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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.

Growth was the order of the day at the recent IHS World Petrochemical Conference in Houston. The mood was much better than it was at similar events five years ago, most of which could have been titled "How To Prepare for the Coming Apocalypse."

After talking to an executive from Austrian press maker Engel Holding GmbH at the Koplas show in Seoul last month, it's easy to see the attraction that South Korea holds for some plastics businesses.

Most non-plastics folks don't know about the difference between PET, oriented polystyrene and PVC. And that can be a problem when someone wants to do the right thing and recycle their plastic products.

Recyclers can be playing a bigger role in letting a skeptical public know about plastics' environmental advantages. That's part of the message delivered March 19 to a major meeting of plastics recyclers in New Orleans.

"People are our most important resource." How many times have you heard that? Sometimes, it's pure boilerplate, business-speak without much sincerity. But not when it comes to companies that get to the finalist stage, and the winners, of the...

Hoffer Plastics Corp., the newest Plastics News Processor of the Year, represents the best of the plastics industry — a well-rounded approach to business and community involvement from a family-owned business now in its third generation of...

Last month I posted a story on our website from our sister publication Plastics & Rubber Weekly about a pair of scientists who want governments around the world to classify certain plastic waste as “hazardous.” I thought that would be...

The saga of Milacron LLC is full of ups and downs, from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, through two private equity owners and finally, buying hot-runner major Mold-Masters Ltd. for $968 million in a blockbuster deal announced Feb. 12.

The U.S. auto industry is back on track. There is momentum, and it's all in the right direction. But as the many speakers at the Automotive News World Congress cautioned last month, automakers, suppliers and dealers need to remember a few key...

The plastics world changed Monday Feb. 4, when the news came out that Jabil Circuit Inc. will buy Nypro Inc.

The world economy, it seems, has experienced the worst, but is fragile and gingerly making a comeback. Christine LaGarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, is encouraging the "do not relax" principle.

Jerry Heckman, who died Jan. 21 at age 85, had been a key leader in the plastics industry for nearly 60 years. Since he was so well-known in some corners of the industry — especially with some of our “senior” readers, and those...

By now you've seen, and we hope, noticed, that there's a new look to Plastics News both in print and online.

Executives at PolyOne Corp. and several other publicly held plastics materials firms may have delayed buying calendars for 2013. That’s because their per-share stock prices did so well in 2012 that they probably didn’t want the year to...

With the start of a new year, Plastics News restates its editorial agenda. The plastics industry continues to make important progress in many of these areas, which is particularly noteworthy considering the difficult economy we all faced during the Great Recession, and we applaud all of the effort that has made that possible.

Just think, 12 months ago Plastics News readers had not heard of “Gangnam Style,” Honey Boo Boo or seen anyone lip-synch to “Call Me Maybe.” We hadn’t seen an iPhone 5 or any private photos of Kate Middleton. And Fifty...

Plant-based plastics account for less than 1 percent of total global resin demand — but that could change quickly.