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‘Time Is Now’ to Put Sustainability Into Practice, Says Reifenhäuser

The attributes that have made plastic so popular — its durability, light weight, flexibility, and impermeability — are also its downfall when it becomes waste, according to Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Chief Scientific Officer of Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. “Plastic floats — it does not decompose, it does not dissolve,” he told the German plastics and rubber association VDMA recently. If recyclability had been taken into account from the beginning of the product development process…

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Eight Ways Manufacturers Can Attract & Retain Customers–Part 1

Photo: Getty Images Plastics processors face a daunting challenge in retaining and attracting new customers while juggling supply-chain disruptions, ongoing labor shortages, price increases, and quickly changing customer requirements. Yet, amid all the challenges of running a manufacturing business, the time and effort invested in cultivating customer relationships and creating new ones deliver the most value. Customers should be viewed as strategic collaborators whose insights can help to improve manufacturing operations,…

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Aurora Plastics Breaks Ground on Ohio Expansion

Aurora Plastics broke ground yesterday for the expansion of its operations located in Streetsboro, OH. The company said the expansion will allow it to grow its thermoplastic compounding capabilities in rigid PVC, rigid PVC alloys, and CPVC. It expects to add more than 100 million pounds of new capacity once the project is completed in the fourth quarter of 2023. “We see continued strength in our end markets for Aurora’s…

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‘Raised by Wolves,’ but Made by 3D Printing

Designers and engineers worldwide give props to 3D printing every day. And 3D printing gives props back in the form of printed molds and models for movies and TV shows. For the HBO Max sci-fi show, Raised by Wolves, prosthetics designer Jaco Snyman employs several Form 3L stereolithography printers from Formlabs to create molds and end-use models for the series, which focuses on two androids with the mission of raising human children. These…

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PET-Like Bioplastic from Biomass

Photo Credit: EPFL We have been reporting on bioplastics derived from a variety of natural sources as contenders particularly for the five major commodity thermoplastics—PE, PP, PS, PVC, and PET. One of the latest is a new biomass-derived plastic similar to PET, that meets the criteria for replacing several current plastics while also being more environmentally friendly has been developed by scientists from public Swiss research university The École Polytechnique…

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AMBA’s Online Tool Lets Mold Makers Share Surplus or Deficit Capacity

A new resource-planning tool by the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA) will let members share their surplus or deficit capacity, allowing mold makers to connect and solve production bottlenecks. The AMBA Work Capacity Tool, launched Aug. 2, already has resulted in some members from the pilot test group receiving work, reported Kym Conis, AMBA Managing Director. The launch comes at a time when mold manufacturers industrywide are collectively at about…

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Resin Price Report: Ample Supply Meets Listless Demand With Predictable Results

The slide continues in the spot resin market, as prices for both polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) declined as July drew to a close. Overall lackluster demand is a result of ample supply and buyers’ calculations that prices have yet to find a floor, according to the PlasticsExchange. Despite the drop in resin pricing and slowdown in activity, domestic railcar offers keep coming for both prime and off-grade materials, and…

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