Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. The Plastics Blog
December 27, 2017 01:00 AM

Counting down the most popular Plastics News stories of 2017

Don Loepp
Editor
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Rich Williams, Plastics News

    It's that time again … time for me to channel the ghost of Casey Kasem and count down the top Plastics News stories of the year.

    News junkies (like me) may want to pause now and try to guess the most popular.

    This list is based on readership, basically the stories that got the most page views on PlasticsNews.com this year. Because I'm looking at 2017, the list tends to skew just a bit in favor of stories posted early in the year, because they've been online longer.

    I'm also combining some related stories where it makes sense, but I'll include all the links for readers interested in more information.

    Unlike Casey Kasem, I'm not going to count down the top 40. I'll keep it to 25. As usual, M&A and resin pricing news do pretty well.

    So here we go…

    No. 25: Post-Harvey, rail, trucking issues are impacting markets

    North America had three major hurricanes impact the plastics industry this year, and the most significant was Hurricane Harvey, which hit the Gulf Coast in August. Our No. 25 story came just a few weeks later: “Post-Harvey, rail, trucking issues are impacting markets.”

    No. 24: The next plastics boom could be around the corner

    Next up is one of our twice-monthly columns from economist Bill Wood: “The next plastics boom could be around the corner.” He looked at the impact of all the new resin capacity coming on stream in North America this year (11 billion pounds of polyethylene capacity alone) and how processors may be impacted.

    Jeff Applegate
    No. 23: Plastics firms take stock of damage from Harvey

    We have more Harvey related news, this time covering how plastics processors and others (not specifically resin) were impacted by the storm. Here are links to some of our best post-Harvey coverage of those firms: Plastics firms take stock of damage from Harvey, Processors take stock of damage from Harvey, Houston molder helping workers get back on their feet.

    No. 22: Private equity firm buys Plastic Components Inc.

    Here's the first of many merger and acquisitions stories in this year's Top 25: the sale of 2008 Plastics News Processor of the Year winner Plastic Components Inc. Cleveland-based MPE Partners, a private equity firm, bought the Germantown, Wis.-based custom molder from Tom Duffey.

    No. 21: US plastics industry urges caution on renegotiating NAFTA

    Just days after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, we took a look at how one of his controversial campaign promises – to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement – would impact the plastics industry.

    No. 20: Sonoco Products buying Peninsula Packaging

    More M&A news at the No. 20 spot, the scoop that Sonoco Products Co. was acquiring thermoformer Peninsula Packaging Co. LLC in a $230 million all-cash deal. The move nearly doubled Sonoco's thermoforming business.

    No. 19: Letica purchase adds to RPC Group's US footprint

    Another major packaging deal, this one international in scope: RPC Group, one of the largest makers of injection molded packaging in Europe, bought Rochester, Mich.-based Letica Corp. for $640 million.

    Keter Plastics
    No. 18: Sterilite may invest $73 million in massive Iowa plant

    Company expansion news can get pretty good play in Plastics News, but it needs to be pretty special to make our Top 25 list. The news that major housewares molder Sterilite Corp. was planning to build a massive manufacturing and distribution plant in Davenport, Iowa, fit the bill.

    I'm a little surprised that another major expansion story didn't make our Top 25 list. Maybe you missed it? It's “BD to invest $60 million in Nebraska plastics plant,” the news that Becton, Dickinson and Co. said it planned to turn a plant in Columbus, Neb., into one of the largest, most sophisticated injection molding operations in the world with a $60 million investment that would bring most of its molding in-house.

    No. 17: United buys Rubbermaid storage totes business

    The housewares market may have a reputation for being mature and dull, but that wasn't the reality in 2017. In addition to Sterilite's expansion and this acquisition by Newell Rubbermaid, we also saw big headlines from Iris USA, Sapona Plastics, Starplast, Arrow Home Products and Tupperware Brands Corp. this year. Expect the battle for market share to continue in 2018.

    No. 16: Keter Plastics planning $36 million plant in New Mexico

    Oh, and did I forget to mention Keter Plastics, an Israel-based housewares major, that in January announced plans to invest $36 million in a molding plant in Belen, N.M.?

    Spartech LLC

    Spartech, formerly PolyOne's Designer Structures & Solutions unit, was acquired by private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners of New York earlier this year.

    No. 15: Nordson and MedPlast buying pieces of Vention Medical

    This was our biggest medical market story of 2017, the somewhat complicated deal that saw MedPlast Inc. and Nordson Corp. buy different pieces of Vention Medical.

    No. 14: Indorama Ventures acquiring DuPont Teijin Films

    One of the biggest stories of 2015 was the surprising news that Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. planned to merge.

    The deal finally wrapped up this year. Meanwhile, both companies shed a few non-core businesses along the way. Wouldn't it be nice to be big enough that one of the world's largest makers of polyester film is just a non-core business? This was still a huge deal for Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd., the Bangkok-based company that may not be a household name in plastics yet, but it's getting there.

    No. 13: PolyOne sells former Spartech business for $115 million

    Spartech is a pretty well known name in the North American plastics industry. PolyOne bought the business in 2013 for almost $400 million. After four years of disappointing results, PolyOne sold the business to private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners. (The $400 million/$115 million numbers aren't as bad as they look, because PolyOne did integrate Spartech's color concentrate and formulation assets).

    By the way, just a few weeks later, Arsenal announced that it was changing the name of the business. So instead of calling it “the former Spartech business,” now we get to call it Spartech again. Much easier for headline writers!

    In a side note, another PolyOne M&A story played a key role in one of our most popular videos of 2017.

    No. 12: Amcor expanding packaging plant in Ohio

    Next up, another major investment by a plastics processor. This time it's a $40 million project in Bellevue, Ohio. The plant makes injection molded preforms and blow molded bottles.

    No. 11: Berry Plastics becoming Berry Global Group

    It's just a name change, sure. But Berry is a Top 10 company in our rankings of North American injection molders, thermoformers, film & sheet makers … and it's No. 11 in blow molders. Chances are pretty good you either work for Berry, or for one of Berry's competitors, or one of its suppliers.

    They may have taken “plastics” out of the name, but I expect it's still going to be a force in the industry for a long time.

    No. 10: Materials plants brace for Hurricane Harvey

    This was our No. 5 story in our Material Insights video this week on the top materials-related stories of 2017. Frank Esposito reported how materials companies were preparing for the storm, with controlled shutdowns that allowed most to get up and running again within weeks after the storm hit.

    No. 9: Nicolet Plastics sold; new owner to seek additional acquisitions

    Another nice M&A scoop in the Top 10, my story on the sale of innovative custom molder Nicolet Plastics Inc. to an affiliate of family-owned Badger Mining Corp.

    Nicolet is known for making the most of complexity — molding small lots, with numerous tool changes — using a philosophy called Quick Response Manufacturing, which managers learned from Rajan Suri at the University of Wisconsin. The company specializes in low- to moderate-volume projects, and highly complex custom parts.

    No. 8: Silgan buys WestRock's closures business in $1 billion deal

    Another big packaging M&A deal for Jim Johnson, Silgan Holdings Inc.'s billion-dollar purchase of WestRock Co.'s specialty closures and dispensing business, formerly known as Calmar Inc.

    The acquisition included 13 plants in North America, Europe, South America and Asia making triggers, pumps, sprayers and dispensing closures for home, health and beauty products.

    No. 7: Chevron Phillips declares force majeure on HDPE

    A January incident at Chevron Phillips' high density polyethylene plant in Orange, Texas, caused the company to declare force majeure for HDPE resins in March.

    No. 6: Sabic resin delivery remains delayed for some processors and Sabic says deliveries are improving, but not all customers agree

    These are separate stories reported just a few weeks apart, so they could be No. 6 and No. 7. But I'll combine them for the purposes of this ranking. They're both follow-up stories on one of our most popular stories of 2016, on delivery problems that Saudi Basic Industries experienced after implementing a new global enterprise resource planning system.

    Processors were scrambling for Sabic resins for months. For two years in a row, this issue was one of the most popular story topics on our website. “Sabic” is also consistently one of the most-searched words in our PlasticsNews.com search engine.

    No. 5: Bemis Co. Inc. signals US manufacturing cuts may be on the way

    Back in April, Jim Johnson unearthed a nugget of interesting news from Bemis Co. Inc.'s quarterly earnings call with analysts: consumer packaged goods customers were scaling back orders, and Bemis would have to adjust its business expectations for the year.

    This was just a few months after a more positive headline, “Bemis Co. Inc. sees progress with global approach.”

    To close the loop (for now), Jim had this follow-up story in November: “Bemis Co. Inc. targets even bigger cuts in restructuring.”

    No. 4: P&G says Imflux has created a new way to mold

    Imflux, Procter & Gamble Co.'s innovative molding process, largely has been a mystery revealed only in patents … until this year.

    After four years of secrecy, Imflux Inc. managers made presentations at a Penn State Erie conference and KraussMaffei Corp's open house in Florence, Ky. And in October, Bill Bregar wrote a major story on the technology. The story became one of our most-shared articles ever on social media.

    For fun, take a look at our very first stories on Imflux. First, “Procter & Gamble launching plastics processing operation” from October 2013.

    Then, this 2013 scoop from our sister newspaper Ad Age: “Procter & Gamble's tooling technology could save it $1 billion annually.”

    No. 3: Equipment trouble stops Sabic's PC production in Alabama

    After months of supply chain issues from the ERP system rollout, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. was hit with an equipment issue in June that forced it to declare force majeure for polycarbonate resins. Plastics News readers wanted to know as much as they could about the problem and how it would impact their deliveries.

    No. 2: PP prices start 2017 with a big increase

    Pricing news is always big for Plastics News readers, and the biggest price increase of the year was naturally the most read pricing story. But this one wasn't hurricane related. It was Frank's January story on polypropylene prices jumping 10 cents per pound. What a way to start a year!

    No. 1: China to WTO: Scrap plastic imports banned by year-end

    Casey Kasem never held the “long-distance dedication” for the No. 1 song. (Millennial readers are just going to have to take my word for it). But I'm going to break the rules today.

    For our No. 1 story, let me give a plug to our coverage of China. Plastics News has three regular correspondents in China, and they're all excellent. In addition, Steve Toloken, our news editor international, was based in China from 2006 to 2014, so he knows that market inside and out. Since he returned to the States, Steve now edits the stories for our Plastics News China websites.

    So it's no surprise that Plastics News had a major scoop in 2017 for North American readers, on China's new National Sword policy banning imports of certain plastic scrap. Our coverage started in February and continued throughout the year, as the global plastics and recycling sector readers started to catch on to the significance of the story.

    The most-read story of the bunch came five months later, in July, when China officially told the World Trade Organization that it will ban imports of scrap plastics by the end of the year. But, of course, PN readers knew the move was coming, thanks to our coverage from our team in China. Well done!

    It was quite a year for the global plastics industry, and for Plastics News. We're looking forward to continuing to bring you scoops, and keep you informed about all the most important stories and trends, in 2018. Happy New Year, everyone!

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Legos, lawsuits, green PET, resin pricing: Your top stories of 2022
    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
    1
    Top-dollar deals, repeat buyers highlight 2022 M&A
    2
    This is the year the reality of plastics EPR arrives in the US
    3
    Prices on the rise for PP, PVC
    4
    Auto supplier Seoyon E-Hwa to invest $76M, add 740 jobs in Georgia
    5
    Illinois AG sues 14 firms over PFAS contamination
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    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.

    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 News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. 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
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified