Management

There are many ways to be a sustainable company. In Part 3 of our in-depth look at the daily operations of the injection molding business of Xten Industries, our focus is on green design for more efficient manufacturing.

Xten Industries works hard at keeping its eye focused on productivity, profitability, efficiency, sustainability, and solving customers’ challenges with creative solutions. Opportunities for all of these exist in the various stages of the mold/molded part design, material selection, and the molding process chosen.

Being a resin market expert didn’t used to be one of the hats you had to wear. But now more than ever, it pays to understand what’s driving your biggest cost.

Waste is often only tracked within a mold cavity itself—is the part now cooling inside the tool ready to ship or is it scrap? A molder’s investment in material, however, extends over a broader scope of the process, from transferring resin out of the railcar to drying and beyond, reaching all the way to converting bad parts, runners, and sprues into renewed pellets. Out of every 10 lb delivered to your plant, how many pounds do you sell to customers as finished parts?

Onshoring is definitely happening, 
but offshoring continues.

Introduced in 2003 but still gathering steam in the market are Tug & Tote bags, a patented way to simplify supermarkets' logistics with produce bags while also improving customers' experience. The processor and converter, Waverly Plastics, took time to listen to and learn from its customers, and the effort has paid off many times over.

Charllotte and Bob Janeczko, owners of custom injection molder i2tech, donated the money to their alma mater to fund at least four plastics engineering scholarships annually. The donation is especally significant for the University of Wisconsin-Stout, beneficiary of their good will, as it only began offering a Bachelor of Science plastics engineering program in fall 2008.

Two plastics processors with plenty of "green cred" filed a joint petition to stop construction of an offshore wind energy facility. The clash in Rhode Island has made allies of the two processors, Toray Plastics and PolyTop, as well as a local environmental group, the Rhode Island chapter of the Conservation Law Foundation, which also has filed an appeal to halt building of the new site.

According to the quarterly SupplierBusiness Confidence Index released on Aug. 23, suppliers to the automotive industry continue to be concerned about the long-term strength of the recovery and its stability, in spite of industry growth. Overall though, positive trends remain in place among suppliers, with all four elements of the index—New Orders, Production Volumes, Inventory levels and Employment—scoring over 50, suggesting they are in an upward trend.

As if you didn't involve enough concerns already: Computer hackers have found a new target, and plastics processors and other manufacturers need to be cognizant of the threat. Recently making the rounds of the world's manufacturing, food processing and other facilities was the Stuxnet worm, spread via infected USB sticks to industrial computer systems. Industrial espionage could be one reason for the attacks; blackmail could be another, with hackers threatening to disable a factory or plant unless they are paid. Regardless, be on your guard.

Economic constraints among banks, bankruptcies, and a down automotive industry have made it tough for molders and moldmakers to finance their equipment requirements. Still, there’s cash to be found, if you know where to look.