Plastics News by the year: 1991

As Plastics News marks its 25th year of publication, we take a year-by-year look back at some of the events, people and curious coincidences that have shown up its its pages. Check back through the end of the year (not including holidays) to follow along. This year: 1991.

January

Plastics firms brace for an expected recession, although economists say manufacturers should not suffer as much as other businesses. “I don't see a steep decline, as we had in the mid 1970s and early 1980s — that's the optimistic side,” says economist Frederick T. Dixon. However, the pessimistic side is that the recession, “could be around for a long time, with no meaningful recovery in 1991. I can't pinpoint when a pickup will come. We could have an anemic economic through 1992.”

Operation Desert Shield is leading to more business for providers of military equipment including combat gear, composite helmets, PVC netting in desert colors and protective suits. In addition, U.S. armed forces are sending about $8 million worth of medical goods each day into the Persian Gulf, four times the amount spent in peacetime.

John Boehner steps down as president of plastics and packaging sales firm Nucite Sales LP as he takes his new job as a newly-elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 8th District. “In the plastics business, there were factors other than dollars and cents that were sales tools we could use. Especially in injection molding and thermoforming, things like design, mold building, technical expertise, engineering, secondary capabilities were things that you could go in and sell,” he says during an interview at his new Washington D.C. office. There's a photo of him in the Jan. 28 issue. Looking overly tanned

February

Baltimore's new Camden Yards baseball park will be equipped with blow molded plastic seats designed to mimic the look of an older park's seating. American Seating will begin molding the 47,000 seats in April.

The auto industry is betting on plastic fuel tanks as Ford Motor Co. adds three machines at its in-house production facility in Milan, Mich., and Solvay Automotive adds two lines in Blenheim, Ontario. Supporters worry, though, if the plastic tank can keep up with increased emission regulations.

The U.S.' “chasing arrows” recycling symbols is running into problems in Europe, where the symbol is a trademark for a company in the Benelux countries.

March

The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s survey of injection molding machine sales in the U.S. in 1990 shows sales were down across the board, dipping slightly for some mid-size machines, with presses from 400 to 499 tons in clamping force falling only 1 percent, while sales of those with 200 to 299 ton of force dropping by 37 percent.

Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. has begun manufacturing large-tonnage injection molding machines in Canada and plans to expand their production to the U.S. Husky says it will make presses with clamping forces of as much as 3,000 tons.

April

Auto suppliers sound off on demands from carmakers to ram through price cuts. Things have been difficult since Ford's vice president of purchasing questioned suppliers ability to benchmark productivity and cost.

Royal Plastics Group of Toronto tops the first ranking of North American extruders with sales of $360 million. For 2013, the company was ranked as the third largest supplier with $849.9 million in sales. JM Eagle topped the most recent ranking with $2.3 billion in sales.

May

Four cars at the 1991 Indy 500 race will have structural components made from plastic composites, using graphite-reinforced epoxy resin. In previous years, Indy cars' governing body required aluminum to “ensure the safety and integrity” of the cars.

June

A 770-ton Excel injection molding press on its way to Chicago for display at NPE falls from its truck at the Port of Los Angeles, landing directly on the machine control unit. “It was a total loss,” the equipment maker said, especially because the press had already been sold.

A DuPont survey of processors predicts a gloomy future for plastics. The company polled 462 people about the future, and 35 percent predicted the U.S. economy to remain in recession for six months. Another 33 percent predicted at least a year and 15 percent expected it to last for more than a year. Only 17 percent of people had an optimistic outlook of a three-month recession.

July

Krauss-Maffei AG announces it is taking over competitor Netstal. The companies had planned to make the announcement at NPE 1991, but couldn't complete the deal in time.

How's this for surreal? Salvador Dali has a plastics connection. A. Reynolds Morse, who founded Injection Molding Service Co. in 1949 and helped establish Van Dorn Plastic Machinery Co. in 1945 was a long-time fan of the Spanish painter and he and his wife, Eleanor, became friends with Dali. (Maybe those melting clocks were a reflection on warpage issues?) The Morses donated their Dali paintings to the city of St. Petersburg, Fla., for a museum. The museum, now in its second home, has more than 350,000 visitors each year.

August

Chrysler Corp.'s upcoming Viper sports car will be a test vehicle for lightweight vehicle production. “Viper is a means to our development of new technology,” says Roy Sjorberg, executive engineer for the project. “There are 18 areas in which we are using the project, such as developing materials, processes and product design [to help Chrysler pursue] an evolution in technology.” In addition to RTM and SMC, the Viper will be one of the first vehicles to put carbon fiber on the road.

Cyclist Greg LeMond may not have won the 1991 Tour de France — he finished fourth after falling behind in the Pyrenees — he does have the lightest bike. His primary bicycle in the race has a carbon fiber composite frame made by Carbonframes Inc. of San Francisco.

September

Want to make buying resins easier? Three different firms have opened, each offering on-line resin buying. The Electric Plastics Warehouse, Network Resins Inc. and The Resin Wire all offer buyers the chance to electronically search for resins available for sale — at least those offered through their sites. The electronics e-commerce boom will begin deflating in the early 2000s.

Little Tikes founder Thomas Murdough is hoping to create toy magic a second time as he launches toy company Step 2 two years after selling Little Tikes to Rubbermaid (and after his non-compete agreement expires). “So many people speculated that I would try to somehow ‘get back at' Rubbermaid,” he says. “That's not what happened at all.” Murdough says he wanted to provide “new and better” products at Step 2.

October

Owens-Corning Fiberglas Inc. warns that composites sales are way down for the year. It has seen its shipments drop 12.7 percent compared to 1990.

The Soviet Union is failing to keep up with consumer demand for polymer production, experts say. Polymer production actually fell by up to 8 percent between 1988 and 1990. “The picture of the state of the USSR national economy, and the chemical industry in particular, is not very optimistic, but it is not hopeless,” one economist says.

November

Pen maker Bic Corp. places one of the biggest single injection molding machine orders of the year when it buys 48 presses. The presses will go to into a Connecticut plant as the company adopts a new manufacturing method for production cells that include robotics and automation.

December

Many molders who were burned (metaphorically) by hot runners when they were first introduced in the 1970s are warming up to them now that the technology has improved. “The suppliers addressed a lot of the problems quite well,” says one molder.

Think wind power is new? Improvements in blade technology are leading to increased interest a decade after wind power had its first peak in the 1980s. Blades now are up to 30 feet long, made of fiberglass using a hand layup technique. (The carbon fiber blades of the 2010s wind power generation are up to 300 feet long.)