Mixed in amidst the soft, translucent liquid silicone rubber (LSR) parts, the shiny, metallic chunk of silica mineral in M.R. Mold & Engineering’s display shelf provides a striking contrast. The fact that such smooth, squishy and clear materials are derived in part from a hard, opaque rock is counterintuitive, but for M.R. Mold’s founder and president, Rick Finnie, displaying the parts alongside their unlikely source helps customers understand the strengths…
Plastics processors excel at using automation to overcome process and product-related challenges, but when it comes to customer relationships, those skills need to be balanced with empathy. Customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, and customer success applications can help augment short-staffed teams in cultivating customer relationships, but they cannot become a substitute for first-hand engagement. The good news is that plastics processors have an edge in understanding how processes work and…
Private equity firm HIG Capital has plans to grow Avient Corp.’s distribution unit, which it is acquiring for $950 million in cash.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama earlier this week announced criminal charges against ABC Polymer Industries LLC for the death of a worker at its Helena, AL, plant. The employee, Catalina Estillado, was pulled through the spinning rollers of plastic sheet machinery on Aug. 16, 2017, and died as a result. The DOJ cites “willful violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration…
OSHA says plastic foam packaging firm International Cushioning has a culture where it appears “employee safety is not emphasized,” following investigation of a burn incident.
Trexel announced with profound sadness the loss of Brian Bechard, its President and CEO. He passed away suddenly of a heart attack while competing in a rowing race on the Merrimack River on Aug. 6, 2022. While taken too soon, he was engaging his athletic passions and doing what he loved, said the release. Bechard was 48 years old and served as CEO of Trexel since 2015. As a result…
Photo Credit: Genomatica This past March, I reported on San Diego-based biotechnology firm Genomatica (Geno) and its collaboration with Asahi Kasei to commercialize renewably-sourced nylon 66. The strategic partnership entails the use of Genomatica’s biobased HMDA (hexamethylene diamine) building block. Now, the company reports that it is one step closer to commercialization of renewable nylon 6 with its long-term partner Aquafil, Italy’s nylon 6 fiber producer. The partners produced the…
A process that could turn waste plastic into virgin-grade materials an infinite number of times is the unicorn of the circular plastics economy. And Finland’s Olefy says its new gasification process can deliver. Olefy’s one-step process can turn even low-quality plastic waste into high-value virgin-grade plastics, the company says, with a yield as high as 70% of the feedstock. The resulting molecules created are equal to oil-based virgin olefins of…
Global firms LG Chem and ADM have formed two joint ventures to make lactic acid and polylactic acid (PLA), a rapidly growing bioplastic.
The federal government brought a criminal case Aug. 15 against Alabama extrusion firm ABC Polymer Industries LLC over a 2017 fatality at its factory.