The global economy and supply chains are driving the emerging trends in the plastic industry.

      According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, these trends will dictate which companies survive.

      Within the past 12 months, Technical Insights, a business unit of Frost & Sullivan, has issued several reports detailing the latest trends in the industry.

Going Lean

      Those plastic manufacturing companies that can adapt to customer demands, respond to competitors’ moves and coordinate go-to-market strategies in shorter periods have been achieving success in this new environment.

      Ultimately, lean thinking and integrated manufacturing solutions are the key survival tools for plastics manufacturers. With a streamlined manufacturing system in place, companies can expect to significantly reduce dock-to-dock lead-time.

      “By paying close attention to value-added manufacturing activities, the lean production strategy provides the best practices and tools to eliminate backflows, scrap, and production stoppages,” says Technical Insights Sr. Research Analyst Donald V. Rosato. “Ultimately this leads to quality and high performance products at a reasonable cost.”

      Nypro, a leading global provider of precision injection molding, has seen lean production make an important contributor to its competitiveness and value proposition. Nypro’s proprietary lean operating system called High Velocity System (HVS) facilitates innovation in a fast-changing plastics manufacturing industry. HVS has also been instrumental in reducing average cycle times by 30 percent and improved average output by 48 percent.

      Other companies such as Gira Giersiepen GmbH also advocate adoption of a lean plastics manufacturing system. The company’s vision systems in the automated production cells and all new molding presses are connected to a plant-wide automated control and quality monitoring system.

      “In fact, product innovation, quality, and same-day shipping make Gira a favorite of architects and building professionals,” says Rosato.

      Delphi Connection System also relies heavily on the lean manufacturing principle. Using 124 all-electric injection-molding presses, a sophisticated 80-resin material handling system, and 11 automated guide vehicles, the company produces 400 different electrically interconnected products. It also runs 24/7 and saves 55 percent on energy costs.

      Lean thinking is not restricted to manufacturing alone. It gives equal importance to forging long-term alliances with global plastics manufacturing technology developers as a means to accelerate market development.

      For example, PCC Group develops and licenses technologies for molding plastic containers. PCC offers access to a portfolio of patented processes used in the production of plastic containers that are on par with traditional metal and composite packaging.

      Purchasing state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment with the requisite in-house customization will also lead to quicker market growth, especially in niche markets.

      Kintz Plastics in the United States has installed what it believes to be the largest thermoforming machine on the East Coast that can be operated in vacuum, pressure, or twin sheet modes.

  “Plastics manufacturers need to continually monitor the best practices of other companies around the world in order to enhance their lean production skills and provide unique and cost-effective products to the customer,” says Rosato.

Emerging technologies

      While price still remains a critical purchase determinant, selecting the right equipment to realize enhanced productivity and efficiency has become the focal point for plastics processors. This priority is being reflected in the growing number of partnerships between plastics fabricators and machinery suppliers.

      “Selecting the right plastics processing equipment is important and it is not always easy to choose correctly given the plethora of equipment suppliers by category, the increasing need for decreased energy consumption on top of equipment functionality and performance and the ever present capital investment quick payback requirement,” says Rosato.

      Collaborations between equipment suppliers and plastics fabricators need, therefore, to be flexible regardless whether the plastics processing equipment is of a primary, auxiliary, software, or services variety. For instance, an off-the-shelf robotic handling system cannot be standardized globally but needs to be adapted to suit regional requirements.

      Worldwide, plastic manufacturers are aiming at boosting energy efficiency, upgrading standard equipment capability in terms of labor and material savings, adding cross-product differentiation features and speeding marketing cycles.

      “To develop these high velocity manufacturing systems, emerging cutting-edge plastic processing technologies are the foundation,” says Rosato. “True sustainable lean manufacturing excellence comes, however, with customizing company needs to their given manufacturing environment.”

      The growing need to tailor equipment such as robots to accommodate the plastic fabricators’ specific manufacturing environments is gaining particular significance in full manufacturing cells, which are defined by minimal production staff participation and designed for lights-out manufacturing.

      As plastics fabricators rationalize operations, primary and auxiliary equipment suppliers are being compelled to change accordingly. For instance, auxiliary equipment supplier Wittmann is locating manufacturing plants in Hungary and China to supplement its Austrian base facility. At the same time, the company has expanded from robot specialization to become a full-service auxiliary equipment supplier.

      Three way partnerships among globally leading plastics manufacturers and their primary/secondary equipment suppliers is becoming a common feature. Many of these partnerships such as that between Nypro, Husky Injection Molding Systems and Hekuma in the area of high-tech state-of-the-art in-mold labeling have proved to be productive and cost effective and have excelled at maintaining the proprietary nature of finished product development.

      Whereas plastic fabricator manufacturers have concentrated on accelerated paybacks since they are always looking ahead to new orders, plastics processors have focused on emerging next-generation technologies.

      Stellar technical progress has resulted in hybrid hydraulic and electric powered injection molding machines that now deliver 15-30 percent faster cycle times and in smart blown film software that has yielded the world’s largest and most advanced nine-layer co-extrusion. Embedded production and process monitoring system has been introduced in injection molding equipment to create a boundary-less plant. An improved technology for hot runner molding has also emerged, which displays breakthrough gating on angled surfaces.

Industrial design

      Cost-effective, innovative plastics designs are the result of painstaking planning. In order for the plastics industrial design to flow into the next generation, researchers usually follow a three-step process – scouting the next trend, blending ID with design engineering, and cultivating the celebrity designer crossover.

      The current trend in plastics design is to give products a smooth, edgy, metallic plastic or brushed aluminum look, where the color changes at different viewing angles. Soft-touch thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) material over molded onto rigid substrates is another trend that has finally taken off.

      The next design trend is likely to be a combination of hard and soft looks, such as brushed aluminum with wood. Meanwhile, resin suppliers continue to introduce decorating products, adding variety to the design palette.

      “For instance, custom molders are considering a material that can be applied through an electrostatic powder coat process,” says Rosato. “Using this process, metal products such as housewares, plumbing, and door handles can be plated with plastic rather than chrome.”

      With design and industrial engineers working in tandem during product development, aesthetics have received as much attention as function. Manufacturers rely on ID to add value to a product that has become a commodity. Customers also tend to take greater interest in designs when well-known architects and designers work on consumer products.

      These designers will also look to accomplish design and ID goals with a single material and try to avoid assembly and two-shot molding in order to reduce cost of design without having to concede on the elegance of the solution.

      Greater interaction between design engineering and ID is expected to help achieve better product differentiation and faster time-to-market. At the same time, there should also be some distinction of their ideas in order to avoid greater compromise.

      Concepts of concurrent or simultaneous engineering have subtly made their way into the design-engineering field. Design for excellence (DFx) methods such as manufacturability and assembly are rising to prominence as new variables including recycling and decorating are being incorporated in the overall design process.

      “Plastics fabricators are expected to earn huge revenue by seeking out and working with customers that design their products for the market first and the process second,” says Rosato. “These products may be more difficult to produce, but mastering the difficult projects separates the successful from the ‘me-too’ plastics manufacturers.”

      The marketing of successful plastics product design is possible only through a completely optimized convergence of the form and function of ID with plastics material and process selection, manufacturability, and recyclability.

Plastics materials

      Global competitiveness in plastics application development is set to center on a sustained commitment to relating the parts to the whole of plastics materials technology. To maintain competitiveness, plastics material suppliers are also expected to continually hone their technical expertise in an effort to provide unique, technologically advanced products to end users.

      “The foundation of global, cost performance effective, plastics application development is driven by early adoption of emerging, cutting-edge plastics materials technology trends in the volume oriented, intermediate cost/performance and higher-end specialty polymer industry segments,” says Rosato.

      An ability to offer unique, differentiated value-added plastics materials is being viewed as critical to market success. In particular, the productivity enhancement provided by plastics materials is likely to underpin their widespread acceptance by manufacturing customers. Accordingly, plastics material suppliers are likely to be compelled to sharpen focus on technical development and launch innovative materials in the market.

      “Customer- or application-specific grade development and customized offerings - whether in terms of grades, colors or special effects - are essential to maintaining growth,” adds Rosato. “Leveraging expertise in part renderings through to finished design, highly selective and technology driven reinvestment back into R&D and application development will be key requirements of plastics materials suppliers globally.”

      With cutting-edge technologies emerging across all segments of the plastics industry, a keen understanding of evolving trends in related segments is likely to be fundamental to any successful integrated plastics technology program.

      Already, the industry is witnessing several exciting new technological developments including the introduction of economical, metallocene-based polypropylenes with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) -like properties that are poised to make forays into hot-fill packaging.

      Weatherable, scratch/chemical resistance, durability over a 10-year period and a Class A decorative finish are underlining the appeal of a paintless polycarbonate copolymer film in the automotive industry and related plastics end-use markets. The film is expected to remove the need for paint ovens and reduce related capital equipment and part costs by half on average.

  High-tech ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber is significantly augmenting the toughness range in vulcanized thermoplastic olefins (TPOs). Ultra high performance, rigid rod, self reinforced polymers are eliminating the need for added fillers, while providing properties not achievable with traditional engineering plastics, positioning them as potential substitutes to metals and composites.

  New compounded, semi-crystalline polyesters are poised to open up a host of new opportunities for plastics materials to replace metals across numerous applications.

Self-reinforced plastics

  Despite being in the early stages of development, self-reinforced plastics are already making waves in the plastics industry. With an outstanding combination of physical properties, SRPs are on the right track to reach a wide range of applications, particularly in the automotive sector.

      SRPs combine the versatility and easy recyclability of a thermoplastic with the high performance of a fiber-reinforced composite. Their low weight, high stiffness and impact resistance are proving suitable for a wide range of semi-structural and structural automotive applications.

      SRPs are being actively sought after for making lighter and smaller cars that save on fuel.

      “In order to meet the new design requirements, automotive manufacturers are in search for low density plastics with good mechanical properties,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Brian Balmer. “They are now evaluating SRP products, particularly, polypropylene for non-structural components in upcoming models.”

      The automotive industry is a huge and growing market for plastic and composite materials, and gives SRP suppliers the best opportunity to gain critical volumes of business at an early stage.

      However, gaining a stronghold in the automotive market will not be easy, especially in high volume automotive markets, where standards are stringent and price pressure high.

      The automotive market also exposes SRP products to intense competition, particularly from glass mat thermoplastics (GMT) and long glass-fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFT) across a range of thermoformed automotive applications.

      While SRPs are a clear favorite over GMT and LFT in terms of mechanical properties, high prices of SRPs are a significant deterrent to immediate uptake. SRP suppliers need to reduce their cost structure to levels that permit more competitive pricing.

      SRP manufacturers need to make a strong impact as early as possible in key segments of the automotive market where the potential volume of business is likely to be highest.

      For optimum revenue generation, SRP suppliers should target semi-structural and structural parts in low to medium volume cars. These include crossbeams where the SRP products adequately meet head impact requirements or A-pillars that perform well with an SRP shell.

      Roof liners made from SRP products with a fabric covering and a number of under-body parts are other potentially lucrative application areas.

      For manufacturers that consider automotive applications a far too costly and a demanding sector to penetrate, it may be advisable to identify more profitable niche markets where SRP product benefits hold more value, and therefore automatically command a premium price.

      “Understanding that there is a market for SRP products beyond automotive applications is vital,” says Balmer. “In the future, SRP manufacturers can look towards orthopedic braces and ballistics protection equipment that offer tremendous scope for growth.”

      There is also significant potential to apply self-reinforced plastics to other areas such as sports and personal protective equipment, machine casings and housings, transport containers and industrial cladding, especially where a combination of weight saving and toughness is an important requirement.