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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 POLYMER INSTRUMENTS MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AUTO TPO GRADES ARE ROAD READY Performance olefins meet new design criteria PLUSINSIDE PLASTICS ENGINEERING VOLUME 77 NUMBER 10 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 8 Sustainable Design BEAUTIFUL MINDS U.K. student competition reimagines innovative applications for single-use waste plastics. Design CREATING FORM AND FUNCTION IDSA’s annual design competition yields multiple product innovations that aid society. 14 22 GET YOUR OWN! Plastics Engineering keeps plastics industry professionals informed of the latest news and in-depth reporting on state-of-the-art and emerging technologies that impact the R&D and processing of plastics products. This is the magazine every plastics industry professional NEEDS to read. 4spe.org/Subscribe 4 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR COVER STORY There’s magic in the music and also plastics as artists and engineers seek the richest tones possible from innovative polymer instruments. www.plasticsengineering.org | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 128 | Rotomolding BRAVO, SIR! Peers in two industries celebrate Tom Murdough, the undisputed king of rotomolded toys. 7 | Data Points PIA data demonstrate the continuing strength of plastics in the U.S. economy. 24 | Auto TPO Report ROAD READY Electric vehicles, sustainability, carbon reinforcements and tunable bio-based composites are transforming engineered polyolefins. 47 | Calendar 38 | As I See It HARNESSING OPPORTUNITIES Steve London adds technologies and markets at Bekum America. 48 | Ad/Editorial Index INSIDE PLASTICS ENGINEERING VOLUME 77 NUMBER 10 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 44 | New Product News 36 5 | Set Point 5/DuPont will shed engineering resins in Rogers deal; Toray is increasing large-tow carbon fiber output. 40 | SPE News 32 | Color CONCEIVE AND CREATE A mutual understanding of color technology is critical to rapid, accurate and competitive product development. 32 2 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | www.plasticsengineering.orgPatrick Toensmeier Editor-in-Chief (203) 777-1474 ptoensmeier@4spe.org Michael Greskiewicz Director, Sales & Advertising (203) 740-5411 mgreskiewicz@4spe.org Ryan Foster Art Director (203) 740-5410 rfoster@4spe.org Sue Wojnicki Director of Communications (203) 740-5420 swojnicki@4spe.org Editorial & Publishing Staff President Jason Lyons CEO Patrick Farrey President-Elect Bruce Mulholland Vice President – Chapters & Secretary ScottEastman Vice President – Business & Finance / Treasurer James Waddell Vice President – Professional Development Pavan Valavala Vice President – Sustainability Conor Carlin Vice President – Member Engagement Lynzie Nebel Vice President – Publications Raymond Pearson Vice President at Large Paul Martin Past President Jaime Gómez SPE 2021-2022 Executive Board Contributing Editors NANCY D. LAMONTAGNE ndlamontagne@gmail.com Nancy D. Lamontagne reports on science, technology and engineering. Topics she covers for Plastics Engineering include thermoforming, blow molding, medical plastics, packaging, and education and career development. ROBERT GRACE bob@rcgrace.com Robert Grace has been in B2B journalism since 1980. He covers design and business for Plastics Engineering and is editor of SPE’s Journal of Blow Molding. Professional memberships include the Industrial Designers Society of America. JENNIFER MARKARIAN technicalwritingsolutions@comcast.net Jennifer Markarian focuses on technology. A chemical engineer, she began her career in product development with Mobil Chemical’s polyethylene group. She is also newsletter editor for SPE’s Palisades-New Jersey Section. MATT BECHTEL mjb@matt-bechtel.com MattBechtel has been covering product and technology developments for Plastics Engineering, along with regulatory issues that affect materials suppliers, converters and brand owners. www.plasticsengineering.org | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 3 PEGGY MALNATI peggy@malnatiandassociates.com Peggy Malnati has over 30 years’ experience covering plastics, composites and automotive. She has organized technical conferences for SPE and served as board member and communications chair for SPE’s Automotive Division. GEOFF GIORDANO geoffgio@verizon.net Geoff Giordano has been a contributor to Plastics Engineering since 2009, covering a range of topics, including additives, infrastructure, flexible electronics, design software, 3D printing and nanotechnology. FROM THE N ov. 15 to 21 was National Apprenticeship Week (NAW), a U.S. Labor Dept. initiative that promotes the benefits of apprentice programs for those seeking meaningful careers, as well as for companies looking to maintain their workforces by recruiting novices with career potential. Finding candidates for plastics manufacturing has been a concern for years in the U.S. As older workers retire, taking with them know- how that reflects decades of work experience, companies face the challenge of replacing them with a new generation of workers. This is the main argument for apprenticeships. They expose workers in search of good careers to the rigors and achievements of manufacturing jobs. At the same time, the young men and women who train for these increasingly technical professions have expectations of workplace environment, work relationships, job input, advancement and career fulfillment that are often considerably different than those of the people they will replace. Apprenticeships also help both sides— companies and young workers—know and understand each other. Some companies are reluctant to invest in apprenticeships—they take time to develop, require dedicated teachers and facilities, and cost money. The enthusiastic support of executive management is vital. Nevertheless, training a new generation of workers is a manageable investment that will yield sizeable returns. A competent and fully staffed workforce is a prerequisite for competitiveness, market expansion, customer satisfaction and bottom-line profitability. It’s also a source of new and innovative ideas, especially when underrepresented groups are recruited. Government initiatives are vital to setting up apprentice programs. Especially when it comes to funding, tax credits and similar considerations. Kudos to the Labor Dept. for NAW. The event’s web site, in fact, recognizes plastics fabricators and toolmakers as among the high-demand apprenticeship occupations in the U.S. But apprenticeship programs are strongest at the local level, from trade associations, unions, coalitions of manufacturers, high schools and community colleges, all of which see training new workers as critical to their success. Consider one business highlighted on the Labor Dept.’s NAW web site. Hypertherm of Hanover, N.H., specializes in CNC machining. Since 2007, the company has graduated 520 students from the Hypertherm Technical Training Institute, which trains CNC machine operators—mostly for the company’s workforce but also for other businesses. Students receive nine weeks of paid training, 22.5 college credits when they graduate and, importantly, full-time employment in a Hypertherm facility. That’s an investment for Hypertherm that’s paying dividends. One point about apprenticeships that should be noted is the positive effect it can have on trainees who develop manufacturing skills and with them the problem-solving confidence and personal satisfaction this entails. I had the good fortune years ago to interview Jobst Gellert, a German émigré to Canada who with his wife, Waltraud, formed Mold-Masters in 1963, a rare specialist then in hot runner technology. Gellert had been an apprentice toolmaker in Germany as a teenager. One of the framed documents on his office wall was an exercise he was assigned in alphabet writing to demonstrate his skill at clear and precise blueprint lettering in the pre-digital era. Gellert’s rendition in capital and lowercase letters was flawless, even artistic, in its execution and perfection. In our conversation, he mentioned that he never had difficulty solving problems in toolmaking no matter how complex the challenges. “I always had golden fingers,” he said matter-of-factly, but with the confidence and pride of a craftsman. Gellert in time became a plastics industry legend with Mold- Masters’ pioneering technologies. Like any artisan he could see things differently than other people and use his “golden fingers”— and years of skill and experience—to do what seemed incapable of being done. This is as much the triumph of manufacturing expertise as any product that is designed and produced. And it is the best reason of all to encourage the first steps toward such personal achievement that apprenticeship programs offer. PAT TOENSMEIER Editor-in-Chief ptoensmeier@4spe.org LEARN, EARN AND PROSPER 4 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | www.plasticsengineering.orgSET POINT DuPont announced on Nov. 2 that it has a definitive agreement to acquire Rogers Corp., of Chandler, Ariz., a global developer and manufacturer of engineered materials and components, in the second quarter of 2022. The deal, for which DuPont has financing in place, is valued at $5.2 billion. Many plastics processors, distributors and OEMs could see new suppliers emerge for some DuPont materials as a result of the acquisition. The company intends to pay down part of the debt with proceeds from the divestment of a substantial portion of its Mobility and Materials segment. The businesses in this segment that will likely be sold are mostly the Engineering Polymers and Performance Resins lines, as well as the company’s stake in DuPont Teijin Films, a joint venture. The products that would be for sale include, but are not limited to, brands such as Zytel (nylon 6 and 66), Delrin (acetal), Hytrel (plasticizer-free copolyester elastomers), Crastin (polybutylene terephthalate), Vamac (ethylene acrylic elastomers) and Tedlar (polyvinyl fluoride film). These businesses combined represent approximately $4.2 billion in revenue and about $1 billion of operating Ebitda, based on full-year 2021 estimates. The acquisition will broaden DuPont’s involvement in markets that can provide the company with major growth opportunities, high margins and complementary technologies well into the future. Notable here are advanced materials for electric vehicles (EVs), advanced driver assistance systems, 5G telecommunications and clean energy technologies—all of which will figure prominently in what automakers, regulators and others see as a shift toward EVs and autonomous vehicles from cars and trucks powered by internal combustion engines and fossil fuel. “[W]e are sharpening our focus on high-growth, high-value opportunities in sectors with steady long-term secular growth trends where our global innovation leadership enables a competitive advantage,” said Ed Breen, executive chairman and chief executive officer of DuPont, in a statement announcing the deal. “Moving forward, our portfolio will be centered on key pillars— DUPONT TO BUY ROGERS CORP., WILL SHED ENGINEERING RESIN UNITS Advanced electronics for EVs and other applications are among high-value markets DuPont is targeting with Rogers Corp. deal. Courtesy of General Motors Co. THE SECRET OF ‘NYLON’ A bit of history, actually, more of a fable, could vanish forever if DuPont divests its Zytel nylon line following the Rogers Corp. acquisition next year. The origin of the word “nylon” has been a topic of speculation since the 1930s, when the material, regarded as the first engineering thermoplastic, was developed by DuPont chemist Wallace Carothers on Feb. 28, 1935. The word first appeared in DuPont sales literature in 1938 but had no scientific meaning. Some at DuPont maintained that it was merely a prefix (nyl) added to a standard suffix (on) that the company used for fibers—think rayon and Dacron. Others claimed it was named by a DuPont chemist—not Carothers—who saw a steamer trunk on a voyage with the destination New York-London abbreviated as “Nylon.” The steamer trunk hypothesis has had a long life, occasionally popping up among those with a yen for the etymology of chemical words. But as exotic as it sounds, there’s never been any indication that anyone saw “Nylon” as a destination abbreviation, or that shipping companies used such a term. However the word originated, divesting the Zytel line would remove “nylon” from its connection with DuPont and a fanciful past, and perhaps end speculation about its origin for all time. Continued on p. 6 www.plasticsengineering.org | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 5Toray Industries Inc. of Tokyo says that its U.S. subsidiary, Zoltek Companies Inc. in St. Louis, will increase large-tow carbon fiber (more than 40,000 filaments) production capacity in 2023. The upgrade will cost around $130 million. A Zoltek facility in Jalisco, Mexico, will lift annual capacity by around 54 percent, to more than 20,000 tons, boosting the combined annual capacity of the company’s Mexican and Hungarian operations to about 35,000 metric tons. Toray expects the market for the fiber to expand over the medium and long term, because of growing deployment of wind power as an eco- friendly source of renewable energy. An associated factor is rising demand for longer and lighter blades to boost generating efficiency, which is fueling the use of lightweight, strong and rigid carbon fiber. The capacity increase will stabilize supplies to meet growing large-tow carbon fiber demand. Zoltek will keep drawing on production facilities in the U.S., Mexico and Hungary to take advantage of increasing demand, particularly for wind turbine blades. Toray has made expanding globally in growth markets a central strategy under Project AP- G2022, its medium-term management program. The company is, consequently, pursuing growth in energy applications for carbon fiber composites. TORAY TO BOOST LARGE-TOW CARBON FIBER PRODUCTION SET POINT electronics, water, protection, industrial technologies and next-generation automotive. We are committed to investing in each of these pillars organically and through strategic acquisitions to maximize our capabilities in areas that enable our customers to grow by delivering next-generation technologies and sustainable high-value-added solutions.” Rogers Corp. is a recognized leader in engineered materials and components and offers broad application engineering expertise and positions in markets where its advanced technology provides competitive advantages. Its products include high-frequency circuit materials, ceramic substrates for power semiconductor devices, and high-performance foams for specialty end-markets. When the acquisition is complete, Rogers will be integrated into DuPont’s Electronics and Industrial business unit. DuPont sees Rogers’ applications engineering capabilities, design expertise and customer relationships as a strategic fit with its own innovation capabilities and collaborative approach to solving development and application challenges. Rogers has more than 3,500 employees and a global network of 14 manufacturing sites in North America, Europe and Asia. Projected revenues in 2021 are approximately $950 million. This is the latest acquisition that DuPont Chairman and CEO Breen, who has a reputation as a deal maker, has made. On July 1, DuPont completed the purchase of the Laird Performance Materials business. Laird, based in London, is a global specialist in advanced electronics and power systems. Dupont, p. 5 Wind turbines in operation on Thornton Bank off the coast of Belgium. Demand for large-tow carbon fiber is expected to grow as designers make turbine blades longer and lighter. Courtesy of Hans Hillewaert TESSY PLASTICS ADDS SPACE IN NEW YORK Tessy Plastics Corp., a global contract manufacturer, is adding three buildings on a campus in Webster, N.Y., that were formerly owned by Xerox Holdings Corp. to its physical plant. The campus is approximately one hour away from other Tessy facilities in Skaneateles, N.Y. The three buildings, which Tessy will officially take ownership of by year’s end, will provide an estimated 1.5 million square feet of space. The largest of the three is more than 750,000 square feet. The acquisition gives the company supplemental warehouse space and room for growth. Tessy plans to lease a portion of the area in Webster to third-party tenants and utilize the remainder as warehouse space. Two of the three buildings are vacant and the third will be vacant by 2022. The company intends to eventually convert all three buildings into full-scale production plants. “Knowing that we have space to expand is a strategic initiative that has always been important to Tessy,” says Roland Beck, president. “Having the extra square footage allows us to onboard programs quickly and continually adapt to our customers’ ever-changing needs.” As an example, he says that in 2020, Tessy took on a large medical program that required it to have a manufacturing facility readily available. “In just 15 weeks, we transformed a 400,000-square- foot warehouse into a state-of-the-art medical manufacturing facility to support one of our largest customers during the pandemic,” says Beck. Since 2016, the company has expanded its physical plant to almost 3 million square feet in central New York. Tessy specializes in injection molding and custom automated assembly systems. It operates facilities in New York and Pennsylvania and in China. All facilities are FDA/GMP compliant and add up to more than 1.7 million square feet, including 147,000 square feet of ISO Class 7 and 8 clean room manufacturing. The company serves medical, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, healthcare and consumer markets. Capabilities include product design and development, rapid prototyping, tool design and building, medical automation design and build, injection molding and medical and consumer device assembly. 6 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | www.plasticsengineering.orgDATA POINT The 2021 Size and Impact Report from the Plastics Industry Association makes it clear that plastics manufacturing is a sector that outperforms most manufacturing in the U.S. The numbers for 2020, released in September, show that even in the pandemic year, plastics posted gains in employment, production of goods and services, and impact on the U.S. economy. Following are key data from the annual report. (For more details on this and other reports go to www.plasticsindustry.org) PLASTICS IS TOP 5 STATES FOR PLASTICS EMPLOYMENT 70,500 TEXAS 70,500 OHIO 69,800 CALIFORNIA 59,400 MICHIGAN 50,400 ILLINOIS 1Numbers are for the U.S. in 2020. 2Employment per 1,000 non-farm employees. 3Includes healthcare, food services, retail and wholesale trade, and others. TOP 5 STATES FOR EMPLOYMENT BY PLASTICS CONCENTRATION 2 15.6 INDIANA 14.9 WISCONSIN 14.7 MICHIGAN 13.4 OHIO 13.1 KENTUCKY 1.55 MILLION 1 Total plastics employment; 1.1% of non-farm workforce $394.7 BILLION Total plastics industry shipments 1.2% Annual growth of plastics industry employment, 2010-2020 0.6% Annual growth of all manufacturing employment, 2010-2020 15,688 Plastics manufacturing sites in operation 6.7% 2 U.S. average employment for all manufacturing 29.4% Share of non-durables in plastics consumption 23% Share of durables in plastics consumption 22.6% Share of service products in plastics consumption3 15.5% Government and other expenditures 9.5% Share of construction in plastics consumption www.plasticsengineering.org | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 7Next >