August 2006 Issue

August 2006

Your Business in Brief - August 2006

CMS Buys MattecToronto-based CMS Software, a provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, has acquired Mattec Corp., Loveland, Ohio, a supplier of manufacturing execution systems (MES) software for plastics.

Features

Featured articles from the August 2006 issue of Plastics Technology

Testing 1 Aug 2006

Laser Scanning Saves Time and Money for Digitizing Parts and Molds

Blow molded product designers and moldmakers are finding laser scanning to be a fast, accurate, and cost-effective method to replicate molds and create new designs for highly contoured and complex parts such as beverage bottles.

Mold Maintenance 1 Aug 2006

How to Clean a Flashed Hot Manifold-Part One

As I rounded the corner of our shop, I was confronted by a large flock of white shirts gathered around a mold on my bench.

Single-Screw Compounding 1 Aug 2006

NPE 2006 News Wrap-Up: Compounding

Much of the compounding news at the NPE Show in Chicago in June ad-dressed the growing trend among extrusion processors to become compounders.

Postprocessing 1 Aug 2006

NPE 2006 News Wrap-Up: Thermoforming

Several new processing technologies unveiled at NPE point to thermoforming’s growing capability to produce in-mold labeled and decorated plastic parts.

Commodity Resins 1 Aug 2006

New Olefin Block Copolymers Stretch TPE Processability and Cost Performance

A developmental family of novel olefin block copolymers (OBCs) from Dow Chemical Co. is lauded as a breakthrough in olefinic thermoplastic elastomers due to a unique block structure, which reportedly delivers novel combinations of end-use properties and processability at a “cost-in-use” competitive with materials such as TPVs, TPUs, and styrenic block-copolymer (SBC) TPEs.

All Electric & Hybrid Machines 1 Aug 2006

New Materials Extend Reach of Rapid Prototyping

Stronger, tougher, stiffer, faster, and better-looking materials reflect the growing interest in rapid-prototyping and rapid-tooling technologies that can significantly decrease product development time and cost.

Heating & Cooling 1 Aug 2006

Fluid Cooler Offers Alternative to Cooling Towers or Central Chillers

When it comes to cooling extruders and injection and blow molding machines, the vast majority of plastics processors in the U.S. choose cooling towers.

Sheet Extrusion 1 Aug 2006

NPE 2006 News Wrap-Up: Extrusion

NPE 2006 presented a bevy of features to make film, sheet, pipe, and profile extrusion more efficient.

Hot Runners 1 Aug 2006

A Custom Molder Takes the Next Step

The question John Winzeler keeps asking is, “How do you take the next step?” In the last two decades, he has transformed the Chicago metal-stamping company he inherited from his father into a high-tech specialty molding business focused only on plastic gears.