Taking measurements to establish baseline data for an extruder system sounds pretty dull. Dull, but important. Simply put, when a new single screw or twin screw extruder is installed, or a new screw mounted in an existing machine, it’s…
For plastics processors, there may be no such thing as a recession-proof sector — but medical parts molding comes damn close. At the very least, the medical molding business is less susceptible to economic swings than most other…
If you’ve ever had a fractured limb, you know how unpleasant a cast can be. They’re bulky and uncomfortable — not to mention a blank canvas for embarrassing sketches by family and friends. But a Toronto start-up is using 3D…
We’ve all heard the old myth that an apple falling onto his noggin inspired Sir Isaac Newton to start thinking about gravity. A more recent myth holds that commercial purging compounds (CPCs) are for injection molding machines only. While…
There’s nothing wrong with writing things down on paper by hand — it’s how Shakespeare and America’s Founding Fathers did it, among others. But let’s face it: it’s no way to run a business in the Internet Age.
Whether you’re on the golf course or in a plastics processing plant, it’s never fun to wind up in a trap. In the first scenario, you probably risk bogey or worse. In the second, it’s even grimmer: wasting time and material,…
For the past few years, the Canadian Plastics injection molders’ surveys have read more like Stephen King horror stories than anything else, charting an industry in freefall and reflecting everything from declining utilization rates to…
This time last year, we opened our fifth Extrusion Benchmark Survey by noting that the worst of the worst recession in living memory was behind us. Twelve months later, we’re fairly certain it’s true. But what do some of…
If the manufacturing sector learned one thing from the Great Recession it might be this: get more efficient, fast. In multi-component injection molding, efficiency means eliminating secondary operations by assembling separate components in the…
It’s a strange time for plastics processors. Two years ago, you had the materials and not the orders; now, you have the orders but can’t always get the materials to fill them. And what the heck is going on with the U.S. and European…
Any plastics processor out there who doesn’t want to gain a competitive advantage, raise your hand. Nobody, right? Well, interest in one potential advantage is on the rise: A growing number of molders are considering liquid colorants as a…
Fact: Valve gating has become the preferred method of gating for precision molders, offering a more stable injection process without stringing and drooling of the melt. And these are particularly interesting times for valves gates: two themes…
The survey, consisting of 33 questions, was emailed in August 2012 to approximately 160 moldmakers across Canada in the Canadian Plastics database, as well as to members of the Canadian Association of Mold Makers (CAMM). We received 23…
Just like that killer double-breasted suit probably does with your wardrobe, materials represent your single largest expense as a plastics processor. You didn’t sew the suit yourself just to save a few bucks, so why scrimp on having a…
All plastics processors out there who don’t want to gain a competitive advantage, raise your hands. Nobody, right? Well, interest in one such solution is spiking right now: a growing number of processors are considering liquid colorants…
In a famous scene from the classic western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman convinces Robert Redford to pull up stakes for Bolivia by telling him, “If we were in business during the California gold rush, we’d have…
The war against overweight is being waged on many fronts — low-fat foods, sugar-free drinks, and gruelling P90X-style workout regimes. But what about an overweight blow molded bottle?
At present, the post-consumer plastics industry in Canada is in a bit of a good news/bad news situation.
Most of us probably know Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island for a few specific things: the Cabot Trail, the coal industry, and maybe the Rankin Family.
Integrated converter Farnell Packaging Ltd. isn’t just located in Dartmouth, N.S. — it developed almost literally alongside the city. Dartmouth was incorporated as a city in 1961, the same year in which the company was created by…
