Single-use plastic bans, preemption laws, infrastructure spending, producer responsibility laws and more … in our June PN Live, Don Loepp will talk to Steve Toloken about legislative and regulatory issues impacting plastics in Washington, D.C., and state capitols.

Sponsored by:

Compounders are on the front lines of a rapidly changing materials market. They’re helping customers use more recycled content, dealing with a rapidly growing North American resin sector, and they’re on the front lines of issues like resin counterfeiting and improper materials substitution and certifications.

Presented by: EOS

Organized by: Plastics News

Demand for custom production is growing rapidly – and not just when we talk about consumers. Manufacturers across all industries are feeling increased market pressure to create and scale production of end-use parts tailored to the individual. But it’s not just the applications that require customization – the production process itself has to be flexible enough to fit the application’s custom needs.

While the production of traditional high-value and low-volume products has started to shift to additive manufacturing (AM), most plastic parts continue to be made with traditional injection molding techniques. These techniques are ideal when the engineering and molding costs can be amortized across many parts, but forces manufacturers into a one-size-fits-all solution, incapable of economically producing custom parts at scale. 

However, with additive manufacturing everything from materials and design, to process and software can be customized to meet application-specific requirements. This isn’t an out-of-the-box offering, it’s a custom solution built to fit the needs of the manufacturer, that when done correctly, is an excellent complement to conventional manufacturing.

This webinar will cover how organizations today can leverage the unique value of polymer additive manufacturing, highlighting:
• The state of today’s AM market

• The benefits of additive manufacturing

• Additive manufacturing as a production tool

• Delivering custom AM solutions

• Examples of end-use AM production parts

In our August Plastics News Live, we’ll talk about automotive trends, the hot topics that executives discussed at the Automotive Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich., and how they impact the plastics supply chain.

Sponsored by:

Utilizing 34 years in mergers and acquisitions, Tom Blaige will discuss exit strategies for companies in the plastics sector. Successful deal making is both an Artistic and Scientific process and remains crucial to success in today’s rapidly consolidating market. The “Science” will include M&A Trends, consolidation trends, headline deals in plastics and Case studies.  The “Art” will review maximizing value, a process which takes place both before and during sale, as well as available transaction options. He will cover exit strategies as well as how to maximize value and growth as discussed in the Blaige proprietary Seventeen Year Plastics and Packaging Mergers and Acquisitions Consolidation Study. On average, approximately 70% of 2001’s top 50 plastics and packaging companies in each sector have undergone a change of ownership or been eliminated, thus large consolidators are making it more difficult for small and mid-cap (independent) processors to survive and thrive. In summary, Mr. Blaige will reveal valuable strategies designed to help company owners understand how to navigate and succeed in today’s mergers and acquisitions environment.  

Are you trying to understand the process capabilities of 3D Printing? Wondering if it has a shot at meeting the ISO 289 standards required for other manufacturing methods? Register today to learn how HP’s Multi-Jet Fusion technology stacks up to other manufacturing processes, and where it’s headed!

Primary Topics:
 

• Leave knowing and understanding the basics of manufacturing terminology
• Learn how mass manufacturers use standards: dimensioning, tolerancing, CpK, and IT Scale
• Learn how to differentiate between manufacturing methods
• Identify where HP Multi-Jet Fusion 3D printing technology fits in

In a special edition of Plastics News Live, Plastics News Editor Don Loepp will host several editors from Plastics News, Plastics News Europe, and Plastics & Rubber Weekly as they discuss their predictions for K 2019, what they expect will be important stories, and more!

Presented by Asaclean.

Every successful processor looks for new ways to get an edge on their competition. In this webinar you will learn 6 easy ways to minimize scrap and downtime and get a competitive advantage. Purging Expert Jarred Packard will explain how to start using a purging program, and how to effectively measure your results against what you're currently doing. You will learn several low hanging fruit that can find you major cost savings by reducing scrap and downtime.

Micro Injection Molding has been an ever growing segment of injection molding. Micro molding is to some degree unconventional. This differentiation to conventional injection molding gives the possibilities for molding benefits that otherwise are not possible without micro molding technology. In this webinar we will discuss the differences between micro molding and conventional injection molding and the capabilities that are possible with micro molding. Also discussed will be different technologies within micro molding; MIM/CIM, LSR, 2 component molding. With micro molding, certain design features must be carefully considered; part design, runner design, cooling and heating of the mold and mold geometry. With all these factors taken into account, customers can achieve high quality parts that are not only repeatable, but material consumption and cycle time are reduced with an optimized design for Micro molding.

Featured Speakers:
Richard Heckbert, Plastics Engineer, Wittmann Battenfeld
David Sharp, Operations Manager – IMM, Wittmann Battenfeld

To date, 2019 has been an interesting year for the petrochemical industry. The trade war with China, sanctions in Iran and the turmoil in Venezuela all have contributed to a murky outlook and have industry professionals wondering what the remainder of the year, along with 2020, will bring.

While we at RTi do not possess a crystal ball to predict the future of resin prices, we can use a combination of market intelligence, a network containing over 14 billion pounds of annual transactions and decades of experience to get a picture of where the markets are likely to be moving.