In this collection, which is part one of a series representing some of John’s finest work, we present you with five articles that we think you will refer to time and again as you look to solve problems, cut cycle times and improve the quality of the parts you mold.

Join Wittmann for an engaging webinar on the transformative impact of manufacturing execution systems (MES) in the plastic injection molding industry. Discover how MES enhances production efficiency, quality control and real-time monitoring while also reducing downtime. It will explore the integration of MES with existing systems, emphasizing compliance and traceability for automotive and medical sectors. Learn about the latest advancements in IoT and AI technologies and how they drive innovation and continuous improvement in MES. Agenda: Overview of MES benefits What is MES? Definition, role and brief history Historical perspective and evolution Longevity and analytics Connectivity: importance, standards and integration Advantages of MES: efficiency, real-time data, traceability and cost savings Emerging technologies: IoT and AI in MES

Resin drying is a crucial, but often-misunderstood area. This collection includes details on why and what you need to dry, how to specify a dryer, and best practices.

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Molding is a popular method for the mass production of objects. Essentially, two (or more) mold pieces are conjoined, leaving the shape of the desired object as a cavity. During fabrication, a fluid is introduced into this cavity and is allowed to harden. Once the fluid has solidified, the pieces of the mold are removed, leaving behind the molded object. While the process is fairly simple, creating the mold to produce an object is extremely difficult, and a multitude of considerations go into its creation. How should the object be oriented and divided to ensure that the pieces of the mold can be removed? If the finished object is hollow, how should it be decomposed into pieces? Figures with loops or holes add further complications, as do aesthetic considerations, such as avoiding a parting line through a face. In mass fabrication, the high costs of the initial mold design are offset by the low per-unit cost of production. For a small-scale designer, however, or a novice interested in experimenting with injection molds, hiring a professional mold designer is impractical, and creating the molds unaided is infeasible. Similarly, 3-D-printing the desired number of objects would be far too time- and resource-intensive.

Plastics Technology covers technical and business Information for Plastics Processors in Injection Molding, Extrusion, Blow Molding, Plastic Additives, Compounding, Plastic Materials, and Resin Pricing. About Us

This month’s resin pricing report includes PT’s quarterly check-in on select engineering resins, including nylon 6 and 66.

Say “manufacturing automation” and thoughts immediately go to the shop floor and specialized production equipment, robotics and material handling systems. But there is another realm of possible automation — the front office.

Plastics Technology’s Tech Days is back! Every Tuesday in October, a series of five online presentations will be given by industry supplier around the following topics:  Injection Molding — New Technologies, Efficiencies Film Extrusion — New Technologies, Efficiencies Upstream/Downstream Operations Injection Molding — Sustainability Extrusion — Compounding Coming out of NPE2024, PT identified a variety of topics, technologies and trends that are driving and shaping the evolution of plastic products manufacturing — from recycling/recyclability and energy optimization to AI-based process control and automation implementation. PT Tech Days is designed to provide a robust, curated, accessible platform through which plastics professionals can explore these trends, have direct access to subject-matter experts and develop strategies for applying solutions in their operations.

While prices moved up for three of the five commodity resins, there was potential for a flat trajectory for the rest of the third quarter.

Protolabs has built a business on speed. Today its “digital manufacturing” model is accelerating from rapid prototypes and first-run production parts to “on-demand” short-run manufacturing.

While the major correction in PP prices was finally underway, generally stable pricing was anticipated for the other four commodity resins.

“This is my first experience with a true digital manufacturer—of all the roles I’ve been in, this is the most exciting as we are right at the leading edge,” she says. “We were invented digitally and we help companies leverage the digital thread footprint.”

Discover how artifical intelligence is revolutionizing plastics processing. Hear from industry experts on the future impact of AI on your operations and envision a fully interconnected plant.

9T Labs continues to enhance the efficiency of its technology, which produces composite parts with intentionally oriented fibers.

This Knowledge Center provides an overview of the considerations needed to understand the purchase, operation, and maintenance of a process cooling system.

Learn about sustainable scrap reprocessing—this resource offers a deep dive into everything from granulator types and options, to service tips, videos and technical articles.

The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) has released final figures for NPE2024: The Plastics Show (May 6-10; Orlando) that officially make it the largest ever NPE in several key metrics.

3D printing a core and cavity on machine from Gefertec, followed by machining, allowed for a complete mold tool to be produced in three days.

Take a deep dive into all of the various aspects of part quoting to ensure you’ve got all the bases—as in costs—covered before preparing your customer’s quote for services.

Implementing a production monitoring system as the foundation of a ‘smart factory’ is about integrating people with new technology as much as it is about integrating machines and computers. Here are tips from a company that has gone through the process.

Most of the plastic objects we see are created using injection molding, but designing such molds is a difficult task, usually requiring experts. Now, computer scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), the University of Tokyo, and CONICET have created an interactive design tool that allows non-experts to create molds for an object of their choice. The software will be presented at this year's prestigious SIGGRAPH conference, one of IST Austria's five successful submissions.

In this collection of articles, two of the industry’s foremost authorities on screw design — Jim Frankand and Mark Spalding — offer their sage advice on screw design...what works, what doesn’t, and what to look for when things start going wrong.

More information: Kazutaka Nakashima et al, CoreCavity, ACM Transactions on Graphics (2018). DOI: 10.1145/3197517.3201341 Project page: visualcomputing.ist.ac.at/publ … ons/2018/CoreCavity/

After successfully introducing a combined conference for moldmakers and injection molders in 2022, Plastics Technology and MoldMaking Technology are once again joining forces for a tooling/molding two-for-one.

Ultradent's entry of its Umbrella cheek retractor took home the awards for Technical Sophistication and Achievement in Economics and Efficiency at PTXPO.

The company’s digital thread includes the automated design for manufacturability analysis, rigorous process controls, equipment standardization and digital inspections

Despite price increase nominations going into second quarter, it appeared there was potential for generally flat pricing with the exception of a major downward correction for PP.

Mike Sepe has authored more than 25 ANTEC papers and more than 250 articles illustrating the importance of this interdisciplanary approach. In this collection, we present some of his best work during the years he has been contributing for Plastics Technology Magazine.

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Sustainability continues to dominate new additives technology, but upping performance is also evident. Most of the new additives have been targeted to commodity resins and particularly polyolefins.

As the company reaches its 20-year milestone, Plastics Technology talked with Protolabs CEO Vicki Holt about what’s next for the innovative company.

Processors with sustainability goals or mandates have a number of ways to reach their goals. Biopolymers are among them.

When, how, what and why to automate — leading robotics suppliers and forward-thinking moldmakers will share their insights on automating manufacturing at collocated event.

Multiple speakers at Molding 2023 will address the ways simulation can impact material substitution decisions, process profitability and simplification of mold design.

Additive technology creates air pockets in film during orientation, cutting down on the amount of resin needed while boosting opacity, mechanical properties and recyclability.

Formnext Chicago is an industrial additive manufacturing expo taking place April 8-10, 2025 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Formnext Chicago is the second in a series of Formnext events in the U.S. being produced by Mesago Messe Frankfurt, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, and Gardner Business Media (our publisher).

While prices moved up for three of the five commodity resins, there was potential for a flat trajectory for the rest of the third quarter.

Gifted with extraordinary technical know how and an authoritative yet plain English writing style, in this collection of articles Fattori offers his insights on a variety of molding-related topics that are bound to make your days on the production floor go a little bit better.

While the melting process does not provide perfect mixing, this study shows that mixing is indeed initiated during melting.

“3D printing brings a unique tool to the tool chest with the design flexibility,” she says. “As we talk with engineers, we want to think creatively with design and so many of them have been trained for old processes. With 3D printing, you have complete design flexibility.”

“If companies aren’t thinking how to leverage software information technology into finished production; they are going to fall behind because the pace of change is so great,” she says. “Most of my career has been in traditional manufacturing and in the past five years, I’ve seen the power of digitalization. People have to get started or they will get behind.”

The team has already tested some of their molds at an injection-mold factory near Linz. "The factory employees were surprised at how easy it was to extract the finished objects, as well as how durable the 3-D-printed molds were. Even after creating a hundred objects, the molds were still working," says Auzinger. The team already has further improvements in mind. One idea is the inclusion of connectors that snap together to ease the final assembly of the object.

The company’s digital thread includes the automated design for manufacturability analysis, rigorous process controls, equipment standardization and digital inspections. By automating the entire front-end of the manufacturing process, Protolabs can produce parts in as fast as one day. This allows customers to accelerate development cycles, validate designs quicker and get to market faster.

Successfully starting or restarting an injection molding machine is less about ticking boxes on a rote checklist and more about individually assessing each processing scenario and its unique variables.

Introduced by Zeiger and Spark Industries at the PTXPO, the nozzle is designed for maximum heat transfer and uniformity with a continuous taper for self cleaning.

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With advocacy, communication and sustainability as three main pillars, Seaholm leads a trade association to NPE that ‘is more active today than we have ever been.’

In a time where sustainability is no longer just a buzzword, the food and beverage packaging industry is required to be at the forefront of this innovation. By adopting circular packaging processes and solutions, producers can meet regulatory requirements while also satisfying consumer demand and enhancing brand reputation. Join Husky to learn more about the broader implications of the circular economy — as well as how leading brands are leveraging this opportunity to reduce costs, increase design flexibility and boost product differentiation. Agenda: The cost and operational benefits of embracing circularity Key materials in circular packaging — including rPET and emerging bioplastics How to design a circular food and beverage package Strategies for selecting sustainable closures to future-proof packaging solutions Optimization and streamlining of production processes for enhanced efficiency How Husky Technologies can enable your sustainable success

In this three-part collection, veteran molder and moldmaker Jim Fattori brings to bear his 40+ years of on-the-job experience and provides molders his “from the trenches” perspective on on the why, where and how of venting injection molds. Take the trial-and-error out of the molding venting process.

The decompositions suggested by the design tool are often surprising: "The computer is able to find solutions that are very unintuitive," says Bernd Bickel, professor at IST Austria. "The two halves of the rabbit, for instance, have a curving, complicated connection—it would have been extremely difficult for a human to come up with that." Industry designers, as well as previous design programs, generally rely on straight cuts through the object. In practice, this often leads to a larger number of pieces, as well as "unnatural" divisions. "The software tool could also be extremely useful in industry—it would fit seamlessly into the production process," adds Bickel.

Mixed in among thought leaders from leading suppliers to injection molders and mold makers at the 2023 Molding and MoldMaking conferences will be molders and toolmakers themselves.

Across all process types, sustainability was a big theme at NPE2024. But there was plenty to see in automation and artificial intelligence as well.

The global digital manufacturer serves product developers across three continents and 60 countries—nearly 46,000 unique product developers in 2018 alone. Over the past 20 years, Protolabs has grown in capabilities with four flagship services and 11 manufacturing technologies, and has added capacity with more than 1 million sq. ft. of manufacturing space that houses over 1000 machines producing nearly 4 million parts each month. The company recently opened its 215,000-sq. ft. CNC machining facility in Brooklyn Park, Minn.

CoreCavity, a new interactive design tool, solves this problem, and allows users to quickly and easily design molds for creating hollow, free-form objects. Created by Kazutaka Nakashima, a Ph.D. student at the University of Tokyo visiting IST Austria, Thomas Auzinger (IST Austria), Emmanuel Iarussi (CONICET, IST Austria), Ran Zhang (IST Austria), Takeo Igarashi (University of Tokyo), and Bernd Bickel (IST Austria), this software tool opens up opportunities for small businesses and enthusiasts. The software analyzes a 3-D scan of the object, and creates a "thin shell," essentially a hollow version of the object, in which particularly small gaps are considered solid—another of the team's innovations. The software then proposes a decomposition of the object into pieces; each piece is created by one mold, then joined together at the end. Moreover, the program is able to suggest slight modifications to the original design, for instance, to eliminate tiny hooks that might complicate unmolding. "Previous tools were unable to suggest such changes," says Thomas Auzinger, a postdoc at IST Austria. The user can adjust the decomposition simply by clicking, and choose to accept or reject any proposed modifications. When the user is satisfied, the software automatically produces the mold templates, which can then be 3-D-printed and used for molding.

At Protolabs, additive manufacturing is designed for functional prototypes, complex designs and production components. Protolabs has an 80,000-sq. ft. plant in Cary, N.C., that operates more than 100 3D printers utilizing five different processes for thermoset, thermoplastic and metal printing: stereolithography (SLA), PolyJet printing, selective laser sintering (SLS), the Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) process from HP Inc. and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS).

Mold maintenance is critical, and with this collection of content we’ve bundled some of the very best advice we’ve published on repairing, maintaining, evaluating and even hanging molds on injection molding machines.

In this collection of content, we provide expert advice on welding from some of the leading authorities in the field, with tips on such matters as controls, as well as insights on how to solve common problems in welding.

Join Engel in exploring the future of battery molding technology. Discover advancements in thermoplastic composites for battery housings, innovative automation solutions and the latest in large-tonnage equipment designed for e-mobility — all with a focus on cost-efficient solutions. Agenda: Learn about cutting-edge thermoplastic composites for durable, sustainable and cost-efficient battery housings Explore advanced automation concepts for efficient and scalable production See the latest large-tonnage equipment and technology innovations for e-mobility solutions

Across the show, sustainability ruled in new materials technology, from polyolefins and engineering resins to biobased materials.

technotrans says climate protection, energy efficiency and customization will be key discussion topics at PTXPO as it displays its protemp flow 6 ultrasonic eco and the teco cs 90t 9.1 TCUs.

Core Technology Molding turned to Mold-Masters E-Multi auxiliary injection unit to help it win a job and dramatically change its process.

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“It’s been a real evolution; we haven’t stayed still over 20 years,” she says. “We’re still at the beginning of how to help companies leverage digital manufacturing.”

Vicki Holt, president and CEO at Protolabs, came to the company five years ago, after working for years in traditional manufacturing.

August 29-30 in Minneapolis all things injection molding and moldmaking will be happening at the Hyatt Regency — check out who’s speaking on what topics today.

Protolabs recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary. Founded in 1999, the company is focused on a manufacturing model that couples digital front-end part analysis with automated tool pathing to produce custom machined components in as fast as 24 hours. The company produces custom parts and assemblies with automated 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication and injection molding processes.

Exhibitors and presenters at the plastics show emphasized 3D printing as a complement and aid to more traditional production processes.

Second quarter started with price hikes in PE and the four volume engineering resins, but relatively stable pricing was largely expected by the quarter’s end.

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The aim of this presentation is to guide you through the factors and the numbers that will help you determine if a robot is a smart investment for your application. Agenda:  Why are you considering automation? What problems are you trying to solve? How and why automation can help Crunch the numbers and determine the ROI

Join this webinar to explore the transformative benefits of retrofitting your existing injection molding machines (IMMs). Engel will guide you through upgrading your equipment to enhance monitoring, control and adaptability — all while integrating digital technologies. You'll learn about the latest trends in IMM retrofitting (including Euromap interfaces and plasticizing retrofits) and discover how to future-proof your machines for a competitive edge. With insights from industry experts, it'll walk you through the decision-making process, ensuring you make informed choices that drive your business forward. Agenda: Maximize the value of your current IMMs through strategic retrofitting Learn how to integrate digital technologies to enhance monitoring and control Explore the benefits of Euromap interfaces and plasticizing retrofits Understand how retrofitting can help meet new product demands and improve adaptability Discover how Engel can support your retrofitting needs, from free consultations to execution

Join KraussMaffei for an insightful webinar designed for industry professionals, engineers and anyone interested in the manufacturing processes of PVC pipes. This session will provide a comprehensive understanding of the technology behind the production of high-quality PVC pipes: from raw material preparation to final product testing. Agenda: Introduction to PVC extrusion: overview of the basic principles of PVC pipe extrusion — including the process of melting and shaping PVC resin into pipe forms Equipment and machinery: detailed explanation of the key equipment involved — such as extruders, dies and cooling systems — and their roles in the extrusion process Process parameters: insight into the critical process parameters like temperature, pressure and cooling rates that influence the quality and consistency of the final PVC pipes Energy efficiency: examination of ways to save material and energy use when extruding PVC pipe products

“Speed is the most important thing with a new product—that’s more important today than ever,” Holt says. “You can’t take years to tackle a new product and then get it in the marketplace; Protolabs helps cut development times in half.”