Jan H. Schut
NPE News in Extrusion
This NPE show won’t have a lot of extruders on the floor, either running or static. Instead, look for videos and announcements of new technology. You will also find lots of ingenious peripheral devices to improve output and quality and save resin. Some will do all three, and cost less into the bargain.
Read MoreNPE News in Thermoforming
For thermoforming of both heavy-gauge sheet and thin-gauge packaging, the show will present new machines with unusual flexibility, able to form a wide variety of products and materials.
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Not So Fast
Commodity resin prices are moving up gradually, if not as fast as suppliers wish.
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Temporary Lull in Price Hikes
For the most part, commodity resin prices were stable last month, though rising feedstock prices, some upticks in demand, and revival of exports indicate pressure building for higher prices.
Read MoreANTEC at NPE: Editors' Picks
One of the unusual features of NPE 2009 in Chicago June 22-24 will be the first-ever concurrent presentation of the SPE ANTEC conference, by far the largest of seven conferences at McCormick Place during the show.
Read MoreInternally Cooled Pipe Die Speeds Output, Reduces Stresses
The recently developed Internal Air Cooling Die from iBA GmbH in Germany substantially increases output of polyolefin pipe or correspondingly reduces the length of downstream cooling, the company says.
Read MoreKeeping Track of 4300 Products
Rowmark LLC in Findlay, Ohio, is an extruder of specialized sheet materials for engraving, architectural signage, awards, and identification.
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Pricing Update - April 2009
A short, sharp rebound in the first quarter called an abrupt halt to the long slide in commodity resin prices.
Read MoreNovel Melt Blending Technology Commercialized in Micro- and Nanolayer Films
The first two commercial devices have been installed to melt blend two or more polymers using a structured fluid-dynamic mixing process known as “chaotic advection.” This process creates unusual micro-scale and nano-scale phase morphologies that potentially can optimize extruded film properties using fewer materials and extruders than with highly layered coextrusion.
Read MoreNew Processes for Food-Grade Recycled HDPE
Recycling HDPE homopolymer from milk and water bottles back into food-grade bottles is a new achievement that was featured at the Plastics Recycling Conference, sponsored by Resource Recycling magazine, and at the SPE Global Plastics Environmental Conference (GPEC 2009), held back to back in Orlando, Fla., last month.Removing volatiles from HDPE to meet U.S.
Read MoreA Vinyl Record Business Grows in Brooklyn
In 2001, when Thomas Bernich started Brooklynphono, a private-label LP record pressing company in Brooklyn, N.Y., he bought used equipment from record companies that were going out of business, even despite strong sales growth.
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Higher Prices Return
In the teeth of a deepening recession, commodity resin suppliers managed to raise prices in the first two months of the year, spurred by a sudden uptick in monomer tabs. YES, PE PRICES ARE UPPolyethylene suppliers succeeded in hiking prices 7¢/lb in January and February, giving them full implementation of their first increase of the year.
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