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Ahead of labor, materials, and energy costs, a new report states that access to talented workers capable of supporting innovation are the key factor driving global competitiveness at manufacturing companies. The 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index, a research report from Deloitte's Global Manufacturing Industry group and the U.S.

Dow Chemical's efforts in 2008 to park its basic plastics business in a joint venture with Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) may have ultimately failed, but its subsequent $18.8 billion deal to acquire Rohm and Haas that same year, and create a specialty chemicals and advanced materials company, is already paying dividends and reinforcing the company's bid to move out of commodities and into specialty products.

A company founded in 2001 by a 19-year-old Princeton University freshman is increasingly finding a home for "un-recyclable" plastics and bridging the gap between consumers of everyday items like drink pouches and the brand owners that create them. Now, Tom Szaky, a grizzled 28-year-old that was named to Inc. magazine's 30 under 30 list at 24, and his company, TerraCycle (Trenton, NJ), are reaching out to the plastics industry.

Fraunhofer Institute researchers have developed a method to coat plastic foils with a very thin barrier layer that keeps out humidity and oxygen, using a vacuum-based, roll-to-roll coating process that can coat several thousand square meters of foil in a single hour.

Protective packaging is hot, as more and more people shop online and shipping increases in both developing and developed regions of the globe. A Freedonia Group report says that world demand for protective packaging is projected to increase 7.8% per year to $22.2 billion in 2014, representing a "notable acceleration" from the 2004-2009 period.

Overview: The slide in spot commodity resin prices that began in May continued into the first week of June, with the average polyethylene (PE) price shedding $0.01/lb and polypropylene (PP) prices giving back another $0.02/lb. Plastics spot-trading platform The Plastics Exchange (TPE) reported that monomer costs also dropped, and market participants fully expect June resin contracts to settle lower.

Overview: Spot resin prices continued to fall as market participants began looking forward to June and an anticipated further drop in contract prices. Spot plastics-trading platform, The Plastics Exchange (TPE) reported that monomers were also weak, which only added to the overall negative sentiment. Spot-trading volumes were below average throughout May, according to TPE, as buyers pulled out of the market, only buying material on an as-needed basis under the assumption that prices would continue to fall.

Cereplast Inc. (El Segundo, CA) has entered into a distribution agreement with Ashland Distribution to supply its bioplastic resins throughout Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. A company representative told PlasticsToday that in the past sales in those geographies were handled directly by three regional directors. The company estimates that the North American region accounts for about 60% of its sales.

Overview: The spot resin market remained bearish last week, with prices still under pressure, according to Michael Greenberg, CEO of spot-trading platform, The Plastics Exchange (TPE). While limited supplies have been made available, market participants believe more material could be pushed through if needed. On the basis of soaring feedstock costs, resin prices had shot higher through mid-April, but have since collapsed along with spot monomers.

Year-over-year earnings reports show how far the global plastics industry has come since the start of 2009, with plastics titans Dow, ExxonMobil Chemical, and BASF showing double-digit gains in sales and volumes, even in Western economies that had heretofore lagged.