The competition for qualified workers is getting tougher. How can a manufacturer tackle the challenges?

For a long time, when people in the plastics industry talked about plastic grocery bags being recyclable it was a mostly theoretical exercise. Now some plastics processors are pulling out all the stops to recycle plastic bags. We'll see if it's too...

Ohio is staging a mini-renaissance in plastics machinery. For industry veterans, it's great to see the state's machinery fortunes turn around.

We all know it’s easier to retain a customer than to find a new one. However, many manufacturers continue to pour millions of dollars into new business development while neglecting simple customer-retention strategies.

During the past 15 years, plastic has evolved into the preferred product choice for many packaging applications. During the same time it has also attracted increased scrutiny from consumers and marketers interested in environmentally responsible approaches to plastic packaging applications.

There has been a great deal of discussion over the past few years around the labor market, the unemployment rate, and so on. Most of it is at best uninformative, and at worst, just plain wrong. We are often left with a lot of data and very little information. In the next few paragraphs I will explain where all this data comes from, what it means,...

We read with interest Ron Gonen's comments on polystyrene foam and recycling in New York City [April 8 Perspective, Page 7]. First, we congratulate the city on its ambitious and appropriate recycling goals, and we look forward to working together to make those goals a reality.

Judging by the response we received from our members, your article “Study ties cancer to plastics employment” (Nov. 26, Page 1) drew quite a bit of interest from plastics industry employees and employers alike, and we can certainly understand why. The headline and lede incorrectly suggest a direct causal relationship between workers...

Regarding the Nov. 19 “The Plastics Blog” item by Don Loepp, “Plastics Hall of Famer stands up for polystyrene,”] Professor Richard S. Stein is absolutely right to mention that polystyrene disposables or cups are made from polystyrene and not styrene.