There won't be many blown-film lines running, but there is still much in the way of innovation going on in extrusion and compounding.

Extrusion machinery at the June NPE show in Chicago showed inventive ways to get more out of your floorspace and materials.

The show was packed with new equipment for pipe and profile, including extruders re­designed for higher outputs and/or lower cost, plus new ways to adjust die and calibrator diameters or switch dies and calibrators more quickly.

Gearless extrusion, cryogenic profile calibration, wireless data communications, and automatic start-up of blown film lines are just a few of the new ways to raise efficiency and output that were highlighted at NPE.