PT Blog

Primex Plastics has aggressively joined the fight against the COVID-19 virus by engaging its three divisions in producing vital materials for first responders and medical professionals. The Richmond, Ind.-based company was able to quickly gear up in several ways after Primex President Mike Cramer “made it clear to our groups to expend every effort to support our communities and the country in these demanding times,” according to Doug Borgsdorf, business unit director . And all three divisions of the Primex “One Company” quickly responded.

In less than 24 hr, Primex Color, Compounding & Additives in Garfield, N.J. developed and started manufacturing a compound that is used to produce plastic vials for COVID-19 test kits.

Clayton & McKervey a full-service global CPA firm based in Southfield, Mich., is offering some tips to businesses, particularly small businesses, who are focused on survival as they face the realities presented by the COVID-19 health crisis. According to shareholder Julie Killian, CPA, who is also an appointed member of the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) technical issues committee, the most important survival step to take after ensuring the safety of the team is to protect the company’s cash position to the degree that’s possible.

“The first order of business is to do whatever you can to cut costs and maintain liquidity. Re-focus on your core business and pause or eliminate any unnecessary projects which may be viable in the long-term but utilize short-term liquidity now. Talk to your lenders as soon as possible to discuss your plans and the availability of loan relief options if needed.”

Shape Corp.’s new chief operating officer (COO) had a challenge for the company’s only all-plastics manufacturing plant in Grand Haven, Mich.: 20-minute mold changes. Arriving at Shape in early 2019 from another large Tier One automotive supplier, Jonathan Gregory knew what constituted “world-class” injection molding and took that into account when he created that goal for Shape.

It doesn’t matter whether you are going to run a flow analysis or not. At some point, you will have to specify an initial sprue, runner and gate size. These sizes are typically nothing more than an educated guess based on someone’s experience, or sizes that simply “look right” to the programmer or designer.

If you run a flow analysis, the software program can tell you if any of these flow channels are too large or too small. Then you tweak their sizes and run the simulation again. If you are not running a flow analysis, the first mold sample can tell you if they are too large or too small. Then you can tweak the steel-safe sizes and sample the mold again. This month’s column will discuss how to get the sprue, runner and gate sizes closer to being ideal the first time around—without spending a lot of time on extremely complicated formulas.
 

While some plastics molders—such as those in California and New York—are facing state-mandated shutdowns to help slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, others are finding ways to pursue business almost as usual.