Plastics Recycling Latam
Published

What's Out There, What's Coming and Trying to Know What You Don't

Leading companies do three things consistently when it comes to technology.

Share

  • They are knowledgeable about (and often already using) the best solutions currently available;
  • They keep tabs on emerging technologies within their own space;
  • They work to be aware of the very latest developments, often in industries tangential to their own, that have the potential for future impact in their sector.

That final skill can be the most difficult to master, owing to time constraints of tracking sectors outside your own and the challenge of perceiving how the advances, even in a lab setting, of other industries might come home to roost in your market.   

At Plastics Technology—with our magazine, website, newsletters, webinars and conferences—we aim to be your eyes and ears on that final horizon, sharing voices from places that might reside outside the normal areas you track for business answers.

For injection molders, the Molding 2017 Conference & Exhibit (only weeks away now; April 4-6; Charlotte) will offer a variety of speakers, some from companies you know, others from startups that you may not, who will be presenting on cutting-edge technologies that could very well reshape injection molding.

Predicting Predictive’s Future
As an example of advances in other spaces impacting plastics: the cloud computing that makes your photos available from anywhere with a web connection, and the sensors built into the watch that tracks your steps or sleep have recently conjoined within the plastics space to make possible the so-called “machine wearables” promoted by Prophecy Sensorlytics. That company will be updating the latest advances with that technology, which started with predictive/prescriptive maintenance and lately is moving into the quality/consistency of your plant’s power supply.

Liquid Metal Molding
For most attendees of our event, injection molding means melting and shooting plastics. At Molding 2017, Liquidmetal Technologies will discuss its bid to make the molding of metals as familiar to those molders as running polypropylene. Over lunch on Tuesday, April 4, Liquidmetal’s Paul Hauck will discuss advances in the injection molding of metals, touching on the powder/binder/sinter past and what could be its low-viscosity net-shape-parts future (read more about the company's metallic glasses and the former NASA discovery).

Table-Top Molding
Beyond shooting plastics, the conventional injection molding press is perceived as a massive machine, at times requiring reinforced flooring. What if it could measure 43 inches in length and weigh in at 250 lb, letting you replace reinforced concrete with a wooden table? Kubi Kara and Burak Cevik founded their company, APSX, LLC, on the promise of just such a tabletop all-electric injection machine, and they will discuss it at the conference.

A New Manufacturing Model
Beyond the size of the injection molding machine and the material it is running, there are speakers at Molding that challenge the very business model of the industry. Proto Labs’ Jeff Schipper will offer a presentation entitled “Leveraging Digital Manufacturing to Accelerate Time to Market and Reduce Risks.”

Keeping Up With Mobility
In terms of markets on the move, literally, automotive represents a sector facing massive upheaval. How much? Look no further than the name itself, as automotive is more accurately rolled into a segment increasingly called “Advanced Mobility.” On that front, looking at everything from connectivity to driver assistance to electric vehicles, PolyOne’s Brad Tremblath will offer a presentation on, “Materials That Matter for Advanced Mobility.”

You can’t predict the future, but you can help shape it by keeping abreast on what’s around the corner. Join us in Charlotte the first week in April to keep your company on technology’s leading edge. 

Dri-Air
Cranes, Conveyors, Racks, Loaders, Accessories
structural foam molding chemical foaming agents
Guill - World Leader in Extrusion Tooling
Vacuum conveying powders to extruders compounding
Plastics Recycling Latam
Dover Clear
Advantage temperature control units
Uway LLC
NPE2024: The Plastics Show
RoyAlloy Stainless Mold Base Steel
New Tinius Olsen VectorExtensometer testing

Related Content

Molder Opts for Machine Flexibility for Complex Jobs

AE Plast opted for tiebarless multimaterial Engel victory machines as it took on complex parts for the appliance and power tool market, including a 3K housing for Dremel’s rotary tool.

Read More
Multicomponent

ZAG Equipment Sales Partners with Portugal’s Plasdan of Portugal

Under the agreement, ZAG will sell and service Plasdan’s add-on injection units and fully electric rotary tables for multicomponent injection molding.

Read More
Materials

More Sustainable Two-Component Overmolding

Swedish compounders HEXPOL TPE AB and Polykemi AB have collaborated on a 2K sustainable development project for consumer products.

Read More
Multicomponent

Larger Capacity Auxiliary Injection Unit Introduced

Mold-Masters has extended the capabilities of its E-Multi auxiliary injection platform, introducing the new larger capacity EM5 model.

Read More

Read Next

close up on technology

Processor Turns to AI to Help Keep Machines Humming

At captive processor McConkey, a new generation of artificial intelligence models, highlighted by ChatGPT, is helping it wade through the shortage of skilled labor and keep its production lines churning out good parts.

Read More
Automation

People 4.0 – How to Get Buy-In from Your Staff for Industry 4.0 Systems

Implementing a production monitoring system as the foundation of a ‘smart factory’ is about integrating people with new technology as much as it is about integrating machines and computers. Here are tips from a company that has gone through the process.

Read More
Extrusion Know How

Understanding Melting in Single-Screw Extruders

You can better visualize the melting process by “flipping” the observation point so that the barrel appears to be turning clockwise around a stationary screw.

Read More
Shuttle Mold System