Appliances

Until recently, vacuum maker Bissell viewed the costs of its outsourced plastic parts as largely inscrutable, simply accepting their price structure and design facets as delivered.

Record 2012 sales for a key client translated to a huge new workload for Design Molded Plastics (DMP), but instead of being overwhelmed, the custom injection molder responded, and was rewarded with a Supplier of the Year recognition in April.

Thailand is a major global manufacturer of motor vehicles, turning out 2,453,717 passenger and commercial vehicles in 2012 according to the ASEAN Automotive Federation. This represents an incredible 68% year-on-year increase compared with the flood-affected 2011. It's enough to make injection molding machinery suppliers stand up and take notice as evidenced by a Japanese machine builder's plans to manufacture machines there.

Just three years ago, Mexico was on the comeback trail as more U.S. manufacturers looked to our southern neighbor for labor cost savings that were starting to erode in China. Mexican states competed heavily for foreign investment with “unprecedented” financial incentives, according to a report from www.mexicogov.org released in March 2010.
   

The assets of injection molder Core Systems LLC (Painesville, OH) are set to go up for auction again following the company's February closing after the Whirlpool Corporation terminated its contract with Core. The molder had two plants, one in Mount Gilead, OH and the company's headquarters plant in Painesville, OH.

Processors familiar with the nXheat induction barrel heating technology from Nordson Xaloy (New Castle, PA) for non-contact heating of injection barrels now have a potential alternative from a Korean source in the Eco-heater from ECOnomical Heater Co. (Siheung, Korea).

Lightweighting, high-performance underhood components, and structural and impact-resistance applications are among the trends in the automotive sector that have prompted a Japanese-invested compounder in Michigan to implement a multimillion dollar investment in new capacity.

Airbags have become a common fixture in the majority of passenger vehicles manufactured around the world. One key component is the inflator, the size of an size N battery, that until now was comprised of a metal cylinder packed with an explosive material into which wires are inserted. The latest initiators, however, are now being insert-molded using vertical injection presses and polyamide (PA) 6 as the encapsulant.

Over the next month as you’re heading out to do your holiday shopping, think about this latest shopper research survey from Perception Research Services International (PRS): Four out of five shoppers notice “Made in the USA” claims on packaging—similar to 2011 levels (83% vs. 80%).  And most of these shoppers (76%) claim that they are more likely to purchase a product after noticing the “Made in the USA” claim, reports PRS.
   

Everyone says they are willing to pay more for products made in the USA, but is that true? According to the results of a new survey from Boston Consulting Group, more than 80% of U.S. consumers say that they are willing to pay more for products labeled “Made in USA.” However, even more surprising is the fact that 60% of Chinese consumers say that they are also willing to pay more for “Made in USA”-labeled products than for products labeled “Made in China.”