Processors occupied booths next to their suppliers, and in many cases both brought news to the collocated event organized by MPW parent Canon Communications LLC. In February 2007, Canon and the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI; Washington, DC) announced an alignment between SPI’s Plastics USA and Canon’s Plastec Midwest show, with this year being the first Plastics USA event to be managed and promoted by Canon. The entire event included six collocated shows—Plastics USA, National Manufacturing Week, Medical Design & Manufacturing Midwest, the Green Manufacturing Expo, the Assembly Technology Show, and the Electronics Assembly Show—as well as the 2008 National Plastics Design Competition. Organized by SPI’s Alliance of Plastic Processors, the competition replaced the former Structural Plastics part-design awards.

At the show, Canon announced that will “retire” the National Manufacturing Week brand in 2009, replacing it with Design & Manufacturing Midwest.

Turning to exhibitors, Maruka U.S.A. Inc. (Lombard, IL), which distributes Toyo Machinery & Metal’s injection molding machines in the U.S. brought a 150-ton model of the Si-IV, which launched stateside back in February at Plastec West in Anaheim, CA. The range, which features new mechanics and controls goes up to 950 tons, eclipsing the previous top tonnage of 750 tons. Kyoto University studied the existing clamp, and developed a new “V” shaped design, which is said to boost platen parallelism. The end result is a five-point toggle that can collapse to a small area, allowing more mold daylight. The Si-150IV at the show, which has a 8.9-oz shot, sold the week before Rosemont to startup company UWDS Inc. (Roscoe, IL). Jerry Johnson, Maruka GM, said UWDS makes drapery components, including gears.

Injection molding machine supplier Toshiba highlighted its machine’s ability to interface directly with Yushin robotics. Yushin’s RA series of take-out robot, which are network ready and can transmit operational data via Ethernet, allow full operation of the robot through the molding machine control.

Auxiliaries supplier Matsui America, which opened a new American headquarters in Hanover Park, IL on July 24, launched a bundled loader/blender at the show. The system allows loading and mixing, with the ability to automatically dose materials. Welding-system supplier Bielomatik announced that it’s in the midst of doubling the square footage of its New Hudson, MI site to 80,000 ft². On the technology side, the company is working on a system that applies natural gas instead of hotplate welding, as well as a new laser system (look for Rosemont-related plastics welding news from Bielomatik, Dukane, Herrmann Ultrasonics, Plastic Assembly Systems, Rinco, Sonics & Materials, and more in MPW’s December issue as part of the Product Focus: Welding.)

Processors plow ahead
Against the back drop of increasingly grim economic news, processors at the show offered news of expansions and new business, showing some disconnect between Wall Street’s travails and America’s industrial parks. Custom molder, moldmaker, and turnkey manufacturing system supplier MGS Mfg. Group Inc. (Germantown, WI) announced that it has added ISO Class 8 cleanroom manufacturing to its All West Plastics Inc. plant in Antioch, IL. The single and multishot molding and assembly capable cleanroom also features a press-side inline automated slitting and bagging cell that can support one or two 16-cavity molds simultaneously.

Plastics plating company MPC (Cleveland, OH) has added a new plating line to its Cleveland headquarters. MPC offers electroplating, as well as physical vapor deposition. Kevin Coleman, MPC’s national sales manager, told MPW that the company has added a Quad-Nickel chrome-plating process designed especially for exterior applications. The technology, which adds four nickel layers, three copper-plated layers, and a final chrome layer, is available for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and plateable polycarbonate/ABS blends. The plating provides up to 200-hour copper accelerated salt spray (CASS) test performance.

Infinity Molding & Assembly (Mt. Vernon, IN) brought along the floor plan for its planned expansion. Scott Titzer, Infinity VP, told MPW that the company would break ground on the new facility on the Monday following the show. The custom molder currently operates 40 injection molding machines ranging from 35 to 610 tons, with thin-wall, multishot, insert, and white-room molding capabilities.

Custom molder/moldmaker Omega Plastics (Clinton Township, MI) exhibited within MD&M Midwest, having recently added a new toolroom with plans in place for an additional cleanroom. Terry McCarthy, who handles technical sales for the company, said Omega focuses on low-volume molding, emphasizing quick turnarounds for tooling and parts in technical applications. The company operates a 70,000-ft² plant in Clinton Township, MI, including a portable Class 100,000 cleanroom.

Seaway Plastics Engineering Inc. (Port Richey, FL), which also described itself as a low-volume molder, has recently added capacity and is currently weighing an expansion of its own, or possibly a move. Tim Smock, CEO, told MPW that small-volume has become a guiding philosophy for the company—a secure niche when a lot of high-volume business, like automotive, has become shakier.