Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • NPE exhibitors question handling of deposits for canceled trade show
      Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Recognizing Plastek Industries for all-around excellence
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
    • Kickstart: Plastics ready to take flight on Mars
      Kickstart: Let's hear it for leftovers
      Kickstart: Big data, big bowls and consumer packaging
      Kickstart: A vexing vaccination question
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • PE resin trends highlighted in Shell report
      Dow's Lowry honored by World Economic Forum for sustainability work
      Africa impacts new colors from Ampacet
      Plaskolite marches into madness with its own online bracket
    • Climate debate in Washington increasingly includes plastic
      There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
    • Want prices? Introducing historical resin pricing, now available in a downloadable form
      A new annual ranking: Top processor gains
      Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
      Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
    • Working from home: Rugrats edition
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
    • PEX pipe maker Uponor donates $30,000 for Texas storm relief
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
      PPI puts $200 bounty on exhumed HDPE conduit
      Raise the roof: Housing starts hit a 12-year high
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Perspective: The Materials Wars: Is plastic actually better?
      Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
    • Mailbag: Additional fees for electric vehicles ‘unfortunate'
      Mailbag: Where's the plastics industry's response to critics?
      Mailbag: Manufacturers struggling to follow COVID-19 safety rules
      Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Video: Structural foam molding
      Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      College training, programs
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - April 2021
      Polymer Points Live - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Sponsored By Bandera
      Bandera US was born for the North American market
      Sponsored By Ensign Equipment
      Filling systems customized for any process or budget need
      KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei retools in US with investment from parent ownership
      Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
    • KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei Retools in US with investment from Parent Ownership
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Shell Polymer
      Sponsored By Shell Polymers
      Food and beverage trends impacting the polymer industry
      Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
June 21, 2004 02:00 AM

Prognosticators see globalization trends

Roger Renstrom
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    What speculations about the plastics industry's next decade will come true, and what unanticipated changes are possible? Five years ago, for Plastics News' 10th anniversary, we asked a group of industry prognosticators including Jerry Edquist, Jim Meinert and Glenn Starkey for their views on what major trends were likely to affect the plastics industry in the next decade.

    This year, for our 15th anniversary, we're going back to those three, plus eight other forward-looking officials - Robert Eller, Huston Keith, Bill McConnell, Peter Mooney, Scott Paulson, Brian Read, Kurt Swogger and Bill Wood. Here are some of their predictions:

    Growth in product design will enhance the competitiveness of North America's plastic product makers.

    Product design ``becomes more important every year,'' especially when the designer works through all of the manufacturing issues in advance of production, said Bill McConnell, president of McConnell Co., a Fort Worth, Texas, consulting firm that specializes in thermoforming.

    ``Product design and development will be paramount,'' said Scott Paulson, president of Paulson Training Programs Inc. in Chester, Conn. North American market value going forward is not in reduced labor or utility costs, he said. ``That economic cycle will take a generation to come around again. Instead, the value that the North American market can bring is in engineering expertise, product design and manufacturing turnkey solutions.''

    Jim Meinert, president of tooling consulting firm Meinert Market Services LLC in Saukville, Wis., sees closer cooperation between domestic product designers, toolmakers and processors as the key to innovation and time-to-market improvements. ``In the global arena, we need to add more value like Germany does,'' Meinert said.

    Amidst globalization, U.S. companies will export to China.

    China and other developing countries will ``make a colossal transition from producing a lot of stuff to consuming a lot of stuff,'' said Jerry Edquist, president of Carlson Tool & Manufacturing Corp. in Cedarburg, Wis. ``No one country in the world can make everything. There is a lot of pain along the way.''

    ``Within 5-10 years, if aggressive enough, we will be a net exporter'' and run a trade surplus with China, said Peter Mooney, president of Plastics Custom Research Services in Advance, N.C. ``The demand for products in China will overwhelm'' that country's production capacity.

    ``To a large extent, we have enough [capacity] to supply ourselves and our neighbors, and we don't need to sell to Asia,'' Mooney said. ``That attitude must change. In addition to selling domestically, we must be more aggressive in selling globally.'' Europeans are global salesmen and, in the future, ``we have to become global salesmen.''

    In dealing with ``the China manufacturing machine,'' the U.S. plastics industry needs promptly to integrate ``the entire chain from feedstocks to finished products,'' said Kurt Swogger, vice president of research and development with Dow Chemical Co.'s plastics business in Freeport, Texas. The U.S. needs to achieve lower capital and conversion costs and innovation in intellectual-property-protected materials and fabricated parts.

    ``Leading U.S. companies will further enter into global markets,'' said Glenn Starkey, president of Progressive Components Inc. in Wauconda, Ill. ``There is a vulnerability to having all of one's products coming in a container from one country or one region.''

    The ``current velocity of manufacturing shifts'' is likely to result in corrective ``global tariff ramifications,'' Starkey said. ``U.S. companies who are inherently innovative and genuinely global will be able to benefit in what will be a more balanced worldwide manufacturing network.''

    Environmental concerns will persist.

    Processors and municipalities will make an effort to keep plastics out of landfills, and the emphasis will fall on polymers not derived from hydrocarbons, said Brian Read, president of structural foam molder Horizon Plastics Co. Ltd. in Cobourg, Ontario.

    Cradle-to-grave designs will become a priority, durable materials and processes with longer lives will replace cheaper throwaway plastic parts and processes such as structural foam will find favor because of their ability to incorporate high percentages of recycled plastics. ``The environmentally responsible companies will survive through all these changes,'' Read said.

    For the automotive industry, ``if Europeans are serious about end-of-life legislation, it will encourage monomaterials,'' said industry analyst Robert Eller, president of Robert Eller Associates Inc., from his office in Akron, Ohio. ``Our parts will go that direction [and] probably be better technology.''

    Paulson envisions a possible groundswell against some uses of plastics. ``One can't underestimate the power of public outcry,'' Paulson said. ``The industry must do a better job of educating the public to plastics' benefits. With all due respect to the industry, there are some applications that are unnecessarily wasteful and environmentally suspect.''

    McConnell thinks the plastics industry is reaching accommodations with environmental interests. ``I don't see more changes making it any worse,'' he said. ``Our technology works around it and works to live with it.''

    Process integration and collaboration will accelerate and lead to increased efficiency.

    ``Today's level of integration is the tip of the iceberg,'' Paulson said. ``Industry and segment leaders will have a full suite of tightly woven services. Expertise in design, material, manufacturing and final assembly will be the mantra of the leading global suppliers,'' and ``collaborative projects will be the norm'' with the previous specialties of part design, mold making and molding becoming one continuous, engineered process.

    Eller agreed. Domestic processors need to consolidate secondary processes and intermediate steps to lower the price of a fully assembled part, he said. ``There will be drastic changes in the supply chain, [and] simple little parts will be molded somewhere else because we cannot compete.'' Advances in in-mold assembly and decoration and multishot molding will extend these technologies to large area parts.

    McConnell foresees more pressure for consistency in raw materials, machinery and processes. Processors must align with suppliers to resolve impediments to consistency, he said. Increasingly, firms will need employees with technical skills and training to get consistent processes and keep them repeatable.

    McConnell underscores the need to upgrade technology. ``Every five years, 50 percent of the technology a company is using is obsolete,'' he said. If not investing and staying current, ``large organizations may get stagnated.''

    A technology convergence within the automotive industry will harmonize materials and performance requirements through fewer global suppliers. Over time, Eller sees the U.S. auto industry overcoming its typical three-year lag on innovations coming from Europe and Japan.

    In a move toward backward integration, processors will do direct inline compounding in their plants. ``Buy the basic materials, put them into the compounding system and send them directly to the molding machine,'' Eller said. ``Take compounding out.''

    Creative toolmakers will compete successfully.

    Domestic mold makers will compete on automation, innovation and value-added capabilities to ``solve customers' real problems'' and anticipate future needs, said Carlson Tool's Edquist. The industry's reliance on craftsmanship has ``less value now.''

    There are ``100 ways to do it,'' said Edquist, who believes ``very bright ingenious people'' will find those ways to compete.

    Meinert anticipates advanced production of domestic molds quicker than an Asian supplier can ship a mold to the U.S. by ship. Accurate and fast machines can finish a tool rather than requiring labor for hand polishing. ``I see the additive processes and aluminum being used more for quick-to-market opportunities,'' Meinert said.

    In a related development, further integration of processing technologies will make it ``more commonplace to find products injection molded, blow molded, stamped and cast under a single roof,'' Progressive Components' Starkey said. More so than today, ``toolmakers of the future will be well-versed in these various segments and be able to integrate in complete product design capabilities with full tooling supply and support. Although this is being provided to some degree now, it will be the norm for proper product development.''

    Foam technology and flexible packaging show promise.

    Eller anticipates ``a tremendous spurt in foam technology'' with end users paying less of a penalty for foaming agents. ``In 10 years, we will look at the current foam technologies as primitive.'' More microcellular foam breakthroughs and process controls open a range of new applications, and Trexel Inc.'s ``MuCell [microcellular process] is an example.''

    In another niche, ``flexible plastic films will continue to take a growing share of the packaging market from rigid containers of all types - including plastic bottles - as well as from other flexible materials such as foils and paper,'' said Keith, principal with Keymark Associates in Marietta, Ga.

    Winners will include materials ``able to economically eliminate secondary processes like laminating and coating or provide properties like dead fold and barrier, which are inherent to paper and foil, respectively.''

    Globalization is rampant, and plastics processors need to prepare to link up with the large and expanding converter networks worldwide, Keith said.

    Omniscience of the Petroleum Age will fade.

    A research economist deems it high time for the U.S. to phase out of the petroleum age, take domestic control of energy needs and get smarter about foreign involvement. Global and domestic economic obstacles exist, but ``in every case, we need to manufacture ourselves out of these problems,'' said Bill Wood, founder and principal of Mountaintop Economics and Research Inc. in Greenfield, Mass.

    ``The plastics role is critical,'' Wood said.

    The energy-conservation move toward lightweight recyclable plastics-intensive Smart cars in Europe is a trend the U.S. should emulate, Wood said. To control power consumption on peak-demand summer days, Wood suggests that everyone install rooftop photovoltaic sensors ``to generate megawatts on those very days when we are about to spike the energy curve.''

    Paring down oil consumption would leave plenty of feedstock materials for plastics processing for the foreseeable future and better recycling would push the time out further, Wood said. ``We should never get to the point where petroleum becomes precious. In fact, we are paying far too much for it right now in hidden costs such as environmental degradation, geopolitical instability and the erosion of national sovereignty. I envision the day when the Middle East is paying us to get rid of the stuff for them.''

    E-commerce and global requirements will drive change.

    Typically a price suppressor, ``e-commerce will march on,'' but it is going to hurt little guys in general,'' Eller said. ``The big guys will scoop up the resins.''

    While e-commerce is established in the resin segment, it is just starting in bidding for part production, Eller said. ``The whole process gets depersonalized.''

    In old or stable markets, ``the manufacturing bleed-off will continue when measured in number of people employed in the industry,'' Paulson said. ``However, if the health of the industry is measured in productivity terms, the industry will be very competitive on a global scale.''

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Processor of the Year submissions