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This site is published by Plastics News, Crain Communications' international newspaper for the plastics industry.
  
Opinion
Opinion: China-US pay gap no longer a chasm

Loepp
In the past few months, the media has had a spotlight on Apple Inc. and its supplier Foxconn International. Now, it seems, the companies have seen the light.

Opinion: Apple gets caught outsourcing ethics

Loepp
In the past few months, the curtain has been pulled back at Apple Inc. and the public is getting a close look at how the company operates. But the spotlight hasn’t just been on the legacy of Steve Jobs or on cool products like the iPad and iPhone. The media also has been starting to pay a lot more attention to working conditions at Apple’s suppliers, including injection molder Foxconn International.

Opinion: Are we any safer with alternative plastics?

Loepp
Here’s a twist on a frequently cited industry argument on chemical safety: Are alternative materials safer than products that legislators want to ban? Elizabeth Grossman brings up the point on The Atlantic’s website last week, in “Beyond BPA: Could ‘BPA-Free’ Products Be Just as Unsafe?”

Opinion: Globe’s big enough for both China and India


Toloken
There’s a lot of talk between the Indian and Chinese plastics industries about mutual cooperation, about how the two largest emerging economies in the world can work together. But there’s also tension, and one place that’s shown up is in the machinery sector.

Opinion: Haitian overtakes global giants

Toloken
GUANGZHOU, CHINA (October 5, 2010) -- Here’s a reality check on how business is realigning globally: The largest injection press maker in the world may no longer be European or Japanese or North American, but Chinese.

Reader's letter: China plays a role in the future of U.S. industry
Dillon Donnelly, a Plastics News reader from Alexandria, Minn., calls for attention to how the Chinese will affect the future of the North American plastics industry. "This is by no means a stirring revelation to the manufacturing community, yet the significance is largely overlooked and ignored," he wrote in a letter to the editor.

Opinion: The real M&A work begins at deal’s end

Sun
At a time when caravans of affluent Chinese buy homes in the U.S. with cash, the nation’s corporate overseas buying spree continues with a new level of global mergers and acquisitions knowledge and sophistication. Plastics News assistant managing editor Nina Ying Sun analyzes the ongoing deal between Zhongding Sealing Parts Co. Ltd. and Myers Industries Inc.

Opinion: Ambassador Huntsman to rediscover China


Toloken
A face familiar to the plastics industry has become the face of the U.S. government in China. Jon Huntsman Jr., a member of the family that owns part of The Woodlands, Texas-based chemical and plastics supplier Huntsman Corp., arrives in Beijing this month as the new U.S. ambassador. Plastics News staff reporter and Asia bureau chief Steve Toloken wonders what the ambassador sees today as the next phase in the U.S.-China manufacturing relationship.

Opinion: Taking the temperature of the flu scare

Grace
On a trip to Guangzhou to attend this year’s Chinaplas show, Plastics News editor Robert Grace gets a first-hand view of how seriously Chinese officials are taking the H1N1 flu virus -- and how perceptions could impact business. Upon landing in Shanghai, Grace’s flight was boarded by health-care workers who took the temperatures of passengers, checking for anyone who might have a high fever. Similar steps were taken upon entering the Chinaplas show floor. But the show seemed to go on as usual, with its organizer Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. reporting more than 49,000 unique visitors in the first two days.

Opinion: Observations on revisiting China
Peter Mooney, an economist and president of Plastics Custom Research Services, a consulting firm in Advance, North Carolina, recently made his second trip to China. Here Mooney shares his thoughts on China's economic history and its efforts to deal with the global economic recession

Opinion: AIG mess embodies power of emotions

Grace
Plastics News editor and associate publisher Robert Grace discusses how the plastics industry might learn from the public outcry after large sums of bailout money from U.S. taxpayers was given to AIG executives as bonuses. A handful of grass-roots activists can oftentimes wield a mightier sword than big-dollar businesses when it comes to shaping public opinion, as the plastics industry well knows. Grace sites a recent column to a Harvard Business Publishing blog from Rita McGrath, a professor at Columbia Business School, titled “AIG: Why the Facts Don’t Matter.” In it, she builds a case for the power of symbolism and emotion.

Defining ‘globalization’: facts, fears, history
Plastics News Asia Bureau chief Steve Toloken hands readers a virtual inkblot test and asks them to define globalization as it relates to the plastics industry. Depending on who you are and where you’re standing, globalization can mean hollowed-out industrial economies competing against low-wage workers in developing countries, or it can mean new opportunities. But before you take the test, read Toloken’s perspective piece as he takes you on a historical tour as part of Plastics News’ 20th anniversary celebration.

Opinion: Executives can learn from Dow chief’s mistake

Loepp
Plastics News’ managing editor Don Loepp says a U.S. television host’s attack of Dow Chemical Co.’s top executive is a bit unfair. The executive made a pretty big blunder, but others might be able to learn from his mistake. And the Dow executive isn’t denying the mistake. He’s making an effort to explain why the change in course is necessary. To see the details and what Loepp has to say, see the full story.

Opinion: Outer space and a look beyond plant closures

Toloken
Plastics News’ Guangzhou-based Asia bureau chief Steve Toloken ponders the implications of three “taikonauts” performing China’s first space walk, making it the third country in the world to do so. While not groundbreaking, Toloken muses, the endeavor is, however, a symbol of China’s technological future.

Design Guide: What can soft or rigid polyurethane do?

Lefteri
In this installment of his Design Guide series, designer and materials specialist Chris Lefteri explores the highly versatile material polyurethane. Polyurethane is a real workhorse in the world of commodity polymers and you probably think that you know everything worth knowing about it, right? Well, it might be time to look again.

Design Guide: Product perception starts on the surface

Lefteri
As part of his Design Guide series, designer and materials specialist Chris Lefteri discusses the importance of a product’s surface. The surface, Lefteri says, is the first point of reference in the all-important image of a product, and it is the primary method of communication. The type of surface chosen by designers provides an opportunity to create a personality, experiences and scenarios.

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