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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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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.

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

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

The tool and mould industry in China had suffered greatly from the Corona measures imposed by Beijing in recent years. In 2020, the first of the three pandemic years, the total value of the industry in the People's Republic had fallen by around 34.5 billion euros, which corresponded to a decline of 11.3 percent compared to the previous year.

Chengfei Integration had emerged in 2014 from a subsidiary of AVIC, i.e. the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a state-owned aerospace conglomerate.

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

“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.”

Now a painstaking recovery has begun, but it is not progressing nearly as fast as many had hoped. In this respect, the companies in China are not much different from the European industries in this segment.

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

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

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There are also similarities to Europe in the tool and product categories. The three most important fields of tool and mould making in China are:

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

The group itself is again divided into a number of subsidiary companies and spread over several locations in China. It dominates various sectors of the market with its offshoots FAW Mold Tianjin, FAW Mold Qingdao or Huaxiang Lightweight Technology Co., Ltd. among others, with state-of-the-art equipment and production methods.

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

One of the 33 subsidiaries, Shenyang TQM Aviation Parts Co., Ltd. is significantly involved in the construction of the first airliner C919 manufactured in China and researches, develops, produces and assembles components for all kinds of aircraft.

“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.”

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

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.

In 2003, CHT won the "Shenzhen High-Tech Enterprise Award", in 2009 the "National High-Tech Award" of the People's Republic of China. A complete product line for medical consumables, offered by a subsidiary in Hong Kong, is also part of the toolmaker's range.

In addition to tools and moulds for building cars (including Toyota, Volvo, Geely and Lotus) and lithium batteries, it also produces those for energy storage and CNC machine parts.

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.

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

“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.”

A series of investments, restructuring, as well as a strategic partnership with the NGK Group from Japan have turned it into one of China's leading competitors in tool and mould making to this day.

A current example of this is the new "Action Plan for the Further Improvement of Product, Engineering and Service Quality in the Moulding Industry (2022 - 2025)". Where something needs to be "improved" with such calls from the central planners in Beijing, there is still a lot of work to be done.

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Today, TQM supplies customers in China and worldwide. An important focus here is also the automotive industry. Tools for the production of inner and outer skin parts of car bodies and complete equipment groups and processes are offered.

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.

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).

Unlike in Europe, however, business is now developing very positively in several downstream industries of tool and mould making in China, especially in the areas of e-mobility, energy storage and car batteries as well as in the communications industry. So the outlook has brightened again for the "mother of all industries" in China, without which, as we know, nothing works. At least not in the manufacturing industry.

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.

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

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.

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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.

The fast-growing company employs more than 200 engineers and 220 highly specialised toolmakers, who have 129 of their own CNC machines and 17 different presses up to a load of 2,000 tonnes at their disposal. The company's main foreign markets are in Europe and North America.

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.

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

This emerging Chinese company builds stamping and forming tools for the automotive industry. These are in turn used to produce chassis, seats, roofs and other vehicle body parts.

Tool and mould making in China is benefiting from the positive development of its customer industries. Here we provide an overview of the most important players in the market.

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.

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.

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

The company's origins in tool and mould making date back to 1958, the first decade of the People's Republic proclaimed by Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Square on 1 October 1949. From the beginning, then called "State Owned Factory No. 132", Chengfei Group specialised in the construction of military and civil aircraft.

Chengfei Integration now combines, after a series of restructurings, not only the mould making equipment of Chengfei Group, but also many machines and technologies of carmaker Geely, as well as R&D centres and talents from Nanjng University of Aeronautics and Northwestern Polytechnical University.

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.

This giant among the Chinese state-owned companies in the tool and machine building sector is a wholly owned subsidiary of the FAW Group. The FAW Group is known in Germany as one of Volkswagen's joint venture partners in China. The company has been around for more than 70 years, but was last restructured and renamed in 1997.

Listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange since 2010, CHT supplies customers in China, Germany, the USA, Japan, England, Brazil, Switzerland and many other countries around the world.

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.

According to its own information, the company is now the "number 1 tool exporter in China", although it is left open whether this is a question of the quality or quantity of exports. What is certain, however, is that Vision Tool & Mould has developed an impressive product range. It ranges from hot and cold forming tools to welding fixtures of all kinds to tandem and compound injection moulds.

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.

This large Chinese manufacturer of tools and plastic and injection moulds started in 1997 as a three-man operation with the company name Changhua Wire-Cutting Processing Shop, but has since experienced a growth story that is probably unique in the industry.

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

The beginnings of this tool and mould maker in Shenzhen, southern China, whose factory halls look just as sparkling clean and ultra-modern as those of any competitor in Germany or Japan, date back to 1993. That was when Hu Zuohan, a graduate of Beijing's prestigious Qinghua University, and his partner Ryan Huang founded the Shenzhen Brother Mold Factory.

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.

“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.”

At the end of last year, the Qichacha database already counted 221,141 Chinese companies active in tool and mould making. The vast majority of these, however, are smaller companies with only a few hundred employees, which are only active in the lower to medium price segment of products and are by no means eligible for orders in the premium sector, for example in the automotive industry.

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.

Fully automated milling lines, foreign professionals such as the German manager Marcus Schlundt as division manager, an IPO in Shenzhen in 2015, and ever more investments in state-of-the-art machines and software solutions have ensured that Silver Basis now exports a large part of its products abroad, especially moulds for the automotive industry.

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.’

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

At the same time, however, with the active help of the government, a number of "national champions" are emerging in this industry in China. With their high degree of automation, IT technologies such as CAD, CAE or CAM and 3D design tools, and equipped with a lot of money from IPOs, they are now very close to Western companies in terms of quality and precision in manufacturing.

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

FAW Tooling's customers from the automotive industry include more than ten renowned manufacturers from Germany and abroad, including

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.

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.

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

“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.”

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.

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Specialising in tools for the electronics industry, just six years later CHT's more than 2,000 employees were supplying internationally renowned customers such as Konica Minolta Inc, Brother Industries, Thermo Fisher and the Chinese mobile phone and electronics giant Xiaomi.

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

The use of virtual twins with the aid of CAE simulations is just as much a part of the offering here as advanced cold stamping tools for steel or aluminium, thermoforming and complete tryout and "one-stop" production solutions for customers from the automotive industry and other areas of the manufacturing industry.

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.

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.

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

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

In recent years, the Chinese government has published a number of strategy papers and set in motion support programmes to promote toolmaking and mechanical engineering. At the same time, the titles of these papers and programmes reveal that the aim is still to catch up with the technologically superior foreign competition.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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

Below we present six of the currently most successful of these emerging "national champions" in China's tool and mould industry.

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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.

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.

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.

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

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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 largest private company in the Chinese tool and mould industry has only existed under this specific name since 1996, but the company already has a history of more than 40 years under other names and in other constellations.

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.