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At PolyOne Corp., a 1˝-day "design storm" with students from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., focused on developing concepts for the home health-care market. Rapid Prototype + Manufacturing LLC, a unit of Avon Lake-based injection molder Thogus Products Co., took part as well, to provide insight about the manufacturability of c...

Plastics companies have been investing in outreach programs and collaborating with industrial designers for years, but each new project continues to pay off with insights for resin makers not just in terms of how designers think but in new information about their own products. "We went in thinking we would teach them all about our material, but th...

Losing auto weight could land suppliers and automakers a new industry prize. Altair Engineering Inc. is teaming up with the Center for Automotive Research to create the new Altair Enlighten Award. Troy, Mich.-based Altair and CAR, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., announced the new award during CAR’s Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City Aug. 6,...

In the struggle to reshape itself, the North American auto industry cut its workforce by 51 percent between 2000 and 2012. And now as it rebuilds its production, industry forecasters expect that the auto base will need to add 140,000 positions during the next four years 80 percent of those jobs in the supply base, said Kristin Dzi­czek, director o...

Southeast Asia is seeing more calls to ban plastic bags, and Lilia Casanova has a front-row seat to the debate in the Philippines. Casanova, a board member of the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines, said she does not agree with the local governments in her country that have banned or restricted bags. But she said she understands ...

Habibur Rahman Ibrahim has what could be described as a passion for plastic composites. The Malaysian businessman, who is executive director of glass-fiber plastic composite fabricator DK Composites Sdn. Bhd., believes the rising demand for better infrastructure in Asia, coupled with the need for lighter vehicles and lower carbon footprints, will m...

Ed Domanski, the US. director of Orthopaedics at Materialise NV, discusses how shortages of nylon 12 are impacting his company’s ability to meet demand for biomedical products. Domanski indicates that being more effective in material usage is key in surviving the shortage. Computer software helps the firm get the best use of its decreases supply of...

Protecting patents and intellectual properties is A major challenge facing manufacturers in China. As such, U.S. processor Lifetime Products Inc. has been particularly active in filing Chinese patent lawsuits to protect its blow molded tables. Lifetime lawyer Tim Schade took time at China's Canton Fair to discuss ongoing battles with IP and patent ...