The markets driving the increased level of activity are material handling (pallets and boxes), underground enclosures for telecommunications and utilities, drainage and irrigation products, all-terrain vehicle (ATV) components, commercial/institutional, and industrial and safety products. Milacron is also seeing other new products being developed that are conversions from concrete, metal, and wood in the building and infrastructure market as well.

Milacron CEO Tom Goeke stated, “Stories like 20/20’s machine retrofits reinforce the fact that Milacron has an unrivaled aftermarket offering. Our aftermarket offerings aren’t only spare parts, we can literally take an older machine and transform it to like new condition. Milacron has set the standards, driven innovation and led the industry in Multi-Nozzle Low-Pressure Injection Molding Technologies for more than four decades. These machines can be used for Structural Foam, Structural Web, Gas Assist, Solid Molding, or combinations of these technologies depending on the application.” Goeke added, “The LPIM market is strong for our customers that require either new or rebuilt machines in both North America and Europe, and we have a number of solid inquiries both domestically and internationally including many from Latin America and India.”

For instance, in 2020, Comar, a US manufacturer and designer of innovative plastic solutions, announced locating a custom facility in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The 230,000-square-foot facility is Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulation (cGMP)-compliant, ISO 13485-certified, and FDA-registered, with dedicated injection blowmolding, injection-stretch blowmolding, and injection-molding cells.

Parts molded with LPIM can replace many rotational molded or industrial blow molded parts with better aesthetics and better cycle times.

Success stories at the seminar included the biodegradability of proprietary bioplastic material; biopolymer solutions for sustainable agriculture; and a method for measuring biodegradation in compost, fresh and waste waters, soil, and marine environments.

Companies are investing in research and development to produce new industrial plastics to keep up with market competitiveness and meet evolving end-user demands.

In October 2021, Recycler EFS-plastics Inc., a Canada post-consumer plastics recycler with a focus on processing bales of low-value plastics, acquired Exi-Plast Custom Moulding for an undisclosed amount. Through this acquisition, EFS can directly manufacture finished products with high levels of post-consumer recycled plastic for its customers. Exi-Plast Custom Moulding is a Canadian company that provides custom plastic molding services, particularly in blow-molded solutions for designers, manufacturers, and distributors.

Stephen has been with PlasticsToday and its preceding publications Modern Plastics and Injection Molding since 1992, throughout this time based in the Asia Pacific region, including stints in Japan, Australia, and his current location Singapore. His current beat focuses on automotive. Stephen is an avid folding bicycle rider, often taking his bike on overseas business trips, and is a proud dachshund owner.

The new facility offers a full-service mold prototyping lab as well as a specialized mold sample and development machine, allowing customers to quickly move from concept through design, prototype, and full production.

Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the blow-molded plastics market in 2021 and is expected to remain the largest through the forecast period.

Eric Hallstrom, Business Manager, Milacron LPIM added, “Milacron has been promoting our proprietary Structural Web technology that allows for multi-point gas assist molding that can be added to as an option to our standard LPIM machine. The process allows for a cosmetic part appearance for large projected area parts and can reduce part weights by up to 20%. The gas assist process also creates an inherently strong and durable part, molded with low internal stresses and a dual wall thickness which can replace many rotational molded or industrial blow molded parts with better aesthetics and better cycle times for higher volume parts.”

Machine builder Milacron Holdings Corp. has seen demand increase for its Low Pressure Injection Molding (LPIM) Structural Foam machines following a successful NPE 2018 in Orlando, FL, including machine rebuilds. Milacron had a dedicated space in the NPE booth focusing on LPIM technologies and large part molding. An eye-catching display showed a replica platen of the massive Cincinnati 6,750 ton machine sold to 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics of Holiday City, OH.

Ernsberger added, “Milacron worked closely with our entire team at 20/20 to identify the upgrades to the existing machines to be rebuilt that will put these machines above today’s current machine specifications and give us the widest capabilities for these size machines in the industry.” Ernsberger continued, “We also had Milacron integrate some proprietary technologies into their machines that allow us to have the most versatile LPIM Structural Foam machine fleet in the custom molding market. It’s a great partnership between the companies, as all equipment at 20/20 CMP is 100% Milacron.”

Ideal for injection molding large, lightweight, durable structural plastic parts, the Milacron LPIM Structural Foam Technology creates a cellular foamed core surrounded by integral skins, forming a total integral and rigid structure. In this process, a foaming agent (nitrogen) is mixed with the polymer melt and short-shot through a modular multiple nozzle system into a mold (or multiple molds) in a volume less than is required to fill a solid part. The injection pressure and expanding gas/polymer cellular mixture act to fill the mold. The mold cavity pressures are 10–20 times lower than conventional injection molding which permits the use of lower cost aluminum molds with no additional hot runner system since the hot runner manifold and nozzle system is integral to the machine. Many molds and large parts of different sizes can be molded at the same time. The multi-nozzle machine design allows for multiple molds to be run simultaneously allowing for higher productivity.

For the packaging sector, AIMPLAS presented results of projects that included biodegradable barrier packaging made from food waste, plastic film derived from coffee waste, active packaging that extends the shelf life of cheese and is made from cheese-industry waste, and cartridges for 3D food printing.

Hallstrom added, “Essentially we are updating machines that have been in production for over 30 years and bringing them up to the same specifications as our new machines. This has been especially popular since we started to promote this capability to our customers, as they see a significant enough savings since we are re-using the most expensive parts of these large machines, being the bases, platens, and cylinders. The customer gets back a machine that outperforms the machine’s original specifications and is as reliable as a new machine with the same warranty.”

The global blow-molded plastics market grew from $89.39 billion in 2022 to $92.93 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.0%. The blow-molded plastics market is expected to grow to $108.75 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 4.0%, according to a report published in February by Reportlinker. The market consists of sales coveringcompound blowmolding and compression blowmolding.

Producing hollow plastic products from thermoplastic materials is a quick manufacturing solution and offers versatile products with broad industrial appeal. Markets include food suppliers, medical and pharmaceutical companies, and others.

Major types of blow-molded plastics are polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride PVC, PET, and others. Polypropylene (also known as propane or propylene) is a tough, rigid, crystalline thermoplastic derived from the monomer propane or propylene.

Milacron has aggressively expanded its rebuild and remanufacture capabilities for LPIM machines for customers. There are a large number of old LPIM machines in the field that were purchased in the late 1980s and 1990s that need rebuilds and upgrades to control systems and new motor and drive selections, moving away from DC to AC drives which provide better energy efficiency. Milacron’s full remanufacturing consists of fully rebuilding the machine to current model specifications, including full teardown and inspection, platen refurbishment, full re-painting of the machine, new controls, electrical system, and hydraulics. The major tonnage and injection cylinders and hydraulic accumulators are sent out for refurbishment and resealing. New screws, barrels, and injection melt accumulators are also included as part of this program.

At NPE, 20/20 entered into an agreement with Milacron to refurbish and upgrade two of their existing 400-ton LPIM machines to 500-ton LPIM machines, and one of their 500-ton LPIM machines to 750-ton LPIM machines. 20/20 is also having Milacron rebuild and upgrade five of their 750-ton LPIM machines. The machines will undergo a complete remanufacture and rebuild process at Milacron’s Batavia, OH manufacturing plant and be returned like new machines.

In total, Milacron is currently rebuilding eight LPIM machines as well as four HPIM machines. “Milacron’s commitment to the LPIM side of the industry, their quality, performance, and service is second to none and is the reason that we made this decision to have them rebuild and upgrade this equipment,” said Ron Ernsberger, President, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics.

Machines delivered in the 1980s and 1990s are being upgraded to outperform their original specifications, while new machine deals also are accelerating.

Polypropylene is used in a variety of applications, including plastic packaging, machinery and equipment parts, and fibers and textiles. Extrusion, injection, and stretch are the various technologies used in blowmolding plastics for packaging, consumables, electronics, automotive and transport, building and construction, medical, and other applications.