Claim OwnershipPMM Insight: A Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing Podcast
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Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing brings you our podcast! Each month we will provide an interview with a plastics industry professional, PMM in Person; an audio article, PMM Perspective; and a Commentary examining an issue in the industry. Find more of our content at plasticsmachinerymanufacturing.com.
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What you will hear on today’s PMM Machinery Minutes podcast:
A comprehensive story about the state of advanced recycling revealed some interesting developments.
Creating a stand-up pouch that can be recycled seemed like an impossible task when a team from Effytec, LD Pack USA, Dukane Corp. and Hoffer Plastics first looked at the problem.
Conair’s new PowerFill Pro is a compact, portable vacuum conveying system for processors who want the benefits of a central system without the infrastructure of long tubing runs or in-depth wiring and terminations.
Today’s PMM Insight Commentary by Editor Ron Shinn looks ahead to NPE2027:
Despite industry headwinds, early booth reservations are on track.
Companies that traditionally buy big booths do not seem to be reducing their space.
A top NPE official said it is too early to tell if new visa restrictions and tariffs from the Trump administration will impact NPE exhibitors or attendees. There were more than 15,000 registrations from 133 foreign companies at the last NPE.
What you'll learn on today’s Machinery Minutes podcast from Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing:
The recycling industry has been stuck in a perpetual cycle of volatility for years. Its future depends on overcoming technical, economic and legislative challenges, alongside investment in infrastructure and recovery efforts, according to an ICIS analysis.
Hillenbrand, which owns Mold-Masters, DME, Tirad, Herbold Meckesheim and Coperion, has been acquired by Lone Star Funds in a $3.8 billion deal.
The U.S. plastics industry accounted for $154.3 billion in trade volume in 2024 but turned from a trade surplus in 2023 to a deficit in 2024, according to the annual Global Trends Report from PLASTICS.
On today’s Machinery Minutes, PMM editor Ron Shinn reports on three innovations he's seen so far at the K Show in Germany:
Processors who have always thought they could not afford Arburg molding machines should take another look. The German machinery maker launched the Allrounder Trend, aimed at standard molding tasks and with a lower price.
Reifenhäuser introduced the Everex flat film extrusion line, which features high automation and a next-generation HMI for easier operation, even by inexperienced operators.
Engel unveiled the tie-bar-less Victory Electric 220 injection molding machine that is designed to save space and energy. The company said it is highly precise, enables short cycles and offers excellent process stability.
What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast:
The K Show has opened and PMM Editor Ron Shinn lists 10 things he is excited to see.
Engel is unveiling Inject AI, the evolution of its Inject 4.0 technology. This is expected to be a peek at the things artificial intelligence will do for plastics processing. There are also exciting new machines from Arburg, Kautex, KraussMaffei and Haitian on the list.
Maguire is demonstrating the new Ultra line of vacuum dryers with Pitstop functionality that can make material changeovers in 15 minutes. There is more interesting new auxiliary equipment from Sepro and Dr. Boy to see.
What you will learn on this episode of Machinery Minutes:
The Plastics Industry Association and the Society of Plastics Engineers are merging. SPE will become a division of PLASTICS.
PLASTICS and the National Association of Manufacturers are warning of potential harm to domestic manufacturers if additional tariffs are imposed on importers of industrial machinery and robots.
PMM’s seventh annual machinery buying survey is open. Survey results help us shape our coverage, telling us what’s happening in machinery markets, such as the effects of trade policy, labor shortages and other factors.
What we're talking about in this episode of Machinery Minutes:
Cavalier Tool has become one of the world’s best mold builders by following a simple principle of people, process, equipment. “The right people doing the right things on the right equipment,” said Brian Bendig, President and CEO.
Arburg has a new vertical, servo-hydraulic press designed for manual and automated overmolding.
There are just 10 days remaining until the start of the K Show on Oct. 8. Learn how you can find out the 10 things Editor Ron Shinn is excited to see at the show.
On this episode of PMM Insight, Editor Ron Shinn and Senior Reporter Karen Hanna discuss high-tonnage injection molding machines. You'll learn:
Some of the special infrastructure requirements for these presses, which can be the size of a basketball court.
Increased capacity required in materials handling systems for machines that can consume as much as 250 tons of resin a month.
The growing role of supersized all-electric molding machines.
Read the full story on these injection molding mammoths.
Key takeaways on today’s Machinery Minutes podcast with PMM Editor Ron Shinn:
The plastics industry still faces headwinds, but employment is outpacing the broad manufacturing sector and the plastics industry is showing resilience in difficult times, according to the Plastics Industry Association's annual Size and Impact Report.
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag plans to discontinue hydraulic injection molding machines in an effort to improve profitability.
Paul Lloyd, president of Farrell Piomini, fell in love with the company’s giant mixing and compounding machines the first time he saw them.
On this week’s Machinery Minutes podcast:
Arburg is leaving the additive manufacturing market, 12 years after introducing the Freeformer series of 3D printers.
Dan Weissmann played key roles during the evolution of plastic beverage containers as well as the plastic closure for hot-fill packaging.
At the K Show next month, KraussMaffei is showing how to use its ColorForm technology to apply a thin polyurethane surface directly to thermoplastic components within an injection mold. The product is an automotive headlight with a PU protective cover.
What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast episode, a commentary by Editor Ron Shinn:
After more than two years of negotiating, talks for a worldwide treaty to end plastic pollution collapsed.
There has been a great deal of innovation built on and because of the advances made in plastics. The industry needs to keep pushing the limits and capabilities of the material.
What next? Countries should develop their own national action plans and not wait on a treaty.
On this episode of Machinery Minutes:
Expanded steel and aluminum duties may slow investment and complicate equipment imports, warns PLASTICS chief economist Perc Pineda.
If you share manufacturing data — with customers or suppliers — you share risk. Whether buying new machinery or making deals for raw materials or parts deliveries, processors should scrutinize their partners’ approach to cybersecurity in the same way they evaluate their own systems.
Progressive Components’ new Cooled UniLifter assemblies feature a design that accommodates water line placement.
What you'll learn on this episode of Machinery Minutes:
Retaining a cybersecurity expert in advance can help with negotiating a ransom payment, recovering lost data and getting a business up and running after an attack.
Jason Sears, second-generation owner of Dri-Air Industries, learned the business from his Hall of Fame father, Charlie. He has pushed the company’s technology forward.
Manufacturers surveyed by Wipfli after the second quarter were glum. Profitability is flat and capacity utilization is down. Some better news is that quoting activity is up and employment levels are steady.
On this episode of PMM Insight, Editor Ron Shinn and Senior Reporter Karen Hanna discuss cybersecurity:
Any given company has a 50-50 chance of being hacked, and manufacturing companies are among the most commonly targeted.
Small companies are as much at risk as bigger companies.
It is important to always segregate IT systems from operational technology systems.
These are the stories you will hear on this Machinery Minutes podcast episode:
Peter Gardner, president of LS Mtron Injection Molding Machine USA, is retiring. During his tenure, the South Korean machinery manufacturer’s share of the North American market has risen from a negligible amount to an estimated 10 percent.
Artificial intelligence has brought manufacturing to the threshold of another revolution and offers remarkable advantages for blow molding, according to Eric Simmons, chair of the SPE Blow Molding Division.
U.S. companies have a 50-50 chance of being hacked in the next year and costs of an attack can be enormous. But there are steps to shore up defenses and companies that can help safeguard you.
What you will learn in this episode of the Machinery Minutes podcast:
North American shipments of injection molding and extrusion equipment in the second quarter of 2025 were up 0.7 percent from both the previous quarter and the same quarter of last year.
Currier Plastics has always excelled at adapting to changing times. It will be honored with the Recognition of Excellence Award at the Annual Blow Molding Conference Sept. 8-10 in Pittsburgh.
Netstal has made numerous upgrades to its PET-Line injection molding system for preforms, which is designed for high output and efficiency.
What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast episode, a commentary by Editor Ron Shinn:
The new tax and spending law reinstates 100 percent deduction of the cost of capital equipment purchases in the year the purchase is made and accelerates deductions for manufacturing buildings.
Research and experimental or development costs can now be deducted in the year the costs were incurred.
A tax expert said the new law creates compelling economics for domestic facility expansion and modernization.
These are the stories covered in today’s Machinery Minutes podcast:
Plastics processors say they have plenty of unused capacity immediately available if manufacturing picks up.
Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. has acquired Addex, Inc., a supplier of blown film extrusion equipment.
Kautex is relaunching its KEB series of extrusion blow molding machines, which debuted in 1968.
Here are the stories covered in this week’s Machinery Minutes podcast:
Mold making in the U.S. is an up-and-down business. Mold shops are expanding services, consolidating operations and embracing automation and smart manufacturing.
Canadian based Nova Chemicals has opened a linear low-density polyethylene mechanical recycling plant in Connersville, Ind. The company hopes to prove the consistency and viability of mechanical film recycling.
Denso has upgraded its control system so it can operate two, four-axis SCARA robot arms from a single control unit. The company said the unit is well suited for assembly or when robot operations are needed in a cramped space.
These are the stories covered in today’s Machinery Minutes podcast:
Yaskawa America plans to build a state-of-the-art robotic manufacturing facility at its Franklin, Wis., campus. This marks the first time Yaskawa’s high-volume industrial robots will be manufactured on U.S. soil.
R&B Plastics Machinery specializes in building blow molding machines and extruders that are more customized for the customers’ needs than many bigger machinery makers and willing to tackle. It has proved to be a successful niche for the Saline, Mich., manufacturer.
Static electricity can be a big problem in some manufacturing operations, so Exair has introduced a hand-held measurement device to pinpoint the highest-voltage areas in a facility.
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