Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Plastics News Europe
  • Plastics & Rubber World
  • 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
    • NPE 2018
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • Who doesn't like football? And pets?
      Donnelly adds press for complex parts
      'A constant champion for our industry'
      Carteaux's legacy: Saving and transforming the Plastics Industry Association
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Plastics News Now
    • Processor of the Year
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Bumper to Bumper
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
  • Opinion
    • Viewpoint
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • The toy market is about a lot more than fun and games
      2019: The year the business cycle caught up to plastics machinery
      Turning a recycling nightmare into a success story
      Unlikely story of how a plastic survey marker brought people together
    • What makes a company attractive for acquisition?
      How plastics manufacturers are maximizing existing machinery
      Trademarks of the successful packaging supplier
      Molding innovations come from partnerships
    • General Motors leaving Plastics Industry Association never should have happened
      Landfill biodegradables are the answer to straw issue
      A workable solution?
      Slower growth won't mean less M&A activity
    • Hubertz focused on finding new business for Wisconsin's Vision Plastics
      Photos by Don Loepp
      Busy times for Mike Walter at Met2Plastic
      Plastic Parts Inc. photos by Don Loepp. Jill has the dark sweater
      ‘Scientific mindset' works for Wisconsin's Plastic Parts
      Partnerships help i2tech keep growing
  • Blogs
    • In Motion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Pop Goes Plastics
    • Behind the lens
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • NO. 7
    • From Pillar to Post
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • A 30-year-old plastics millennial
      Need skilled workers? Maybe you're looking in the wrong places
      Pondering the potential of exposure to the skilled trades
      Generations change with time, but we all share one thing in common
    • Plastics News journalists honored for outstanding work
      Forget about the mousetrap. Who can build better sustainability?
      'They didn't mean to be discriminatory'
      Plastics News welcomes reader opinions
    • Kickstart: Plastics and the blue crab
      Kickstart: Don't expect a sequel
      Kickstart: The Sustainability Bowl
      Kickstart: Picture women in charge
    • I’ve seen our strawless future. And it’s just fine
      South Africa takes on straws, plastics waste
      California's straw law gains interest
      DC straw ban enforcement and January usage totals
    • A 30-year plastics veteran
      An expert on workplace shootings warns: 'Lightning can strike anywhere'
      Public companies see opportunity in plastics machinery
      Celebrating National Adirondack chair day? Why not? It's all American!
    • Most materials stocks saw gains in 2019
      PolyOne's Patterson recognized by University of Michigan
      Lubrizol, Maroon Group show support for science education
      MAPP awards top firms for innovation and education
    • A sustainable lid for your lid (read the footnotes if you're confused)
      Berry, Sabic join forces in chemical recycling
      Recycling? For Gerber, it's child's play
      Canada and the work toward a greener legal marijuana industry
    • Raise the roof: Housing starts hit a 12-year high
      Finding a place for polymer siding in New Urbanism
      Uponor's new manufacturing plant honored again
    • Kickstart: Upskilling in plastics
      Kickstart: Holy LCA Batman!
      Plastics industry's top issues on display at Chinaplas
      Basel talks consider changes to plastic scrap trade
    • The state with the most compounders? Here's a hint
      A peek behind the data in our 2019 ranking of North American blow molders
      Turning anecdotes on women-owned companies into data
      Signs of fall: Pumpkin spice, falling leaves, mold making report
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Webinars/Live Streams
    • Plastics News Live
    • Become a Speaker
    • Women Breaking The Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive 2020
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
  • Resin Resources
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Datasheets
    • 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
  • K Show
  • More+
    • Data Store
    • Classifieds
    • Newsletters
    • Directory
    • Digital Edition
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Viewpoint
June 08, 2016 02:00 AM

China remains a force in plastics

Steve Toloken
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Rich Williams

    I don't want to downplay the challenges in China's economic slowdown. But spending a week at Chinaplas in Shanghai gave me the feeling that, for the plastics industry, the picture's a lot more complex.

    For starters, China's no longer simply the world's workshop, taking orders from companies like Apple and making products to their specifications.

    It's moving up the manufacturing chain. Case in point: In January, Chinese appliance maker Haier Group bought GE Appliances, taking over a household name with nine U.S. manufacturing plants and 12,000 employees.

    I interviewed the creative director of Haier Group's innovation center at Chinaplas. He talked about how Haier's working hard to build a global innovation network to tap into new ideas and technologies. It's investing in startups in the U.S. and Israel. In short, it's thinking like any large multinational manufacturing company.

    January also saw a deal that's been more widely talked about in plastics: ChemChina's acquisition of German plastics machinery giant KraussMaffei Group.

    China's been the world's biggest market for plastics machinery since 2005 but this is the first time it also owns some of the best technology. So from that viewpoint, China's stepping up and is no longer interested in being the least profitable link in the manufacturing supply chain.

    That's one perspective. The other, equally valid, perspective is that China continues to be a challenge that too often wants to write its own rules.

    It remains a Wild West (or Unruly East) of intellectual property, particularly for smaller companies. I talked with U.S. mold equipment supplier Progressive Components Inc. at the show as it filed a complaint against a local Chinese exhibitor selling counterfeit products.

    Progressive President Glenn Starkey estimates that 80 percent of products with his company's name on them in China are fakes.

    For companies like Starkey's, China has not made enough progress on intellectual property.

    That's a concern echoed last year by the president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, BASF executive Jörg Wuttke, when he said he was “very concerned that reform momentum has been lost.”

    But China remains a big market. That seems enough for most global companies.

    Last year, the German plastics and rubber machinery industry sent about same amount of machinery ($700 million to $800 million worth) to both the United States and China. Germany is the world's biggest exporter of plastics machinery, and the U.S. and China are its two biggest export markets.

    China's domestic plastics machinery market is reportedly about $8 billion a year. By comparison, the U.S. is estimated by industry experts to be in the neighborhood of $3 billion.

    A market of China's size is naturally going to create some very globally competitive firms. They'll cut their teeth domestically and then venture out.

    This brings me back to my first point: that it was evident at Chinaplas that the market for plastics in China remains vibrant.

    Demand for plastics in China grew 10 percent last year, or about 1.5 times GDP, according to the global consulting group IHS Inc.

    To me, that puts a different take on the reshoring debate going on in the United States. Some manufacturing may “reshore,” leaving China or other low-cost countries. But no matter how much reshoring actually happens, China remains a force in the plastics industry.

    At one time, the Louisville, Ky., headquarters plant of GE Appliances was mentioned in many media reports as an example of reshoring, as it added thousands of jobs. Now, it's going to be owned by a Chinese multinational.

    There's nothing wrong with that. It's still a good example of reshoring. It's one of the largest U.S. injection molding plants. Presumably, Haier Group will continue those investments.

    I just think that having the old GE name now part of Haier may not be precisely what reshoring advocates have in mind when they talk about a U.S. manufacturing resurgence.

    It shows that global manufacturing is complex, hard to put into headlines, which is exactly the feeling I had walking the halls at Chinaplas.

    Toloken is Plastics News' news editor-international, Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Toloken.

    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]

    Most Popular
    71-year-old Chicago injection molder Makray Manufacturing shuts down
    Fortress producing bamboo-plastic composite decks
    Plastics News Now: Jose Cuervo launches bio-based alternative to standard straws
    Auto parts molder US Farathane moves forward with $20M expansion
    General Motors leaving Plastics Industry Association never should have happened
    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
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Plastics News Europe
    • PRW
    • LSR World
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    Copyright © 1996-2019. 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
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Plastics News Now
        • Processor of the Year
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Bumper to Bumper
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • NPE 2018
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Galleries
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • Viewpoint
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Blogs
      • In Motion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Pop Goes Plastics
      • Behind the lens
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • NO. 7
      • From Pillar to Post
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Women Breaking The Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive 2020
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
      • Industry Events
      • Webinars/Live Streams
      • Plastics News Live
      • Become a Speaker
    • Resin Resources
      • 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
      • Datasheets
    • 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
    • K Show
    • More+
      • Data Store
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Newsletters
      • Directory
      • Digital Edition