Industry Trends

Running the gauntlet of COVID-19 has shifted how businesses think about global supply chains. Companies are not just looking at manufacturing costs, but at what happens if their supply chain shuts down.

The plastics industry lost 73,000 jobs in March and April, and has gained back 55,000, or 75%, of the lost jobs. That is better than the economy as a whole.

Experts in material selection, product design, engineering, and manufacturing share insights at the five-day virtual event.

We’re not where we were before the pandemic, but it does look like the beginning of the V-shaped recovery that the plastics industry and the United States in general were hoping to see.

The post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin for collation shrink film gives North American customers one more tool for sustainable packaging alternatives, said Dow.

The medical technology industry is successfully navigating this recession like it has many others, and the supply chain is happy to go along for the ride.

A study by Harbour Results reports that 2020 automotive vendor tooling spend in North America will be $6.4 billion less than originally forecast and 31% below the $9.3 billion total in 2019.