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
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Getting back on the road
      How long will it take for EVs to replace internal combustion engines?
      Watching, and hoping, for progress in 2021
      COVID-19 stories dominate 2020 headlines
    • Kickstart: Attention, Walmart molders
      Kickstart: No one said returning to school would be easy
      Kickstart: Best foot forward
      Kickstart: Heading back to the office ... sometime
    • 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
    • Plaskolite wins 3M supplier award
      Green feet: Braskem partners with Dansko on bio-based clogs
      Curbell donates plastic sheet for prosthetics project in Ecuador
      Covestro volunteers build ramp for Ohio veteran
    • 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
    • Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
      Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
      Changing names for compounders embracing corporate branding
      Diversity the key to outperforming the market
    • Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
      The benefits of getting social
      Rising Stars shine bright future on industry
      Getting back on the road
    • Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
      Perspective: ‘Fake news' of a different sort?
      Perspective: Making products in the USA is good for the planet
    • 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 - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
      Polymer Points Live - October 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 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
      Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Sponsored Content By Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Canon Virginia Inc. brings collaboration to the table
    • 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
December 31, 2014 01:00 AM

Plastics News by the year: 2013, 2014

Rhoda Miel
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    General Motors Co.
    General Motors makes news for carbon fiber when it announces the 2014 Corvette will have standard CF hoods and roofs.

    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. We wrap things up today with a look back at 2013 and 2014.

    JANUARY

    Personal care products company Unilever NV vows to phase out plastic microbeads from its products following a call from environmental groups to eliminate the “scrub” material.

    General Motors Inc.'s new Chevrolet Corvette comes decked out with a carbon fiber composite hood and roof.

    PN gets a new look with an updated logo and revamped website.

    FEBRUARY

    A two-armed robot named Baxter is installed at custom injection molder Rodon Group LLC. Baxter sports animated eyes and sensors to interact with workers.

    MARCH

    Lawmakers in California, Rhode Island and Hawaii introduce legislation that, if passed, would make them the first states to ban plastic bags statewide.

    The iconic red cup gets a makeover in Red Cup Living LLC's line of sturdy, reusable ABS drinkware.

    APRIL

    For the first time in history, China's exports of injection presses made in China exceeded imports, with the country sending nearly $1 billion worth of molding machines abroad.

    The American Chemistry Council sues to prevent California from including bisphenol A on its list of reproductive and developmental toxicants.

    MAY

    Attention is drawn to 3-D printing after a Texas law student prints a plastic gun.

    China cracks down on contaminated scrap imports with heightened inspection procedures, causing confusion and delays for plastic exporters.

    JUNE

    MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

    US businessman Chip Starnes stands behind the bars of his office window after being held hostage for five days over a wage dispute at his Specialty Medical Supplies factory in Huairou, Beijing on June 25, 2013. Starnes, who had come from the US-based company to lay off 30 employees, said the remaining 100 then barred him from leaving until they reached a resolution.

    The iconic chasing-arrows symbol in the Resin Identification Code is replaced by a solid equilateral triangle, in an effort to alleviate confusion over the symbol's meaning.

    After being held hostage for six days in his Beijing injection molding factory, U.S. business executive Chip Starnes was released when his company Specialty Medical Supplies paid $500,000 to settle a dispute about severance pay prompted by plans to move the plastic molding division to Mumbai, India. Starnes said he had to buy his freedom: “It was a complete shakedown.”

    JULY

    PolyOne Corp. said it would close six of the plants it had recently acquired as part of its $393 million purchase of Spartech Corp. The closings, which were expected to be completed by the end of 2014, were projected to result in 250 jobs lost and $25 million a year in savings.

    AUGUST

    Talk about a product launch. NASA announced plans to send the world's first zero-gravity capable first 3-D printer into space so astronauts could make tools and other objects from ABS and advanced thermoplastics. That's one big leap for extrusion additive manufacturing.

    Google Inc. tests software it developed to control a fleet of polyethylene film balloons made by Raven Industries Inc. as a way to supply Internet service to remote areas of New Zealand. In the first trial, 30 balloons helped provide Internet access to an area covering roughly 3,800 square miles.

    SEPTEMBER

    McDonald's Corp. announced it was switching from polystyrene foam cups to paper for hot beverages at its more than 14,000 U.S. restaurants as well as its major markets outside the country.

    Industrial conglomerate Koch Industries Inc. acquired Molex Inc. and its 41 manufacturing sites, where many plastic-based connectors, sockets and cable assemblies are made, for $7.2 billion, striking the biggest deal of 2013.

    NOVEMBER

    A federal jury found J-M Manufacturing Co. – now known as JM Eagle -- violated the False Claims Act by falsely representing that the plastic pipes it sold to government entities from 1996-2006 met industry standards. Calling the verdict a miscarriage of justice, the world's largest PVC pipe maker has asked for a new trial, raising issues of jury instruction and what it says were distortions of industry standards.

    Berry Plastics Group said it would close five plants and eliminate 200 jobs to cut operating costs by about $27 million but it would invest $100 million in its Madisonville, Ky., facility to produce its new Versalite line of beverage cups, which are made of polypropylene.

    DECEMBER

    Steve Toloken
    A crowd of Feng Ping employees and vendors in the factory courtyard, discussing the situation with a reporter.

    The mold-making business of two brothers from Chicago, Feng Ping Tooling & Plastics Mfg. Co. Ltd. in Dongguan, China, closed abruptly and filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 16 amidst allegations of employees embezzling $4.5 million. More than 200 workers then refused to leave their factory dormitories in a dispute over back wages. A week later dozens were arrested for blocking a Wal-Mart store to call attention to their demands for severance pay.

    2014

    JANUARY

    Will orange be the new black? Ford Motor Co. unveiled the 2015 model of its iconic F-150 pickup truck featuring not only extensive use of aluminum throughout the body to make it 700 pounds lighter but a distinctive new design feature: orange light pipe made of polycarbonate around the headlights and taillights.

    FEBRUARY

    Car maker Aston Martin recalled 17,590 vehicles after a Chinese pedal supplier used counterfeit material instead of the specified DuPont Co.'s nylon 6.

    A new fleet of bobsleds designed by BMW AG and made of carbon fiber carried Team USA to its first Olympic medal in the two-man race since 1952 during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

    APRIL

    PolyOne stopped production of Royalex sheet — a custom thermoformed plastic used to make about 50 models of canoe hulls — sending the paddle sport community on a nostalgic buying spree. Royalex was an unprofitable product for the company and no other growth opportunities could be identified for the ABS material popular because of its shock absorption, abrasion resistance and buoyancy.

    MAY

    Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics and China-based Haitian International Holdings suspended their operations in Vietnam because of widespread anti-Chinese rioting that included mob attacks on Formosa factories. Rioters targeted foreign companies during a political dispute between Vietnam and China over maritime boundaries.

    The New York State Assembly voted 108-0 to ban microbeads used in personal care products like soaps and facial scrubs because the tiny polyethylene balls were slipping through screens at water treatment plants and getting into the Great Lakes. An environmental group found 600,000 microbeads per square kilometer in two samples taken from Lake Erie. California lawmakers passed similar legislation a couple weeks later and Illinois took up bills.

    JUNE

    DuPont Co.

    Stephanie Kwolek and her invention, Kevlar, have been credited with saving countless lives.

    Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar and the only woman ever inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame, died June 18 at age 90. Her innovation led to bullet-proof vests. She left behind a legacy of more than 3,100 lives saved in law enforcement and countless others in the military.

    AUGUST

    Waste Management Inc. closed its innovative waste-plastics-to-oil plant in Oregon, saying it had learned all it could from the facility and would evaluate retrofitting it with the next generation of technology.

    SEPTEMBER

    Dunkin' Donuts, America's largest retailer of coffee by the cup, began testing a polypropylene cup made by Berry Plastics in several of its markets as it searches for a material to replace polystyrene foam cups. The foam cups can't be recycled in most municipal recycling programs.

    OCTOBER

    Badlands NGL LCC announced the largest-ever private investment for the state of North Dakota: a $4 billion polyethylene plant that will use the ethane byproduct of oil production as a feedstock. The state, like nowhere else in the country, is being transformed by the shale oil and gas boom.

    NOVEMBER

    Plastics News' first survey of blow molders finds that business is in a strong growth mold, but companies worry about attracting and recruiting employees to keep up with that growth.

    Plastics News celebrates its 25th anniversary.

    Little green army men and the Rubik's Cube are voted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

    DECEMBER

    Shortages of the high-performance resin polyetherimide — made by Sabic Innovative Plastics under the Ultem name — could affect molders for months.

    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
      • 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