moulding to different comfort requirements’. Finally, Alessandro Gallipoli, Head of Research and Development at COIM SpA, inspired the participants with his presentation ‘From recycled to bio-based: low-carbon polyols for rigid PU foams’.
Participants at the PUR 2025 symposium at Cannon in Italy.
Managing Director of the FSK Klaus Junginger (right) thanks Marco Volpato, President & CEO of The Cannon Group
The newly elected spokespersons for the PUR specialist group: Dr. Thorsten Schollmeier, Klöckner polyPUR Chemie GmbH (left) and Sebastian Schmidhuber, KaussMaffei Technologies GmbH (right) with FSK Managing Director Klaus Junginger. Confirmed as speaker in absentia: Sven Müller, Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH.
Visit to the Alfa Romeo Museum: Participants at the Polyurethanes 2025 symposium
Further information on the Fachverband Schaumkunststoffe und Polyurethane e.V. (FSK) and its events as well as the work of the specialist committees is available online at: www.fsk-vsv.de or by telephone: 0711 993 751- 0.