The annual “extrusionista” get-together, held near Chicago this year, explored a range of topics from optimizing barrel temperatures and purging operations to precisely controlling thickness and cut length in pipe and profile extrusions.

What do the largest living things on Earth have to do with extruding thick sections? Allan Griff connects the dots.

Do the numbers, even if they are boring and repetitive. Data collection and acquisition tools allow you to see what has happened as well as what is happening. Get familiar with the numbers and how they vary. Average values aren’t enough.

Getting the melt out of the die may look like the main objective in extrusion, but it’s just the first half. Plenty of teams go into halftime with a lead, only to lose it in the second half. Avoid this by paying as much attention to the shaping and cooling phases as to the heating and mixing stages.