If your organization hasn’t yet addressed this question, you will have to before long. It’s probably one of the most crucial strategic questions facing all injection molders in this decade. That’s why we used it as the title of our second morning General Session of our two-and-a-half-day Molding 2021 Conference, Sept. 21-23, 2021 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., near Chicago O’Hare Airport. That’s a real,…
Passion for research and innovation and the resultant continuous escalation of technological know-how is how Luca Oliverio, sales director of Swiss company WM Thermoforming (U.S. office in Hyannis, Mass.) responded when asked to describe the common thread that connects the company at its infancy in 1981 and to that of 2021, its 40th milestone. Oliverio recalls the steps characterizing WM’s technological climb, starting with the systems for computer-aided design/drafting used for…
Since the beginning of the year, it seems, all eyes have been on the second half of 2021 as medtech companies were still grappling with a lot of uncertainty heading into 2021. Now that we’re well into the second quarter, here are some key takeaways from first-quarter earnings calls from a handful of medtech companies that were most impacted by COVID-19 disruptions and lower procedure volumes.
3D-printing company Formlabs introduced today its Nylon 11 Powder, a high-performance material suited for functional prototyping and small batch production. Available for use on Formlabs’ Fuse 1 selective laser sintering (SLS) printer, Nylon 11 Powder enables users to print parts that need to bend or take impact such as hinges, clips, and orthotics. Historically, the high cost and complex workflow of industrial 3D printing has kept the technology out of…
New advanced manufacturing training center features Wittmann Battenfeld work cell for injection molding.
BAAM platform. The focus on sustainability has hit every area of the supply chain—including 3D printing. Build-to-order machine tool manufacturer Cincinnati Inc. (CI) recently announced that it has used its Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine to demonstrate that recycled materials can be used for 3D printing by producing one of the largest monolithic multi-material objects to date. The demonstration successfully proved that large-scale multi-material printing can be done effectively and economically…
A veteran plastic materials scientist and president of Cincinnati-based Phantom Plastics LLC has used a scientific approach to debunk most of the negative public perceptions of plastics over the last decade or so. Chris DeArmitt, PhD, FRSC has self-published The Plastics Paradox: Facts for a Brighter Future, for which a condensed version can be viewed at plasticsparadox.com for free, with an unabridged version available through Amazon. In a recent brief…
During the recent Molding Innovation Day 2021, sponsored by Moldex3D and the Polymers Center of Excellence, Rich Wentworth, new product commercial consultant at RJG laid out a common issue for many molders when starting a project, using a sports metaphor that was pretty apt. Many molders allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good in a way that weekend duffers can relate to. “If in golf your expectation…
It’s back. Live and in person. The industry’s leading global technical program devoted to all things extrusion. Mark your calendars for Sept. 21-23; the Extrusion 2021 Conference will be held over a two-and-a-half-day span at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. Go to the conference website and check things out. The agenda has been completely fleshed out; take a look. Learn more about the sponsors and exhibitors…
In a recent discussion with Earl Balthzar, senior applications engineer at Datacolor, he weighed-in on how digital color measurement can contribute in reducing the environmental impact of plastics. Balthzar pointed out that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, sustainability and reduction of waste have remained on the minds of both plastics manufacturers and consumers, but with a significant resurgence of single-use plastics due to health concerns, those sustainability-related challenges have been exacerbated.…