What Price Blow Molding?

 What’s an hour of your machine time worth? For more than 20 years, injection molders have been dog-earing pages of Plastics Technology and bookmarking our web site (www.ptonline.com) to check our regular updates on what molders around the country are charging for an hour on different size presses. Why shouldn’t blow molders have the same opportunity? Readers have asked us that question from time to time, and in January 2006 we published our first effort to answer those queries (Exclusive Survey: Blow Molding Machine-Hour Rates).

This month, we are sending out questionnaires for a second attempt to get a representative survey of what blow molders are charging for machine time. The survey will distinguish between continuous-extrusion wheel and shuttle machines, injection-blow presses, reciprocating-screw extrusion machines, and accumulator-head types. You will also be asked to report your rates for specific machine sizes and to specify whether or not your rate includes an operator and/or profit margin. We think this can yield a treasure trove of information on where you stand relative to other molders in your geographic area or elsewhere in the U.S.

It’s all up to you now. Look for your questionnaire in the mail, and please return it promptly by mail or fax. The value of the results depends on your cooperation to help us get a large number of responses. With more responses, we can provide you with even more detailed data than we reported on last year’s survey.

We’re doing this because you asked for it. You can’t get this kind of data anywhere else. And we can only provide it if you take five minutes to respond.