Company Tours

The last two decades have been a roller coaster ride for many molding companies and their employees. But for three long-time plastics industry management people, the lessons learned have been incorporated into their injection molding business, which started out small but has seen good growth and expansion.  Three partners, all vice presidents, are Rod Bricker, Gerry Phillips and Jerry Williams. The trio started Prism Plastics LLC.

Below a snapshot of the week that was at PlasticsToday (11/28-12/2), with a few tasty tidbits picked from the smorgasbord of plastics we served up over the last five days.

With the increasing demand for molding liquid silicone rubber (LSR), GW Plastics Inc., a custom contract molder/manufacturer headquartered in Bethel, VT, announced a $3 million dollar investment in a new facility to house its LSR operations. Ground-breaking for the new facility will be in Royalton, VT, in October, with plans for full occupancy of the facility by the first quarter of 2012.

One way to reduce the energy, space, and maintenance impact of dryers in the extrusion of materials like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polylactic acid (PLA) is to eliminate the need for them altogether. That's the promise of the "dryer-less" twin-screw sheet extrusion technology that Processing Technologies International (PTi; Aurora, IL) showcased during a Sept. 20 open house at its company headquarters in Aurora, IL.

With a few years of experience with our successful webinars and the success last week of our inaugural virtual event, we don't need convincing that a Virtual Event can be just as instructive, and a lot more convenient, than traveling somewhere. For plastics processors who may have missed its open house in May, plastics processing machinery manufacturer Milacron has made the event "available" as part of an online presentation.

"Focused factories" accommodate growth and keep Hoffer on the cutting edge in the packaging industry as the third generation of Hoffer's leads the way.

Being in the moldmaking business doesn't always mean you have to build new molds. This mold manufacturer found that specializing in repair, thinking outside the box, and going global held the key to his success.

GW Plastics came to Tucson, AZ in 1995 to support a growing medical customer base and customers that had set up operations in Juarez, Nogales, and Tijuana, Mexico, as well as 
California. Since then, Tucson has become one of GW’s premier operations.

With the increasing complexity of medical equipment, the development of carrying solutions for these products has become significantly more important. Carrying products such as cases, bags and pouches are no longer commodity accessories. Instead, they are now doing far more than just holding and protecting medical devices by also adding measurable functionality and usage value, thus meeting the specific needs of device vendors and their users.

StackTeck has long been known for its technical expertise in the design and building of precision, multicavity molds, and today it defines the phrase “more than just a moldmaker” with turnkey manufacturing systems and partnerships with suppliers and customers globally.