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.

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.

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

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).

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.’

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

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

The machine’s all-electric drive technology also reportedly makes a major contribution to its outstanding energy efficiency.

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.

According to Pavlov, production rates were increased to nearly mid-70s percentile from a low of 61%, owing primarily to higher exports demand, as domestic demand is characterized as lackluster. Todd says suppliers were confident they would get their August increase, but a similar increase for September lacked the support of one leading supplier.

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

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

As a system supplier, ENGEL claims that it precisely coordinates all the components of the production cell right from the start of the project. “This allows us to fully leverage the efficiency potential throughout the entire production cell,” Mairhofer emphasises.

PVC prices in June dropped 2¢/lb, with a rollover in July,  a potential increase of 1¢/lb to 2¢/lb in August, and another rollover in September, according to Paul Pavlov, RTi’s v.p. of PP and PVC and PCW’s senior editor Donna Todd. The latter noted that fourth-quarter forecasts were for flat prices for October, and a drop of 2¢/lb and 1¢/lb for November and December, respectively. Meanwhile, suppliers were out with an August increase of 2¢/lb.

Dry cycle times of 1.3 seconds with the e-cap 380 and the parallel movements included in the standard right from the outset make an important contribution to achieving apparent cycle times of less than 2 seconds. Ejection occurs parallel to the mould opening. A new feature means that the ejectors can be amplified by a switchable hydraulic booster on demand. ENGEL argues that this ensures that the machine operates with the best possible efficiency both during running production and during start-up after a production interruption.

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

But, she adds that some market participants did not rule out two increases going through. “Between the tightness of the domestic market and rising export prices, they believe there is sufficient justification to make the change. While demand in July dropped and was expected to remain slow through August, converters expect to see demand pick up after Labor Day.  They don’t anticipate that demand will return to historical norms in the fall, however.”

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

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.

Polystyrene prices dropped by 6¢/lb in July, following a 3¢/lb drop in June, as contract prices for both benzene and ethylene dropped, according to PCW’s Barry and RTi’s Chesshier. Still, styrene monomer prices were rising due to unplanned production outages, leading at least one major supplier to issue an August price hike of 5¢/lb.

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

The company argues that the requirements for beverage caps have changed substantially since the launch of its first all-electric e-cap injection moulding machine at K 2010.

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

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.

These industry insiders did not see the possibility of any increase being implemented. While demand for exports was strong, domestic demand was generally described as flat, with production rates in the low-80s percentile. PCW’s Barry sees some potential for prices dropping a bit more this month, as Nova Chemicals was bringing on major new capacity and Shell was becoming more of a factor.

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

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

A collaboration between show organizer PLASTICS, recycler CPR and size reduction experts WEIMA and Conair recovered and recycled all production scrap at NPE2024.

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.

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.

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.

Baystar's Borstar technology is helping customers deliver better, more reliable production methods to greenhouse agriculture.

RTi’s Chesshire notes that for quite some time, there has been a double-digit delta between contract and spot prices. The Plastic Exchange’s Greenberg observes: “Market prices continued to see consolidation. The low end of the spectrum firmed as deeply discounted offers continued to dry up while the topside trimmed as contract buyers have been negotiating nonmarket adjusted deals since the spot vs contract/index disparity remained wide.”

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

As Friedrich Mairhofer, Product Manager for all-electric injection moulding machines at ENGEL, explains: “For still water, caps with a weight of significantly less than one gram are produced today. As a result, cooling and cycle times have continued to drop. Where the cycle times ten years ago were still 2.5 seconds, today's cap machines need to be able to produce at 2-second intervals and faster.

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.

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

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

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.

These are the views of purchasing consultants from Resin Technology Inc. (RTi), senior analysts from Houston-based PetroChemWire (PCW), CEO Michael Greenberg of The Plastics Exchange, and Scott Newell, executive v.p.  polyolefins at distributor/compounder Spartan Polymers.

The plasticising unit was completely redesigned in the course of the e-cap's further development, as the properties of the materials to be processed have also changed over time.

PET prices remained flat through June-July, with a potential fractional price drop in August and as much as 1.5¢/lb in September, based on raw material formulation contracts, according to Mark Kallman, RTi’s v.p. of PVC, PET and engineering resins. This, barring higher crude oil prices. He noted there was an uptick in demand in the bottle resin category due to record high temperatures. Despite lower industry production rates, material is readily available as are lower cost imports.

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

Polypropylene prices dropped 4¢/lb in June in step with propylene monomer contracts for a total of 19¢/lb since March, according to PCW’s Barry, Spartan Polymers’ Newell, and The Plastic Exchange’s Greenberg.  They expect prices in July to be a rollover, and potentially trending that way within the August-September period.  Meanwhile, at least four major PP suppliers had issued nonmonomer-related increases of 3¢/lb for August, which PCW’s Barry noted was unprecedented for this time of year. And this as new propylene monomer production was coming onstream, adding even more supply to a weak demand market.

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.

"When developing the new generation of machines, the main focus was, therefore, both on performance and on stability. The new e-cap achieves even faster mould opening and closing movements and is designed with an even more stable machine bed for more frequent load cycles.”

Both Barry and Greenberg report that spot PP prices were firming up, but that it was unclear whether this was due to an increase in ‘real’ demand or a temporary restocking phase. Says Spartan Polymers’ Newell, “The industry mood is still bearish and this rebound may not hold as some are forecasting a weak third quarter.” He notes that processors were running their plants in the range of 70-80%, with some as low as 50-60%. PP homopolymer was regarded as well supplied, and was expected to be even more so as Heartland Polymers was bringing on substantial new capacity. PP impact and random copolymer grades were somewhat snug. Demand for construction applications appeared to be trending a bit stronger but remained soft for housewares.

Thousands of people visit our Supplier Guide every day to source equipment and materials. Get in front of them with a free company profile.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

After further decreases in PE, PP, PS and PVC prices in the June-July time frame, the trajectory for third quarter’s second half was generally expected to be flat. This, barring production disruptions from a hurricane or other major event.

The new e-cap generation is offered with two different ejector drive technologies. The machine works with hydraulic ejectors as standard. Servo-electric drives are available as an option, which reportedly require around 10% less energy.

Polyethylene prices dropped 3¢/lb in June, had the potential for a similar drop in July, and projected to be generally flat in August-September, according to David Barry, PCW’s associate director for PE, PP and PS, Robin Chesshier, RTi’s v.p. of PE, PS and nylon 6 markets, and The Plastic Exchange’s CEO Michael Greenberg.

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With the exception of PET, suppliers of the other four commodity resins had come out with price increases, a move largely viewed as one aimed at preventing further erosion and also attributed to some forecasts for a strengthening hurricane season. Continued lackluster demand, lower feedstock costs in some cases, generally ample supply despite lowered production rates, and new capacity are contributing factors.

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.

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.

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

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.

The reinforced frame and the reinforced mould mounting platens on the new e-cap reportedly ensure excellent stability of the machine movements even with extremely short cycles and very small shot volumes.

ENGEL says that cleanliness and energy efficiency have also been essential characteristics of the series right from the outset. With an encapsulated toggle lever and a “very clean” linear guide of the moving platen, the new machine can apparently reliably meet the requirements of strictly regulated production in the food industry.

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

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.

However, both sources characterize domestic demand as continued low, with production rates throttled back to the low 50% range. Due to some forecasts of higher feedstock prices, they ventured prices in the August-September time frame could be flat to slightly up. Barry reports that spot prices for both general-purpose PS and HIPS remained flat going into August. The implied styrene cost, based on a 30% ethylene/70% benzene spot formula rose by 2.7¢/lb within July.