Legos, lawsuits, green PET, resin pricing: Your top stories of 2022
The plastics industry must be getting back to normal, because my top story list of 2022 has a bit more balance than it did in 2020 and 2021.
High inventories lead to lower prices for some engineering resins
Resin users are going through existing inventories, leading to lower prices until demand picks up again in early 2023.
Breaking News in Flexible Packaging November 2022
If you’re interested in an informative and fast read on the subject of flexible packaging, this is for you — an all-in-one location for a steady stream of curated news and developments in this dynamic market. Here are relevant posts from November 2022 for pouches, bags, films, and other types of related packaging sourced from supplier breakthroughs, brand launches, and other advances of interest. CLICK HERE to see the current flexible packaging news. Redesigned Plum…
Is Chemical Recycling a Silver Bullet or a Lead Balloon?
Is chemical recycling the answer to the plastic industry’s quest to create a circular economy or an epic boondoggle? The technology has attracted billions of dollars in investments over the last few years, so its commercial momentum is growing. But critics of chemical recycling point to several market failures and question if it can be economically viable. Chemical recycling goes far beyond the more familiar and proven methods of mechanical recycling. ISO…
Toledo Molding & Die cutting more jobs in Wisconsin
Automotive supplier Grammer Americas is planning more layoffs at the Beloit, Wis., plant of its Toledo Molding & Die LLC unit.
Servo Ultrasonic Welding Slashes Energy Costs in Automotive Application
Rinco Ultrasonics has demonstrated that servo-driven ultrasonic welding systems deliver significant energy savings compared with standard pneumatic systems. In a recent commercial application with a leading European automotive manufacturer, Rinco showed that its eMotion 20-kHz servo-driven ultrasonic welder delivers 87% energy savings over pneumatic systems in the production of an automotive assembly. Rinco’s work is believed to be the first effort to quantify the energy benefits of servo-driven ultrasonic welders. Many…
How Was K 2022 for Blow Molding?
Bekum’s EBlow 408D, one of its new 8-series all-electric shuttles, exemplified several themes of K 2022: energy efficiency (up to the highest Class 10 under Euromap 46.1); new “Industry 4.0-capable” controls, providing continuous AI quality monitoring, energy-consumption display and web connectivity; and quick mold changes in 15 min per side. (Photo: Bekum) October’s K 2022 show in Düsseldorf hosted around two dozen blow molding-related machinery exhibits, focused primarily around the…
Trinseo Shutters Styrene Plant, PC Line in Germany
Global materials supplier Trinseo announced yesterday that it is shuttering its styrene production facility in Boehlen, Germany, and shutting down a polycarbonate (PC) production line in Stade, Germany. It also said that it would consolidate PMMA sheet manufacturing in Matamoros, Mexico, at the Aristech Surfaces production line in Florence, KY, and reduce styrene-butadiene (SB) latex capacity at its site in Hamina, Finland. The so-called asset restructuring initiatives are expected to improve…
Senators wade into debate on chemical recycling of plastics
In a wide-ranging hearing on plastics environmental questions, U.S. senators probed the degree to which chemical recycling could help solve waste, climate and recycling challenges.
LS Mtron Injection Molding Machines — 100 days casting to cargo
Supply chain disruptions are taking their toll. So, how is it that LS Mtron Injection Molding Machines can produce new machinery and have it on its way to customers in just 100 days?