Canadian Plastics April 2010

Canadian Plastics www.canplastics.com

Small energy fixes,

BIG savings

ERP SOFTWARE Avoiding costly downtime

WIND TURBINES

A new opportunity for the plastics industry

ENGINEERING RESINS Case studies that push the boundaries

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contents

CanadianPlastics APRIL 2010 VOLUME 68 NUMBER 2

LOOKING BACK...

In October 1969, Canadian Plastics reported on the publication of the 17th annual wage survey by the Society of the Plastics Industry. The SPI report gave hourly and weekly dollar rates averaged out from 69 plastics manufacturers from across Canada. The highest paying shop floor positions? Extrusion foreman, at $3.58 an hour, followed by machinist Class “A”, at $3.08 per hour. The honours for the lowest paying position went to the apprentice injection mold operators, who banked on average a whopping $1.73 an hour.

page 14

Number of the month:

$58,000*

* Average annual quantified savings among 19 plastics processors given energy mini-assessments as part of an energy conservation outreach program. (See pg. 10)

page 10

page 22

cover story in every issue 4 Editor’s View: • Super Bowl commercial prompts the right response 5 Ideas & Innovations: • Electron beam sterilization of PET and HDPE bottles 6 News: • Q&A on CAMM and FEPAC partnership • Big changes in material industry • People 8 Executive’s Corner: • Having a contract is just good business 25 Technology Showcase: • Spotlight on energy savings 26 Plastics Data File 26 Advertising Index 28 Classified Ads 29 Design Ideas: • New adventures in architecture 30 View from the Floor: • Reaction injection molding: The other RIM

10 ENERGY SAVINGS: Quick fixes, big results

Ravenous energy consumption gobbling up your profits? Now’s the time to take control. From innovative government programs to better shop floor maintenance, there are plenty of low-cost ways to tame your hydro bill.

features 14 ENGINEERING RESINS: The latest, greatest applications

These days, processors can’t afford to let any opportunities pass them by. Being in the know about the latest engineering resins might be the difference between thriving and just surviving. Our case studies show you what’s possible right now.

18 ERP SOFTWARE: Saying goodbye to unnecessary downtime

No matter how good your production team is, they can’t be everywhere at once. Now they don’t have to be. Industry-specific ERP software can be your eyes and ears on the shop floor, warning of production problems before they happen.

21 PACKAGING: Pouches? Popular!

With more and more retailers insisting on less and less true packaging for products on store shelves, these are good times to be making pouches. Inside, find out what makes them so hot.

22 WIND POWER: Opportunity blows

With the rise of the wind energy movement, wind turbine production might just be the new automotive parts molding. But what opportunities will Canadian manufacturers have, and how ready are they?

Visit us at www.canplastics.com www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 3

editor’s view

Super Bowl commercial prompts the right response

A

man asks for a plastic bag at the supermarket checkout. Next thing you know, his head’s slammed against the counter, and the Green Police are cuffing him.

“You picked the wrong day to mess with the ecosystem, plastic boy,” sneers a green-clad enviro-cop as the perp is led away.

If you watched the Super Bowl in February, you more than likely saw this commercial for Audi.

(If you didn’t, you can see it on YouTube, where it quickly became a must-see sensation.)

It ends with a roadblock on a backed-up interstate, with the Green Police prowling the lines of vehicles to check they’re in environmental compliance. “You’re good to go,” they tell the driver of an Audi A3 TDI, and he meekly pulls out of the stalled traffic and moves off. Tagline: “Green has never felt so right.”

Costing tens of thousands of dollars per second of airtime, Super Bowl commercials aren’t just thrown together— indeed, most are probably as exquisitely planned as the D-Day invasion. Safe to say, then, that if plastics were singled out, it’s because the good folks at Audi knew there was no better way to keep viewers glued to their HDTVs than by hammering on this particular hot button.

I step lightly over the obvious hypocrisy at the ad’s centre—to wit, wouldn’t the weight savings afforded by plastics components be a big reason the Audi A3 TDI is environmentally friendly enough to pass muster with the Green Police in the first place?—and focus instead on what strikes me as something more important: the quick response by members of various plastics industry organizations.

A few days after the commercial aired,

4 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

for example, Barry Eisenberg, director of communications and marketing with the Society of the Plastics Industry, was already exposing this gaping contradiction on his blog. The American Chemistry Council went him one better. Alerted in advance about the ad, the ACC launched a pre-emptive counterattack through a website (www.greenpoliceconfused.com) that was up and running before Super Bowl Sunday.

As with Eisenberg’s blog, the ACC hit the right balance of playfulness and seriousness. They didn’t deny the ad was funny, but they didn’t take the carmaker’s hypocrisy lying down, either.

These two responses are hardly going to stem the rise of anti-plastics sentiment of course, and I’ll bet they weren’t even noticed by anyone outside the plastics world. But they do matter, and here’s why: At the risk of reading too much into one car commercial, we seem to approaching the point at which being against plastics morphs from narrow radical-chic into mainstream hip. If that happens, our industry is in big trouble.

The best way to respond, it seems to me, is to be hip right back at ‘em. Rather than fly off the handle—as I’ve seen members of the anti-plastics brigade do during TV debates against members of the ACC—let’s acknowledge the humour (where it exists) in the attacks against our industry, and then hit back hard, but with a twinkle in our eye.

Perhaps we could call it being generously angry.

So if the SPI and ACC were preaching to the choir on this one, they at least showed us an irreverent style of sermon that, taken to the general public, stands a fair chance of winning some converts.

Mark Stephen

mstephen@canplastics.com

Canadian Plastics magazine reports on and interprets developments in plastics markets and technologies worldwide for plastics processors, moldmakers and end-users based in Canada.

www.canplastics.com

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ideas & innovations

Electron beam sterilization of PET and HDPE bottles

I

t’s hard to overestimate the importance of microbe-killing packaging sterilization for extending the shelf life of single serve bottled products. This is especially true for PET bottles, one of the largest areas of growth in the global packaging industry.

But there’s a problem: Traditional aseptic cleaning agents such as hydrogen peroxide or peracetic acid are great at eliminating microorganisms, not so great in their effect on PET. The chemicals have the tendency to migrate into the PET when heat is applied at the beginning of the hot-fill or chemicalbased sterilization processes, followed by possible leakage into the beverage itself.

Definitely a consumer turn-off.

OLD TECHNOLOGY, NEW APPLICATION A new electron beam emitter from technology supplier Advanced Electron Beams (AEB) is poised to enter the marketplace, and the company claims that it solves this problem.

Called the e25ITB emitter, the device—which measures 47.6 cm in length—is meant to provide a clean, dry and chemical-free sterilization process for PET and HDPE, preventing nasty chemical migration, and also relieving a host of expenses associated with hot-fill and chemical-based sterilization.

“Electron beams have been used to achieve microbiological decontamination in the medical industry for years,” said Josh Epstein, AEB’s director of marketing. “More recently, companies have sterilized plastics bottles with electron beams by blasting them through the bottle. The e25ITB is the first device that fits inside the bottle, and the result is a more thorough decontamination.”

With no external pumps, Epstein continued, each emitter is designed for easy integration into third-party machinery on a PET or HDPE bottling line. “Bottle exteriors are sterilized using stationary emitters as the bottles pass by,” he said. “Bottle interiors are sterilized with a specially designed nozzle that fits inside the finish of most common aseptic beverage bottles. The 25 cm nozzle is designed to deliver aseptic levels of sterilization for typical bottle designs with a 33 mm to 38 mm finish, and up to 120 mm in diameter.”

PROBLEM SOLVER In addition to solving the problem of potential chemical migration into PET and HDPE bottles, the e25ITB emitters can make life easier for bottlers in a variety of other ways, Epstein said. “For the bottlers, drawbacks to hot-fill or chemical-based aseptic packaging have always included costs and complexities such as buying the chemicals — which are expensive — and the need to implement specialized handling

and training programs, Ph as well as evacuation oto c o ur tes procedures,” he explained. y A dv an “Electron beam sterilization ce d E le c tro eliminates all of these headaches.” n B ea ms The company is already working with UKbased bottled milk supplier The Farmright Group on a project to sterilize small, milk-filled flexible packaging containers. Next stop: North America.

“We’re excited to be offering the emitters to the North American market,” Epstein said. “This fits into a consumer preference trend: They want single-serve offerings, but are concerned about chemicals. The e25ITB emitters will hopefully allow PET and HDPE to penetrate even further into the aseptic bottle industry.”

Advanced Electron Beams (Wilmington, Mass.); www.aeb.com; 978-658-8600

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www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 5

news

Pierre Fillion

Q&A

Dan Moynahan

If you haven’t already heard, the Canadian Association of Mold Makers (CAMM) in Ontario and Quebec’s Federation of Plastics and Alliances Composites (FEPAC) recently announced a strategic partnership. Canadian Plastics sat down with Dan Moynahan, president of CAMM, and Pierre Fillion, president and CEO of FEPAC, to talk about the goals of the partnership, and what the alliance means for our industry.

Q

What are some of the benefits in bringing CAMM and FEPAC together?

We’ll be a new voice for Canada’s plastics and composites industry. CAMM and FEPAC are two strong organizations, and sometimes when you put one and one together you get three. For example, we can make it easier for each organization to grow beyond its home province. We’re trying to harness the synergies between Quebec and Ontario, and we’re not going to stop here.

We want to bring this all across Canada, from B.C. to Nova Scotia, and help market Canadian manufacturing technologies as a whole.

Also, we’re hoping to bring the governments of our two provinces closer together— to break down some of the barriers that our governments can seem to break down, and get all of the levels of government working together with us.

What are some of your goals in the short-term?

First, FEPAC will coordinate, manage and promote the Quebec chapter CAMM, and CAMM will do the same for the Ontario plastics and composites chapter of FEPAC. Second, we’re going to join our IT infrastruc-

D.M.

Q

tures. We’ll be launching the e-Plastics.net and e-Composite.net web platforms in September 2010. All members from CAMM and FEPAC will be able to create complete business profiles.

Third, we’re going to co-organize trade and technology missions around the world, beginning with the Plastimagen 2010 show in Mexico during March; FEPAC had a delegation at the CAMM pavilion. Following that, we have plans to team up for the K-2010 event in Dusseldorf at the end of October.

How important is the symbolism of a partnership between organizations from the rival provinces of Quebec and Ontario?

This is 2010; there shouldn’t be these kinds of barriers within Canada anymore. Let’s put these things behind us, and move ahead as a strong, united country. We hope to be able to lead by example. That’s one of the exciting things about this: We’re going where governments have had a hard time going.

D.M.



Q P.F.

Watch the complete interview with Dan and Pierre on the Canadian Plastics website; go to the “CanPlastics TV” link at the top right quarter of the screen.

PEOPLE — The Canadian Plastics Industry Association appointed Claude Faubert as its representative for Quebec. Faubert is based in Montreal.

— Resin supplier Nova Chemicals Corporation, headquartered in Calgary, Alta., appointed William Mitchell to vice president and general counsel.

— PSI-Polymer Systems Inc., a Conover, N.C.-based supplier of extrusion and recycling equipment, named Brian Woodcock as its national sales manager.

— Accutech Films Inc., a Coldwater, Ohio-based provider of engineered films, bags, sheeting and tubing for industrial use, named Fred Wampnar as CEO.

6 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

Brian Woodcock

Fred Wampnar

Don Cardy

Greg Wood

— The Society of the Plastics Industry, headquartered in Washington, D.C., named Suzanne Morgan to the position of senior director of government affairs and grassroots advocacy.

— Thermoformer McClarin Plastics, of Hanover, Pa., named Don Cardy as its Canadian independent manufacturing sales representative. Cardy is based in Kitchener, Ont. — PCS Company, a Fraser, Mich.-based supplier of mold and hot runners components, appointed Tim Markham as technical sales specialist, hot runner systems.

— Lectro Engineering, a St. Louis, Mo.based supplier of blow molding equipment, appointed Greg Wood as president.

news

NEWS BRIEFS

BIG CHANGES IN MATERIALS INDUSTRY

Bottled water supplier Ice Rivers Springs, of Feversham, Ont., will build a recycling plant to produce 100 per cent recycled PET drink bottles. The company claims the plant will be the first of its kind in North America. The facility, to be located in Shelburne, Ont., is expected to be up and running by July 2010, with approximately 60 workers.

It’s been a busy few weeks for some chemical suppliers.

The Dow Chemical Company made two big moves. The company announced the sale of its Styron division to private investment firm Bain Capital for US$1.63 billion, and signed a business alliance in their polyurethane systems business with E.A. Juffali & Brothers, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest commercial enterprises. The deal with E.A. Juffali & Brothers will result in the construction of a manufacturing plant for the production of polyol blends in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Also, the PVC additives business of specialty chemicals supplier Chemtura Corporation has been jointly purchased

by Artek Surfin Chemicals Ltd. and Aterian Investment Partners. Mumbai, India-based Artek Surfin Chemicals is one of that country’s largest specialty chemical companies, and New York City-based Aterian Investment Partners is a private capital firm that invests in businesses across a range of sectors.

Finally, resin and compound manufacturer A. Schulman, Inc. purchased McCann Color, Inc., a North Canton, Ohio-based producer of color concentrates, for under US$10 million in cash.

Extrusion machinery supplier Reifenhauser Inc., of Danvers, Mass, has appointed Barway Plastic Equipment Inc. as its representative for Quebec and eastern Canada.

Barway is headquartered in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que. Converting Supply Inc., an Orangeville, Ont.-based supplier of equipment for the extrusion, packaging and converting industries, has been appointed the new Canadian sales representative for BD-Plast, an Italian extrusion equipment manufacturer.

New CM

Mold technology supplier DME Company, of Madison Heights, Mich., has been named the distributor in North America for cold runner systems manufactured by Elmet Elastomere GmbH of Austria. DME Company has also 1 7/3/09 10:39 AM Page 1 entered a strategic alliance with hot runner firm Plastic Engineering & Technical Services Inc., of Auburn Hills, Mich., to provide a complete package to improve processing in medical and high-volume consumer markets.

Correction: The February 2010 issue of Canadian Plastics misidentified CDS-Custom Downstream Systems Inc. We regret the error.

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executive’s corner

Having a contract is just good business

By Mark Borkowski, Mercantile Mergers & Acquisitions Corporation

I

once had a client go into a major downslide simply because they never had a signed contract with a customer.

It’s a common mistake. Too many companies think they don’t need contracts with clients, subcontractors, or even with their own employees.

They don’t want to be seen as untrusting, I suppose. In a perfect world, that level of trust would work, every handshake would seal a deal, and all parties would have the same expectations.

Guess what? It’s not a perfect world. The way to make it as near-perfect as possible, however, is to have standard contracts in place that everyone signs and commits to.

Contracts exist to prevent the possibility of harm and—just as important—to prevent that heated conversation with the client down the road that all businesses want to avoid.

Your relationship with your client is of the utmost importance. You want to be sure there’s a clear understanding of what services are going to be provided, what the costs will

be, and how the payments will go ahead. It’s worth repeating: This clarity eliminates any misunderstandings...or worse. Here’s what I mean: The owner or a salesperson meets with a prospective client to determine their needs. He takes lots of notes, goes away, and creates a proposal. He then comes back to the prospect to deliver the proposal. The proposal gives an overview of client needs, as well as an overview of the proposed products and service. This might include a number of extra services requested. At the end of the proposal is the total cost. The prospect reads it and agrees to proceed.

So far, so good. But the sales representative doesn’t have the new client sign a contract. Turns out the proposal was an overview, not a detailed discussion of what the company would provide and do.

Let’s turn the clock ahead to when the services and products are provided. The company invoices the client, but the client is unhappy, and states that he didn’t get what he thought he was going to get. Because they didn’t hammer out the details and sign a contract that included those details, the sales representative left himself open to the client’s interpretation, which obviously didn’t measure up with what the sales representative believed the client wanted.

An IT firm specializes in providing on-call IT specialists to small- and medium-sized companies. They match the specialist with the client, and the relationship builds over time. The client is happy because they have the same specialist dealing with their system. The IT firm is happy because they have a contract that details the work to be performed, the payments, and the payment cycle. Unfortunately, there’s nothing on paper that protects the IT firm from having the client offer the specialist a job.

Fast forward to the day when the IT specialist turns in his resignation and goes to work directly for the client. The IT firm has probably now lost both the skilled staff member and the client.

At the end of the day, clarity is key. As in life, the best business relationships grow out of clearly defined expectations. There’s one more bonus: Having contracts for your customers to sign shows professionalism, foresight, and attention to detail. Which is why they want you in the first place, right?

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energy savings

Quick fixes,

BIG Looking to trim your Looking to trim your

hydro bill, but aren’t quite ready to invest in new energy-efficient processing machines? Don’t worry— there are other ways to cut costs and usage that are quick, easy, and don’t involve parting with hard earned money.*

results

By Mark Stephen, editor

R

emember the old adage that says you have to spend money to make money? It’s good advice, to be sure, but is it always true?

Maybe not.

Fact is, there are ways to improve your bottom line that don’t cost anything more than a few dollars and a few minutes of your time. Take energy costs. Rising energy prices are a concern for any plastics processor, especially—do we have to say it?—in today’s economic climate.

“Energy typically represents four to six per cent of a plastic processor’s total operating costs, and 12 to 15 per cent of its controllable costs,” said Graham Knowles, the consultant managing a recent Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) energy conservation outreach program (see sidebar below). “Electricity usually accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of the total energy cost, so there’s no doubt it has a sig-

CPIA ENERGY OUTREACH PROGRAM GENERATES SAVINGS Last winter, the CPIA initiated an energy conservation outreach program sponsored and funded by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA).

The program, which wrapped up in December 2009, resulted in 41 Ontario plastics processors interested in saving energy being given free mini-assessments by the Hatch engineering research consulting firm. The jury is now in: As of press time, 19 shops have had detailed follow-up dialogue, and the results are impressive.

“The average quantified potential saving for each of the companies that we followed up with was $58,000 per year, which represented approximately 10 per cent of the electricity spent by those companies,” said Hatch’s

Emily Thorn Corthay. In total, Hatch quantified more than $1.8 million in possible annual savings for all 41 assessments, she said, and identified several times that amount in non-quantified savings that would need more resources to quantify. Of the $1.1 million of quantified savings potential identified for the 19 follow-up shops, an impressive $800,000 in savings will be, or have already been, implemented.

What’s the broader lesson? “As Canadian plastics processors become aware of the savings that can be realized through these mini-assessments, they’ll hopefully shed whatever concerns they might have about investing in energy assessments of their own,” Thorn Corthay said.

* Not that energy-efficient equipment isn't important, of course. See our special Technology Showcase section for some of the latest offerings.

10 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

energy savings

nificant effect on the bottom line.”

“Controllable costs” are the key words here. Unlike, say, the price of resins, a processor has the power to determine a large part of its energy expenses. Investing in new energyefficient processing equipment is one way to do it, of course—but implementing a replacement strategy for your old energy hogs can take time and money. There are plenty of ways, though, to save energy and trim utility bills simply by zeroing in on the equipment you already have.

START ME UP As with so much else in life, knowledge is key in the quest to eliminate energy waste. Before anything else, understand how your company is billed for electrical power. The answer usually isn’t pretty. “Many commercial facilities are billed on a rate schedule typically set around the highest 15 minute power Ortodemand during a billing period,” said Mike Orto conlano, head of renewable energy systems with con sulting company Absolute Green Energy.

Armed with this bit of information, the smart strategy isn’t hard to figure out. “Changes with respect to startups of machines and facilities are an obvious low cost energy saving method,” Ortolano continued. “A facility’s billing charge can be reduced significantly by staggering the machine startup sequence after a shutdown instead of powering up all the machines in the same period.”

GOOD COMPENSATION So far, so good, but a complete strategy goes beyond staggering your startups. What about reactive load compensation? Since the reactive load of a processing machine puts an extra load on the overhead lines, transformers, and power stations of the energy supplier’s power grid, compensation equipment is available for installation in the main distribution centre of a manufacturing facility. The goal is to ensure that the reactive power on the production floor is taken into account when planning the capacity of a company’s internal energy transfer network. Problem is, low energy periods and performance peaks tend to alternate in a quick succession with injection molding machines, making conventional reactive load compensation systems less than ideal. Wittmann Battenfeld’s EcoPower option for injection molding machines uses low maintenance semiconductor switches to activate a varying number of compensation levels, depending on the size of the drive unit. The compensation units are available for voltages

GET WITH THE PROGRAM! There’s no shortage of energy conservation programs aimed at helping Canadian manufacturers cut their utility bills. Here’s a few of them.

HYDRO QUEBEC ENERGY WISE PLANT RETROFIT PROGRAM WHAT: Offers financial assistance to large-power customers for retrofit projects aimed at reducing overall energy consumption.

HOW: The program doesn’t prescribe any particular electricity management measures, but leaves that initiative to the customer.

To qualify for financial assistance, participants must agree to demonstrate electricity savings by measuring their consumption before and after the plant retrofit project. The program is open to any company that has at least one service contract at largepower rates. Manufacturers can receive up to $30 million in financial assistance for their retrofit, but must assume 50 per cent of the eligible project costs.

Visit www.hydroquebec.com/majorcustomers/ee

ELECTRICITY RETROFIT INCENTIVE PROGRAM WHAT: Offers rebates to help manufacturers adopt more energy-efficient upgrades.

HOW: Incentives are available for pre-approved projects that result in measurable reductions in electrical peak demand. These projects may be completed using energy-efficient, leading-edge technologies or may be based on custom solutions. Applicants must be owners or tenants of business premises served by Hydro One. Applications must be received by Hydro One no later than December 31, 2010.

Visit www.erip.ca, or call 1-866-650-4709.

POWER SAVINGS BLITZ PROGRAM WHAT: Provides up to $1,000 in free energy-efficient lighting and equipment upgrades to help small businesses conserve energy and save money.

HOW: The 2010 program is offered to Hydro One business customers that have an annual electricity demand of approximately 50 kW or less.

Visit www.powersavingsblitz.ca, or call 1-866-932-8283.

EcoENERGY RETROFIT INCENTIVE FOR INDUSTRY WHAT: Offered by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), this program provides financial incentive to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers implement energy-saving projects.

HOW: To be eligible, the facility must have fewer than 500 employees, be in operation for 12 months or more, and be registered with NRCan’s leadership network. Applications can cover more than one retrofit program. NRCan will provide up to 25 per cent of project costs to a maximum of $50,000 per application and $250,000 per company.

Visit www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca

www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 11

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from 230 to 480 V and frequencies of 50 or 60 Hz. Bottom line: The dimension of the power supply installation required on the shop floor can be downsized.

Fitting fixed-speed conventional AC motors with a variable-speed drive to deliver only the required energy load on auxiliary equipment is another good, inexpensive move. Motor control manufacturer Power Efficiency Corporation recently unveiled its E-Save technology, which uses a microprocessor and circuitry to sense the energy requirements of a motor. The voltage and current being fed to the motor are monitored and the motor is provided with the exact amount of energy that it needs, allowing the motor to maintain its rated speed and torque under variable loads.

According to Power Efficiency’s chairman and CEO Steve Strasser, after motor efficiency controls were installed on 25 granulators in flexible packager Berry Plastics’ Anaheim, Calif. facility, an independent audit determined the company reduced the kilowatts required by almost 45 per cent and racked up an annual saving of US$600 per granulator unit. “Power Efficiency is currently in the process of testing the E-Save technology on injection, blow molding and extrusion machines,” Strasser added.

KEEP IT HOT We’ve still only scratched the surface. Low cost technologies such as adding barrel insulation, insulating cooling water lines and repairing compressed air leaks can all have a quick payback and should be considered as part of any low cost energy reduction program.

“Heat escaping from a processing machine is energy the processor is paying for that’s simply being lost, but there are inexpensive ways of directing it back into the machine,” said Harry Kitz, president of Process Heaters Inc. “Ceramic band heaters, which have built-in ceramic fibre insulation, can be ordered beyond the standard one-quarter inch thick layer of insulation to provide double insulation.”

Kitz also suggested draping a simple insulating blanket over a processing unit.

“Insulating blankets, like those available from Tempco Electric Heater Corporation, are ideal for water-cooled extrud-

energy savings ers and for most injection molding applications. They’re almost always a good idea for a machine startup, when heat is required very quickly.”

And while polymer processing makes up the bulk of energy costs, the lighting, heating and cooling energy required to operate a manufacturing facility are nothing to sneeze at, either. The good news? These costs are flexible, and can be trimmed with the right approach.

ASSESSING THE ASSESSMENTS As part of the recent energy conservation outreach program undertaken by the CPIA, engineering consulting firm Hatch compiled a list of quick and inexpensive energy fixes. “Based on a series of miniassessments carried out on 41 Ontario plastics processors, we found energy savings were reached by switching to ProcessHeaters-AB-CPL 3/17/10 11:48 AM smaller air compressors, using energy efficient lighting, fixing compressed air leaks, and turning off idling equipment and unloaded but running com-

pressors,” said Emily Thorn Corthay, a senior energy management consultant with Hatch.

A mini-assessment of blown film extruder Tempo Plastics, of Barrie, Ont., came back with some particularly striking findings. The Hatch consultants used an ultrasonic detector to identify numerous inaudible compressed air leaks, and estimated that Tempo Plastics could save approximately $9,000 annually in this area alone. “We determined that Tempo Plastics could also save approximately $7,500 per year just by switching to smaller air compressors from Friday night to Sunday,” Thorn Corthay noted.

Other recommendations included reducing the compressed air pressure by 10 psi for a savings of approximately $4,500 a year, using outside air as intake for the compressors in the cooler weather for a savings of $4,400 a year, and shifting Page 1 loads to reduce peak demand costs.

In the end, trimming energy costs without splurging on new equipment is possible, and is definitely smart business.

What’s necessary above all else, experts say, is the simple willingness to do it.

“Changing the energy conservation culture in a processing plant ultimately requires commitments from senior management on down,” said Thorn Corthay. “With the right mindset, energy doesn’t have to be a fixed cost—it can be a variable that the processor can control.”

CPL RESOURCE LIST Absolute Green Energy (Worcester, Mass.); www.absolutegreenenergy.com; 508-459-5410 Hatch (Mississauga, Ont.); www.hatch.ca; 905-855-7600 Power Efficiency Corporation (Las Vegas, Nev.); www.powerefficiency.com; 702-697-0377 Rotalec (Saint-Laurent, Que.); 514-341-3685 (Brantford, Ont.); 519-753-5100 Tempco Electric Heater Corporation (Wood Dale, Ill.); www.tempco.com; 1-888-268-6396 Process Heaters Inc. (Toronto); 416-747-8250 RC2 Technologies Inc. (Blainville, Que.); 450-433-1309 Wittmann Canada Inc. (Richmond Hill, Ont.); www.wittmann-canada.com; 1-866-466-8266

SMART IDEAS FROM PROCESS HEATERS Spend a little; Save a lot!

Ceramic band heaters Can be ordered with half-inch thick double insulation for extra energy savings.

Air-cooled cast aluminum heaters Cool to the touch.

Water cooling giving you headaches? Try trouble-free air-cooled heaters!

Insulating blankets You’ll save energy with modular insulation blankets on the barrel of your injection molding machine or extruder.

Typical savings: around $750 per machine per year.

Insulated barrel temperature: 71° C (159° F) Bare barrel temperature: 329° C (624° F)

Process Heaters Inc.

Call toll free 1-877-747-8250 • Email: proheat@processheaters.ca • www.processheaters.ca

www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 13

engineering resins

PROJECT: C ommercial natural gas pipeline RESIN: Arkema’s Rilsan Polyamide 11

SPOTLIGHT ON

GROUNDBREAKING APPLICATIONS

A tough grade of nylon is creating a new market opportunity that you might never actually see: underground pipelines.

In November 2009, a 6,000-foot natural gas pipeline was run under the farmland near Corsicana, Tex. made from Rilsan Polyamide (PA) 11 from Arkema—the first purely commercial pipeline application to use PA 11 in North America.

According to Pratik Shah, energy market manager for technical polymers with Arkema, Rilsan PA 11 nylon was chosen as a replacement for steel because it satisfies a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) amendment governing gas distribution pipes at pressures up to 200 psi. “After 14 years of research and development, the Rilsan material is the only plastic pipe permitted under the DOT amendment,” he said. “The grade was developed specifically for this application, and had to satisfy a number of requirements.” Among these, the material had to be processable in large diameter pipe—in this case, four-inch SDR-11 pipe; had to withstand what’s known as rapid crack propagation, a very fast fracture process during which cracks spreading at up to 600 feet per second, over hundreds of feet of pipe, have been measured; and had to resist chemical contamination from the surrounding soil.

In addition to meeting the toughness criteria, there are economic benefits to using plastic in natural gas pipelines, Shah continued. Low installation cost is a big one. “Steel pipes normally require expensive welds every 20 or 40 feet, at an estimated price of about US$100 to US$160 per weld,” he said.

“Pipes made from Rilsan PA 11 require only a butt fusion joining, which is estimated to cost less than US$40 per joint.”

Beyond the bonuses in performance and economics, there’s also an environmental benefit to the Corsicana pipeline: Rilsan PA 11 is made from the oil of castor beans, making it fully renewable and fully recyclable, but not biodegradable.

“Natural gas pipelines are a real opportunity to do something new with plastics, and we’ve already followed up with a 10.5mile installation that began in March 2010,” Shah said.

Contact: Arkema Canada Inc. (Burlington, Ont.); www. arkema-inc.com; 1-800-567-5726

14 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

By Mark Stephen, editor

PROJECT: R eplacement for lead radiation shielding RESIN: P olyOne’s Trilliant HC GRV specialty compound Concerned about toxicity, a multinational manufacturer of computer tomography (CT) scanners for the healthcare industry wanted a replacement for lead used in radiation-shielding components.

When efforts to replace lead with tungsten in a device called a collimator resulted in a one-eighth-inch-diameter “hot spot” of potential radiation leakage, the manufacturer turned to medical parts molder Thogus—and Thogus turned to PolyOne. “We first worked with PolyOne eight years ago on a project to take lead shot out of firing range bullets, and they’d developed a high-density, nylon metal composite for us called Gravi-Tech,” said Matt Hlavin, president of Avon Lake, Ohiobased Thogus. “By 2009, when we became involved in the replacement project for lead radiation shielding, Gravi-Tech had been rebranded as Trilliant HC GVR, and we knew it was the right material for the job.”

According to PolyOne, Trilliant HC GRV blocks radiation at levels that meet or exceed those of pure lead. Though not without production challenges—the heavy, impact-modified grade of Trilliant HC made it necessary for Thogus to install specialized material handling equipment, for example—the molder produced a collimator that actually exceeded standard requirements for radiation shielding equipment.

Additionally, Thogus was able to deliver the part for a fraction of the cost. Previously, collimator blades were being machined from tungsten at a cost of US$90 each just for the raw material; using Trilliant HC GRV reduced the material cost to US$35.

The success of the collimator project has given Thogus a new entry into the world of medical parts molding, allowing the company to create its new Radiation Protection Technologies division.

Contact: PolyOne Distribution Canada (Mississauga, Ont.); www.polyone.com; 1-888-394-2662

engineering resins

Molders looking to thrive, not just survive, are always searching for the next big opportunity. But you can’t do it alone, and it usually takes help from a new resin to land that game-changing new project. Looking for inspiration? Canadian Plastics examines some of the most recent applications made possible by the latest in engineering resins.

PROJECT: Micro components for hearing aids RESIN: Clariant Masterbatches’ nylon 6/6 Accumold LLC, an Ankeny, Iowa-based molder of precision microparts, was recently presented with a problem by its customer Knowles Electronics, a manufacturer of miniature audio components for hearing aids: supply Knowles with hearing aid parts with wall thicknesses of 0.01 inches and smaller that match more than 60 colors, including 20 different flesh tones.

Accumold decided to go with a nylon 6/6, supplied by Clariant Masterbatches’ specialty compounding unit, with three different levels of glass fibre: 50 per cent, 35 per cent and 30 per cent. Even in parts as small as those required by Knowles the glass is needed to provide stiffness and dimensional stability.

The nylon was specially formulated for improved flow to fill the tiny mold sections involved.

To satisfy the spectrum of color requirements, Clariant was able to deliver the materials in the colors specified, often with built-in additives to improve processing and end-product performance. “The color dispersion needs to be very precise,” said Tom Murphy, Accumold’s vice president of production. “In the parts we mold, there’s a definite transparency factor. If you evaluate a two- or three-inch sample chip, the color might look fine, but in these thin-wall sections you can immediately see any inconsistency. The other things we worry about are black specks. If you can see it in the part, the customer will reject it.”

Black specks?

In an occasional by-product of the compounding process, fragments of polymer get hung up in the extruder, degrade and then break free, to appear in the finished compound as—you guessed it—black specks. Clariant overcame this problem by implementing a particularly well-controlled manufacturing process, and by using a testing procedure developed by TAPPI, the pulp and paper industry association, to measure how many and what size specks are in a given sample.

Contact: Clariant Masterbatches Division (Toronto); www.clariant. masterbatches.com; 1-800-265-3773

PROJECT: Inhalation devices for drug dispensing RESIN: SABIC Innovative Plastics’ LNP Stat-Loy specialty compound Static electricity is a major challenge in the effective use of inhalation devices, and—if you really think about it—it’s not hard to figure out why: Tiny drug particles can build up an electrostatic charge, causing them to adhere to the device instead of being dispensed to the patient.

Traditionally, the only way around this for medical device manufacturers has been to utilize coatings to control static charges in costly secondary operations. Drug companies, meanwhile, had to overload dosages to ensure patients received 100 per cent of their dosage in a given treatment. Again, not cheap.

Now, three additions to SABIC Innovative Plastics’ LNP Stat-Loy specialty compounds are designed to provide permanent anti-static properties in inhalation devices. The new compounds are available in three transparent resins systems: ABS; PMMA/acrylic; and Xylex resin, a PC/polyester alloy.

According to David DeVito, SABIC’s LNP compounds product marketing manager, all three new compounds are under analysis for inhalation devices, which are in the clinical trial stage. “The compounds are also pre-assessed for biocompatibility according to ISO 10993 to help future medical device manufacturers expedite compliance and time to market,” he said.

A primary challenge in making an anti-static material was to maintain clarity and transparency, DeVito said. “Preserving clarity is particularly important for ensuring visibility of the device contents,” he explained. “It can be important for the patient’s peace of mind that they actually see their dosage being delivered.”

Speaking of dosing, the incorporation of an anti-static resin in new generations of inhalation devices means drug companies will be able to optimize patient dosages for improved safety, and save some money in the process. “Medical part molders, meanwhile, can eliminate the expensive secondary operations that were necessary to utilize anti-static coating,” DeVito added.

Contact: SABIC Innovative Plastics (Toronto); www.sabic-ip.com; 1-800-323-3783

www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 15

engineering resins

PROJECT: Alpine ski boot RESIN: DuPont’s Hytrel RS thermoplastic elastomer Skiers tend to be an environmentally friendly bunch, and the challenge in selling them new gear is not to offend that “green” awareness.

New on the slopes during the winter of 2009/2010, the “Ghost” alpine ski boot from famed sporting goods supplier Salomon features a collar made from DuPont Engineering Polymers’ Hytrel RS thermoplastic elastomer. According to DuPont, the Hytrel RS material has been developed using a polyol derived from corn sugar and other resources, and contains in total between 20 and 60 per cent renewably-sourced material.

Ski boot collars help provide a secure fit of the boot to the skier and protect the lower leg, but also have to be flexible enough to allow a good and reliable transfer of movement from the leg to the ski. It’s a make or break component, and Salomon didn’t decide to

go with Hytrel RS until after comprehensive field testing by several of the company’s freeriders. “The freeriders returned with very positive comments on the boot’s behaviour at low temperatures, as well as its consistent behaviour over a wide temperature range,” said Pascal Pallatin, a research project manager at Salomon, which is based in Annecy, France.

SaloHaving been given the go-ahead by Salo mon, the collars were injection molded as a single piece and colored white using mastermaster batch, with the “Ghost” motif added using pad printing. The grade selected by Salomon contains 27 weight per cent renewably-sourced material, and offers flex fatigue, flexibility and impact resisresis tance at temperatures as low as -20°C. “We’d been looking for a way to decrease the use of petroleum-based products in our latest alpine ski boots,” Pallatin said. “The fact that we could now mateaccess a grade of the high-performance mate rial with a significant renewable content is an additional selling point for us.”

Contact: E.I.duPont Company (Mississauga, Ont.); www.plastics.dupont.com; 905-821-5193

You manage expenditures to get the best value so when evaluating chilling systems consider that Berg Chilling ranked number 1 against its competitors in all criteria in an independent survey*.

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16 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

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ERP software

ALL SYSTEMS GO Avoiding downtime with ERP software

By Mark Stephen, editor

On an importance scale of one to 10, avoiding unnecessary downtime probably ranks as an 11 for plastics processors looking to get ahead. The bad news? Trying to manage production on Excel spreadsheets won’t cut it. The good news? Industry-specific ERP software can be your eyes and ears on the shop floor, maximizing efficiencies and alerting you to production problems before they happen.

Here’s a definition taken from Wikipedia: “Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an integrated computer-based system used to manage internal and external resources including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources.”

Here’s another, from the same source: “Downtime is a period when a system or machine is unavailable, and fails to provide or perform its primary function.”

Question is, can an investment by plastics processors in the subject of the first definition help them reduce the subject of the second? You bet; and for processors trying to maximize their resources and avoid waste during the so-called Great Recession, there’s probably never been a better time to make the leap, especially with the growing availability of real-time ERP programs designed to deal with the intricacies and outright quirks of plastics processing.

INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC ERP software suppliers agree on two things: More and more processors are saying they’ve outgrown their old Excel spreadsheetbased systems and are taking a serious look at ERP to steamline operations and avoid production downtime, and the ERP systems best suited to handle these tasks are those written expressly for our industry. “There are subtle nuances and languages around plastics processing that many, if not most, ERP manufacturing systems just don’t handle, and also subtlties within plastics processing itself,” said Glenn Nowak, vice president of sales at IQMS. “An ERP system that doesn’t make these distinctions won’t alert you to processes or production lines that are underperforming.”

HYPOTHETICAL SHOP, REAL SOLUTIONS Let’s set the stage first, and assume that an ERP system has just been installed on the internal server of a hypothetical injection molding 18 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

facility. In additon to other things, the software is now showing rate of production, cycle time, the number of part rejects and more for all processing machinery on computer screens in offices, on the shop floor—and even desktops at home—in user-friendly real-time.

Avoiding downtime doesn’t have to mean something as dramatic as a flashing color code, tied into a mounted yellow lightstick on the machine, to indicate when a unit has shut down; sometimes the improvement is as simple as making sure the work schedule is running smoothly. Again, specialized ERP software is important here. “CyFrame’s JobTrack ERP software has very specific modules for injection, blow molding and extrusion,” said Rick Dunne, vice president of sales and marketing at CyFrame International Enterprises. “In extrusion platforms, for example, material consumption is measured in extruded pounds rather than cycle times. Processors need this kind of information if they’re going to avoid machine downtime and scheduling conflicts.”

Without ERP, inefficiency and miscommunication that predate a production run can strangle its productivity, leading to an uplanned work stoppage. “The amount of duplication of data in some shops is astronomical, making it harder to keep track of the production data that really matters,” Dunne continued. “One of the main functions of a good ERP program is helping managers and employees streamline production through visual checklists and to-do lists generated in sequential order.”

Exposing the transparency of production information brings everyone into the production loop, making delays or shutdowns caused by miscommunication far less likely. And they stay in the loop because—unlike with our old friend the Excel spreadsheet system—production information is locked down, and can’t be changed by one person hoping, perhaps, to cover over a mistake.

With its web architecture, JobTrack allows a scheduler to

ERP software share information from one or multiple plants, make changes to the allotted production time of a machine, track raw material consumption and availability, and view equipment or material constraints from any browser on the network. “The latest JobTrack feature allows managers to be alerted to constraints by an alert on their cellphone,” Dunne said.

Let’s also assume that our injection molder is making parts for the auto industry. ERP software is available that takes even that distinction into account. “Solarsoft’s iVP software is niched to allow automotive parts manufacturers to perform supply-chain management or scheduling of components,” said

International Trade Fair No. 1 for Plastics and Rubber Worldwide

OUIJA BOARD NO MORE: One molder’s ERP story In the article above, we put ourselves in the shoes of a hypothetical injection molder.

Here’s a real one with an ERP story to tell.

THE COMPANY: Custom injection molder Ottawa Mould Craft Ltd. manufactures a range of products on the 22 machines in its 40,000 square foot facility: communications equipment such as cell phones and fibre optics connectors; consumer products including tools, toys, pagers and furniture components; and protective equipment and breathing apparatus for the military.

THE PROBLEM: Up until three years ago, the 120-employee strong, Ottawa, Ont.-based company managed its plant monitoring primarily through Excel spreadsheets, with separate, multiple programs for its accounting, sales management, marketing and a third software for shipping. “There was no integration in our company between finance and manufacturing,” said vice president David Veal. “The old system was basically a cross between a crystal ball and a Ouija board.”

THE SOLUTION: After a three-year hunt for an ERP provider, the company selected the EnterpriseIQ ERP system from IQMS. “Most of the programs we’d considered were either strong in manufacturing or in finance, but not both,” Veal said. “EnterpriseIQ balanced the two, and was designed specifically for injection molding.”

Features of the EnterpriseIQ system include a comprehensive financial management system, real-time machine monitoring, regrind usage and consumption capabilities, multi-level bills of manufacture, and multi-tool and family-tool functionality.

“The software also supplies process information such as which machines are running and their cycle times and scrap rates, for example, as well as where the purging is going,” Veal said.

The software took approximately one year to install, and Veal admits to some problems at first. “The biggest challenge was rethinking what we were doing,” he said. “We had to stop trying to make the software do all the bad things we’d been doing, and instead do the good things it was telling us to do.”

THE RESULTS: Ottawa Mould has now centralized its business activity and improved its overall effectiveness and efficiency of operations. “Within a year of installing the software we’d quadrupled our sales without adding any front-end staff,” Veal said. “We could never have achieved that level of success if we were still running our business with Excel.”

k-online.de

Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Inc. Your contact: Stefan Egge 480 University Avenue, Suite 1500 Toronto, ON, M5G 1V2 Tel: (416) 5 98 - 15 24 Fax: (416) 5 98 - 18 40 E-mail: messeduesseldorf @germanchamber.ca

www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 19 kmd1002_86x256.indd 1

06.01.2010 15:56:45 Uhr

ERP software Shawn McMorran, CEO of Solarsoft Business Systems. “We understand they need to deliver their parts in a very short timeframe with large penalties for sequencing errors, and the software reflects this.”

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

SAB

No disrespect intended, but the workers at our hypothetical molding shop probably don’t realize they’re not running at 100 per cent efficiency in the first place. This leads to another benefit of ERP: cold, hard production numbers, against which it’s hard to argue.

The benefits in catching and correcting even one underperfoming machine, for example, can be dramatic. “One machine losing one second on a standard 20-second cycle time is the equivalent of one lost production shift per week,” McMorran continued. “Correcting that problem recovers a lot of lost time and money.”

Underperforming machines also create a shop floor bottleneck that backs up production, meaning more lost time and money. “A machine cycling at too slow a rate has a huge effect on the balance of the jobs in the queue behind it,” said Glenn Nowak. But beware the machine that runs too quickly, too, since it can drain the raw material available for the next job, leading to a shutdown.

ERP production monitoring problem.

Ad/AB/CPL 1/22/10 10:07 can AM detect Pageeither 4 “The ERP software that we integrate, including Solarsoft’s iVP, tracks all of the uptime, the downtime, and the inefficiencies, to let management make informed decisions,” said Gary Benedix, vice president of ERP integrator Syscon-PlantStar. “If

a machine is down for a tool change, the software records how long the interruption lasts, and this number can be used as a benchmark for improvement the next time.”

Allowing for improvements the next time is one of the big benefits of ERP; data isn’t just displayed for the here and now, but recorded for calculations about future performance. “The EnterpriseIQ software from IQMS records the efficiency of information, and can make calculations about which mold will run best in which processing machine,” said Glenn Nowak.

Finally, if our hypothetical injection molder is worried about the cost of implementing a good ERP system, the investment might come to less than they think, and can also pay back in big dividends (see sidebar on pg. 19). “There’s a misperception in the market that you have to install a big-name, million-dollar ERP system to get results,” said CyFrame’s Rick Dunne. “A better choice is something less expensive and more industry-specific that returns your investment quickly, often in less than a year.”

CPL RESOURCE LIST CyFrame International Enterprises Inc. (Montreal); www.cyframe.com; 514-693-0999 IQMS (Pasa Robles, Calif.); www.iqms.com; 1-866-367-3772 Solarsoft Business Systems (Richmond Hill, Ont.); www.solarsoft.com; 1-888-544-6315 Syscon-PlantStar (South Bend, Ind.); www.plantstar.org; 574-232-3900 Control Solutions Inc. (Brampton, Ont.); 905-458-8382

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FOR PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENTS

Servo robots with highly accurate positioning.

Custom designed automation cells.

High-precision, all-electric injection molding machines, 35T–1,000T Environmentally friendly: no oil, no noise, energy-saving.

Hot runner control systems, sequential valve gate systems, production monitoring systems and Mold temperature controllers (water and oil).

The most technologically advanced, closed loop, process cooling systems, Chillers with free cooling capability and thermolators for precise control of the process parameters .

For your solution, contact: Automatisation S.A.B. Inc, Varennes, Que. 450-652-9767 www.automatisationsab.com Plastic Automation, Toronto. 416-938-3648, email: pae.inc@rogers.com 20 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

packaging

Pouches

get popular

By Mark Stephen, editor

These days, it pays to be a pouch manufacturer

P

erhaps it’s strange, but these are golden days for plastics packagers. Strange because, despite bag bans and heated attacks from environmental groups, plastics have become the materials of choice for food and beverage packagers looking to satisfy cost and efficiency concerns while also wooing splintering consumer groups.

Topping the list of popular options are pouches, which are expected to show the greatest percentage of growth in North America between 2010 and 2020, according to a recent study by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) trade association.

GETTING A GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL GRADE Probably the biggest driver behind this rise is environmental friendliness. Retailers who are nervous about offending consumers’ ever-increasing “green” sensibilities—all of them, in other words—like pouches because they require much less landfill space than plastic bottles, and because some pouches are completely biodegradable. “In addition, when compared to bottles, pouches require a fraction of the shipping infrastructure, which saves on fuel,” the PMMI report said. “The beverage volume transported in a truckload of quart-sized pouches would require nine trucks of glass or plastic bottles.”

Powering this trend even further, retail giant Walmart Canada introduced its so-called Sustainability Scorecard in July 2009, designed to rate a prospective supplier according to the lightness of their environmental footprint. “Walmart wants manufacturers to enable them to have the lowest carbon imprint on their shelf, and products given a high score for reducing environmental impact are the ones Walmart buys,” said Mark Lichtblau, corporate vice president with mono- and multi-layer film supplier Haremar Plastic Manufacturing. “A big part of getting a good score comes from having the least amount of true packaging for the product, a criteria that favours pouches.”

With other retailers following suit with scorecards of their own, Lichtblau continued, the idea is a windfall for pouch makers, and makes it more likely that new packaging entrants will invest in pouches instead of bottles or boxes.

CONVENIENCE IS KING Another big driver is convenience. “Consumers want longer shelf life and better barrier properties for their products, especially in the cases of frozen and processed food products,” said Sanjay Amin, manager of exports with packaging equipment supplier Mamata

M a c h i n e r y.

“The use of unsupported co-extruded films with either PA or EVOH as middle layer or outer layers for barrier properties in pouches has increased to facilitate this.”

One recent convenience-adding feature is aimed squarely at the refill market. “Consumers can purchase a product such as Windex or a liquid soap in a plastic bottle, use up the contents, and then buy a refill in a plastic pouch for use in the original bottle,” said Mark Lichtblau. “By reducing the amount of plastic going to landfill, it allows consumers to feel good about the purchase. It makes sense in every respect.”

MACHINERY STEPS UP New processing and packaging equipment has made pouches cost-effective for high volume operations, allowing them to run faster than other packaging formats—and the developments keep coming.

“Processors are getting more and more into replacing rigid packaging with value-added pouch applications like resealable zippers and side or bottom gussets, developments which give them value for money in terms of converting,” said Sanjay Amin. To address the packaging needs of resealable sidegusseted pouches from laminated films for packaging of PET food, Amin continued, Mamata recently introduced a sidegusseted resealable zipper pouch feature on its 32-inch wide Vega pouch-making machines. “The units can also make conventional three-side seal pouches, zipper pouches and slider zipper applications, stand-up pouches from single web and insert bottom gussets, as well as side-gusseted pouches from a single web or three webs,” he said.

CPL RESOURCE LIST Haremar Plastic Manufacturing Ltd. (Toronto); www.haremar.com; 905-761-7552 Mamata U.S.A. Inc. (Montgomery, Ill.); www.mamatausa.com; 630-801-2320

Mamata’s Vega 610 pouch-making system.

ata U.S.A.

edit: Mam Photo Cr

Inc.

www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 21

wind power

WINDS of opportunity

The

Recognition of the value of wind energy as a low cost, clean source for electricity is on the rise in Canada — and so is the value of making wind turbine components for manufacturing firms looking to diversify.

But what opportunities will they have, and how ready are they?

By Mark Stephen, editor

T

he wind power industry is poised to change the nature of energy production in Canada, creating new business opportunities for manu manufacturing and materials innovation.

This new direction was heralded by the announcement in February 2010 that a South Korean consortium led by Samsung C&T had reached a $7 billion deal with the Ontario provincial government to manu manufacture and deploy wind energy gear in Ontario over the next six years. On the heels of that, Toronto-based offshore wind developer Trillium Power Wind Corporation selected Denmark’s Ves Vestas Offshore Offshore—the world’s largest m a k e r of wind turbines—as its preferred sup supplier on all four of its offshore wind projects under development on the Ontario side of the Great Lakes.

REALLY GREAT LAKES All signs point to the Great Lakes being the focal point of the wind turbine technology boom. The biggest freshwater offshore wind resource on the continent, the lakes are a huge draw for wind power companies, offering enormous potential because of the mix of high winds, relatively shal shallow water and the proximity of existing transmis transmission lines.

The Ontario government hasn’t missed a beat either, acting quickly to make the region investor-friendly. The province’s two-year-old Green Energy Act, designed to boost investment in renewable energy projects, makes it relatively simple for turbine makers to obtain wind farm permits. In this it’s been a huge success: The 22 Canadian Plastics April 2010

www.canplastics.com

government has been so overwhelmed with applications for offshore wind projects that last fall it stopped accepting them.

In short, wind turbine manufacturing in North America seems set to go from cottage industry to large-scale production operation. It’s the beginning of a game-changer for innovative Canadian manufacturers, including mold makers and plastics processors looking for diversification and renewal.

STEEL SUBSTITUTE The only questions are, exactly what’s in it for these and other firms, and how ready are they?

A typical wind turbine is made up of about 8,000 separate parts, from electronics to heavy metal components, each one of which offers manufacturing potential for any company with experience making precision components. Blades, for example, are primarily made of glass-reinforced plastic—an obvious manufacturing opportunity for processors right now. Blades aside, turbine material usage is currently dominated by steel, but opportunities exist for introducing aluminum or other lightweight composites like plastic, provided strength and fatigue requirements can be met.

A study underway in Ohio might point the way to a hugely expanded role for plastics in wind turbines in the future. Scientists at the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) are designing and testing structures and materials for fibre-reinforced plastic composite turbine towers up to 330 feet tall, 65 feet taller than the steel wind towers currently used.

According to Brian Dice, division head for Multi-Scale Composites and Polymers at UDRI,

wind power the goal is to make the towers taller for access to greater wind speeds, but without the transportation and assembly headaches caused by trucking ever-longer sections of steel turbines to remote wind farm locations. “Instead, fiberglass and resin tower sections would be manufactured at the wind farm using raw materials sent to the site, with part molding carried out locally,” he said.

STANDARD PROBLEM While the jury is still out on the UDRI project, the possibilities it suggests for plastics processors and mold makers on both sides of the border are hard to exaggerate—but there’s no shortage of Canadian firms preparing for wind turbine projects right now.

Take a new cooperative venture called XAG Energy, for example.

Founded by five Windsor, Ont. business leaders, XAG Energy is working to create a single source of access to a network of southern Ontario manufacturers, assemblers, construction professionals and service providers capable of working on wind turbine projects.

Since setting up headquarters in April 2009 in Oldcastle, Ont., XAG Energy has seen its membership swell to 200 companies, and has also joined Ottawa, Ont.-based trade organization the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA). The next steps, according to XAG Energy’s Ed Bernard, include an ongoPCMExpoing 1/2 Ad 1/13/10 Page Lakes 1 project undertaken2:27 with PM the Great Wind Network, a Cleveland, Ohio-based supply chain network for wind turbine manufacturing. The goal is to assess Canadian shops, determining which are currently capable of supplying wind turbine parts that meet international technical standards. “We’ve also formed a

THE GASPÉ PENINSULA EXAMPLE

In Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula region, where many traditional industries like fishing, agriculture, forestry and mining are in decline, wind energy has brightened the economic picture. To take advantage of strong, reliable onshore winds from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, eight wind farms with a total installed capacity of 422.25 megawatts have been in operation since 1998, with eight more slated for operation by 2015.

For the manufacturing community, $63 million of investment has already created 600 permanent jobs and spawned a further 200 jobs in research, training, transportation and other services.

Gaspé Peninsula firms are now producing turbine towers, turbine blades, nacelle covers, control panels and other wind energy components. Some of these companies are already exporting wind turbine components to the U.S. and other parts of Canada.

Source: Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources

joint venture with Great Lakes Wind Network to establish North American quality and audit standards that meet global requirements,” Bernard said.

For manufacturers looking for access to the wind turbine industry, Bernard explained, the name of the game is measuring up to these often-formidable technical standards. “Each wind turbine is certified as a unit, and this means even the smallest component can’t be changed without affecting the performance of the

THE ONLY PLASTICS SHOW IN CANADA IN 2010

PCMEXPO

Plastiques, Composites et Moules Expo Plastics, Composites and Molds Expo

A tabletop show and technical seminars produced by

Canadian Plastics

plastiques et moules Supplément de la revue Canadian Plastics

Thursday, September 23, 2010 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Loews Hôtel Le Concorde Québec City, Québec

The publishers of Canadian Plastics and Plastiques et moules announce the launch of a tabletop show with technical seminars presented by exhibitors.

We are partnering with the industry association FEPAC (Federation of Plastics and Alliances Composites) whose Forum Canada conference and Awards Gala will take place the next day, at Loews Hôtel Le Concorde.

A jointly sponsored PCMExpo/FEPAC cocktail reception from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. after the tabletop show, will provide an excellent networking forum.

This one-day show provides an opportunity for you to market your products and services in a productive and constructive

sales environment. Meet over 200 potential customers in an approachable, buying atmosphere.

Cost effective. Exhibit space costs as little as $795 for a table.

To book your exhibit space or receive more information, contact your Canadian Plastics sales representative: Judith Nancekivell, Senior Publisher Tel: 416-510-5116 Email: jnancekivell@canplastics.com Brayden Ford, Sales Representative Tel: 416-510-5124 Email: bford@canplastics.com

www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 23

wind power

KShow

entire turbine,” he explained. “Standards are everything in this situation, and before a foreign turbine supplier awards a contract in North America, it requires a company to show it can meet these standards by passing an independent assessment. Until Canadian manufacturers can build to international standards, they’re restricted in the short term.”

Restricted, but not shut out. Some Canadian shops, among them an XAG Energy board member, are already involved in parts production, making wind turbine towers, blades, nacelle covers and more.

These examples aside, how ready for these challenges is the average manufacturer? “Right now, Canadian companies have the skills, the equipment and the plant capacity for assembly of major and minor turbine components, but not always the culture,” Bermard “The Ad 1/2 pg-AB-CPL 1/13/10said.

2:34 PM cultural change comes when they realize that today’s wind turbine industry is at the same point as the auto industry 100 years ago—it’s that big an opportunity.”

CPL

THE WIND ENERGY SUPPLY CHAIN

In simple terms, a wind turbine consists of a rotor that has wing-shaped blades attached to a hub; a nacelle that houses a drivetrain consisting of a gearbox, connecting shafts, support bearings, the generator, plus other machinery; a tower; and groundmounted electrical equipment. A 2008 CanWEA survey of Canadian manufacturing capabilities and demand revealed hundreds of firms which have or could easily acquire the technical competence to supply components for wind turbines. Markets in which Canadian firms would enjoy a competitive advantage include: TURBINE TOWERS—Due to high transport costs, turbine makers prefer to source towers locally.

ROTOR BLADES—Due to high transport costs and the risk of damage in transit, turbine makers prefer to source rotor blades locally.

CASTINGS—Canadian producers with the right equipment could supply large castings for frames, gearbox housings and turbine hubs. Turbine makers compete with other industries for casting services and capacity is tight worldwide, offering an opportunity for new entrants.

FORGINGS—Canadian producers with the right equipment will have ready access to this market. Worldwide capacity is tight, and demand comes from various sectors. Canadian experience from hydroelectric turbine shaft forging will be an advantage.

NACELLE ASSEMBLY—High transport costs coupled with relative low setup costs favour local producers. The establishment of nacelle assembly facilities will stimulate developPage 1 ment of a local sub-components supply chain.

NACELLE COVERS—High transport costs favour local suppliers with experience in large composite material construction, including plastics.

Source: CanWEA

TURBO CHARGE YOUR BUSINESS WITH A VISIT TO K 2010!

BE PART OF THE OFFICIAL CANADIAN DELEGATION Canadian Plastics and Plastiques et moules is partnering with FEPAC (Federation of Plastics and Alliances Composites) to bring Canadians to the K Show as a whole group. This program will create a unique dynamic among participants, enhancing future collaborations and partnerships for a stronger Canada to compete in global markets.

We’ve teamed up with Carlson Wagonlit to bring you an unbeatable travel package: • SPACIOUS ROOM FOR 6 NIGHTS AT THE MARRIOTT COLOGNE (4 STARS +).

• ROUND TRIP AIR TRANSPORTATION FROM TORONTO or MONTREAL (departures available from other cities at a nominal surcharge)

• 4-DAY ADMISSION TO K2010 and EXHIBITORS CATALOGUE. • DAILY BUFFET BREAKFAST. Departure October 26; return November 2 $3650.00* (*double occupancy; single occupancy available for a surcharge)

To reserve your K 2010 travel package, contact :

• FIRST CLASS PASS FOR ALL TRAINS between Cologne and Düsseldorf and LOCAL TRAM from the main Düsseldorf train station to the K2010 site.

• WELCOME DINNER in local brauhaus.

• FAREWELL DINNER at the Marriott Hotel.

• EXPERT ASSISTANCE ON SITE provided by Carlson Wagonlit and FEPAC staff.

OTHER PACKAGES AVAILABLE INCLUDING A MIX OF BUSINESS AND PLEASURE.

André Houle, General Manager CARLSON WAGONLIT TRAVEL

24 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

Toll Free Tel: 1-888-378-7208; Fax 1-866-880-1121 Email: ahoule@voyagelm.ca

technology showcase • spotlight on energy savings

On pages 10-13, we offered some ideas for cutting the energy consumption of some of your existing equipment.

But if new energy-efficient technology is what you’re after, look no further—here’s some of what’s available right now.

AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT

Single-stage drying system A new drying system from The Conair Group allows users to optimize drying conditions while saving energy.

Built around a Conair Carousel Plus desiccant dryer, the EnergySmart Single-Stage (ES-1) has a TouchView dryer control that adds just enough heat energy to the bed of material in the drying hopper to maintain an optimum temperature profile, resulting in less wasted energy.

For applications involving resins like PET that require precision drying at temperatures as high as 350°F (177°C), the ES-1 system can deliver an average energy savings of between 35 and 45 per cent compared to conventional dryers.

The Conair Group (Cranberry Township. Pa.); www.conairnet.com; 1-800-654-6661 Hamilton Avtec Inc. (Mississauga, Ont.); 1-800-590-5546

Drying system reduces operating costs

The single-flow and dual-flow IntelliPET Drying Systems from Novatec Inc. incorporate PowerGuard Adaptive Control features to cut energy costs by up to 15 per cent over standard wheel dryer designs and up to 50 per cent over old dual-bed designs.

Adaptive Control utilizes three variable-frequency, energy-saving drives: one controls process blower speed, the second controls the regeneration blower and the third controls the rotation speed of the desiccant wheel.

Variable speed drives are also used to improve energy savings in the regeneration process.

The IntelliPET PowerGuard series dryers are designed for two applications. A single-flow hopper/dryer is primarily used for drying virgin/cool PET resin, and a dual-flow dryer and hopper design is used for pre-heated crystallized PET. Maguire Canada/Novatec Inc. (Vaughan, Ont.); www.maguirecanada.com; 1-866-441-8409

Portable chiller offers capacity control The new Maximum portable water chiller from Advantage Engineering Inc. comes with a Copeland Scroll Digital compressor to provide energy-efficient capacity control of portable and central chillers.

The Advantage M1D microprocessor control instrument is specifically engineered to provide system unloading control. Since there is in compression when the compressor is in the unloaded state, less energy is consumed. Testing shows that compressor energy is reduced by approximately eight per cent when running at 75 per cent capacity, 12 per cent when running at 50 per cent capacity, and 18 per cent when running at 25 per cent capacity.

Advantage Engineering Inc. (Greenwood, Ind.); www.advantageengineering.com; 317-887-0729 Chillers Inc. (Newmarket, Ont.); 905-895-9667

Shop floor cooler for manufacturing facilities A new portable, environmentally friendly cooling fan available from High Command Distributing uses the same amount of electricity as a floor fan but sends out as much cool air as a powerful air conditioning unit.

The fan offers microcomputercontrolled evaporative cooling, and an automatic control device that minimizes energy use. Also, the unit’s small size makes it a good fit for even the tightest shop floor space.

High Command Distributing (Newmarket, Ont.); www.highcommanddistributing.com; 905-715-2209

INJECTION MOLDING

All-electric units for cleanroom applications

A new line of all-electric, energy-efficient Canbel CR series machines from Negri Bossi is specifically designed for cleanroom molding.

Available in three models—the VE120340, VE160-620 and VE210-780—the www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 25

technology showcase • spotlight on energy savings Canbel units offer energy savings of up to 75 per cent compared to conventional hydraulic machines.

The models are also designed to be environmentally friendly.

With no hydraulic power systems under pressure, the injection unit ball screw is lubricated by an oil bath in a double-sealed casing. Closed loop fluid cooling of all servo motors further reduces any environmental troubles that open-air cooling fans can cause, and the machine paint is a special anti-static type coating that reduces attraction of airborne particulates or dust.

Also, Canbel CR machines can be connected to an optional electrically operated core pull system.

Negri Bossi Inc. (Mississauga, Ont.); www.negribossi.com; 905-625-7257

Mixing screw provides energy efficiency Milacron’s new Roboshot S2000i-B series offers between 50 to 80 per cent less energy consumption than comparable units.

The BARR VBET (variable barrier energy transfer) mixing screw provides measurable energy efficiencies by employing conducive melting rather than shearing–resulting in energy reductions of up to 40 per cent. The VBET design is available on all Roboshot models using 36mm or larger feed screws.

The S2000i-B machines also come with a new energy efficient heaterband technology, the ServTek TCS for smaller diameter injection units. Incorporation of this technology can reduce energy consumption by as much as 35 to 50 per cent.

The Roboshot enhancements are currently available on machines of 55, 110 and 165 U.S. tons of clamping pressure, with the remainder to be completed by the end of 2010.

Milacron Canada Inc. (Burlington, Ont.); www.milacron.com; 905-319-1919

advertising index Advertiser

Page

Automatisation S.A.B. Inc. 20 Berg Chilling Systems Inc 16 CPA Canada back cover Canadian Plastics Resin Outlook Conference 27 Chillers Inc. 7 Compact Mould 7 Haremar 2 K Show 19 K Show travel 24 Leister Process Technologies 5 Maag Pump Systems 8 Mamata USA, Inc. 17 PCMExpo 23 PCS Company 12 Process Heaters Inc. 13 Vortex Valves 30 Wittmann Canada Inc. 12

Telephone 450-652-9767 416-755-2221 888-777-4390 416-510-5116 905-895-9667 905-851-7724 905-761-7552 x 204 416-598-1525 866-880-1121 888-438-6324 704-716-9000 630-801-2320 416-510-5116 800-521-0546 877-747-8250 785-825-7177 888-466-8266

E-mail

Website

info@sabgroupe.com bergsales@berg-group.com Andrew.Spicer@ChannelPA.com jnancekivell@canplastics.com sales@chillersinc.com info@compactmold.com info@haremar.com messeduesseldorf@germanchamber.ca ahoule@voyagelm.ca sales@leister.com MaagAmericas@maag.com info@mamatausa.com jnancekivell@canplastics.com sales@pcs-company.com proheat@processheaters.ca rbarragree@vortexvalves.com info@wittmann-canada.com

www.automatisationsab.com www.berg-group.com www.channelpa.com www.canplastics.com/conference/ www.chillersinc.com www.compactmold.com www.haremar.com www.k-online.de www.leister.com www.maag.com www.mamatausa.com www.plasticsandmoldsexpo.com www.pcs-company.com www.processheaters.ca www.vortexcanada.com www.wittmann-canada.com

Get free information from the companies that interest you most.

Contact the company directly using the telephone number, e-mail address or web site listed below

plastics data file ONE STOP SHOPPING

Innovative automation and auxiliary equipment — from autonomous work cells to central systems.

Products include Battenfeld injection molding machines, robots and automation, in-mold labelling, material handling systems including blenders, dryers and loaders, granulators, water flow regulators and mold temperature controllers.

Wittmann Canada, Inc., 35 Leek Crescent, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4C2; Tel. 1-888-466-8266; www.wittmann-canada.com.

26 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

MOLDING ACCESSORIES Unique design features of the Industrial Molding Supplies 43rd Edition Catalog make it easy to find and select the products best suited for your application. The catalog presents the entire IMS line of molding supplies, equipment and services including over 2,400 new products plus separate sections for Extruders and Mold Makers.

Industrial Molding Supplies 10373 Stafford Road, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023-5296; Tel. 1-800-537-5375; www.imscompany.com

technology showcase • spotlight on energy savings as clamp motion, injection, cooling and parts ejection.

Energy values are calculated based on oil pressure and volume on hydraulic machines and motor speeds and torque on all-electric machines. When three representative cycles have been provided, the measured values are compared to an extensive database, and the energy consumption calculation is provided in an intuitive and understandable graphic display.

Engel Canada Inc. (Guelph, Ont.); www.engelglobal.com/na; 519-836-0220

Energy calculation software for real time analysis Engel has developed a new energy calculation software program designed to allow operators to view and analyze real-time energy consumption under different machine setup parameters.

The integrated energy calculator allows for the most efficient machine cycle while maintaining peak performance.

Available on all new Engel injection molding machines equipped with CC200 A02 controllers (both hydraulic and allelectric models), molders simply enter the shot weight into the setup screen and the machine will automatically calculate the energy required to process the part based on the individual settings such

15th Annual Canadian Plastics Resin Outlook Conference Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Doubletree Airport Hotel, Toronto, Ontario

Here’s what delegates at last year’s conference said they liked about last year’s conference:

Hear forecasts from experts on supply, demand and pricing for the major commodity and engineering resins.

• Gained a better understanding of what drives resin pricing trends other than just oil, and what other alternatives are out there to manufacture our products.

• Good cross-section of speakers

NEW! Conference delegates may attend, at no

• Provided help to prepare our budget for next year

extra charge, a half-day workshop on the afternoon of October 5th at the Doubletree: “Hydrocarbons to Polymers, an overview of how plastics are produced from wellhead to finished product.”

• Overview of all the resins in one short day • I appreciated the information on biopolymers and recycled resins • Convenient location. Pertinent topics.

Investment per person: Early Bird Registration – register and pay in full by Aug. 31 $395 plus g.s.t.

Regular Registration – after Aug. 31 $495 plus g.s.t.

Group Registration – 50% discount for second and subsequent attendees from the same company

• Networking opportunities.

Organized by Canadian Plastics magazine. Endorsed by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association.

Conference details are on the Canadian Plastics website at www.canplastics.com/Conference/

For more information, contact:

Judith Nancekivell, Tel: 416-510-5116, Email: jnancekivell@canplastics.com SPONSORS TO DATE:

“Earning your trust one stripe at a Cantec time.”

Polymers INC.

www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 27

technology showcase • spotlight on energy savings

EXTRUSION Single-step WPC extrusion Reifenhauser’s new Generation II BiTrudex system is an energyefficient direct extrusion system for WPC materials in which all raw materials (plastic, wood or other natural fibres) are combined in a single step and directly extruded, eliminating the common two-step process.

Designed as an improvement on the company’s Generation I BiTrudex system, Generation II offers energy savings of up to 30

per cent over competing extruders, and costs 30 per cent less than the Generation I system. It also offers increased flexibility and optimised process control due to an additional gravimetric plastic component throughput measurement.

Reifenhauser Inc. (Danvers, Mass.); www.reifenhauser.com; 948-412-9700 Barway Plastic Equipment Inc. (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que.); 450-455-1396

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09/03/10 9:56

design ideas • new adventures in architecture

Concrete plasticizer additives support world’s tallest building Dubai’s economic bubble might have burst, but that Dubai’s doesn’t doesn’t make the newly opened Burj Dubai skyscraper any any less impressive.

Rising more than 2,700 feet to 160 stories, the Burj Dubai Dubai is the tallest building in the world — an altitude record, record, and construction challenge, met and mastered in part part through the use of Glenium SKY concrete plasticizer additives additives from BASF. Based Based on polycarboxylate ether polymers, the material is is capable of being processed on-site without quality loss, capable said said Dr. Tilman Krauch, head of the construction chemicals division of BASF, and offers suffiDr. Tilman Krauch, head of the construction cient flowability during the pumping process to prevent segregation in spite of the high pressure used. On the Dubai project, the concrete could be pumped up to the dizzying altitude of 600 meters without interruption.

Glenium SKY additives also improve concrete’s early strength, Krauch continued, making it possible to push ahead quickly with construction: With two stories added per week, the building speed of the Burj Dubai exceeded the usual Dubai standard of one storey a week.

Another potential problem: The enormous height of the Burj Dubai causes extreme pressure in the concrete structure. To prevent the skyscraper from collapsing, Glenium SKY lends the concrete a compressive strength of up to 80 N/mm2, evocatively described by Krauch as equaling the entire weight of a small car resting on a space as small as the big toe.

All told, the foundations and the superstructure of the Burj Dubai required approximately 180,000 m3 concrete with Glenium plasticizer.

“The construction of Burj Dubai is an engineering masterpiece, and we’re proud that we could contribute to its success,” Krauch said.

BASF Canada (Mississauga, Ont.); www.basf.ca; 1-866-485-2273

Coating for glass provides dizzying view of Windy City Towering above the Chicago skyline at 1,450 feet, Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) is the tallest building in North America. Its newest feature — definitely not for the faint of heart — is the “Skydeck Ledge,” an all-glass viewing booth that provides a dizzying but safe view, thanks to DuPont’s SentryGlas structural interlayers.

DuPont’s SentryGlas structural interlayers.

SentryGlas is a prefigured combination of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) sheeting and PET film; the PET film is coated with a proprietary polysiloxane hard coating for abrasion resistance.

Designed to bear five tons of weight, the 1.5-inch thick Skydeck Ledge is laminated with the SentryGlas material for a resulting five times greater strength and 100 times greater stiffness than conventional laminating interlayer materials.

“The Skydeck Ledge is an excellent example of how we’re putting DuPont science to work to protect people and buildings,” said William F. Weber, vice president and general manager of DuPont’s packaging and industrial polymers division. “This high-performance material is designed to withstand high winds and weight loads, so it can be used in places where glass alone could never have been used.”

E.I. DuPont Company (Mississauga, Ont.); www.plastics.dupont.com; 905-821-5193

Multiwall sheet helps homes, offices lighten environmental footprints

From the more-things-change-the-moreFrom the more-things-change-the-morethey-stay-the-same department, after thousands of years spent evolving our dwelling places from huts into houses, the push is on for homes to return to a more environmentally friendly state once again.

It’s a trend SABIC Innovative Plastics’ growing portfolio of Lexan PC multiwall sheet products are well suited to facilitate.

As a glass replacement in skylights and roof domes for residential and commercial buildings, the Lexan material allows natural daylight to enter, SABIC said, giving ample lighting while saving on electricity for artificial lighting.

The company’s new Lexan Thermoclear 9-wall sheet provides U-values as low as 0.89 W/m2k, which surpasses the insulation performance of double- and triple-pane glass. It also blocks infrared radiation that can reduce the build-up of interior heat for lower energy consumption, and, at one-third the weight of a comparably sized glass panel, saves fuel in shipping and installation.

SABIC also claims that, from a manufacturing perspective, the Lexan material leaves a very light environmental footprint.

“Typical operating temperatures during the sheet extrusion process are in the 240°C range,” said Darrell Hughes, general manager of specialty film and sheet at SABIC. “The energy used during which the Lexan PC resin is converted into Lexan PC sheet is a fraction of the energy needed to manufacture competing flat glass.”

SABIC Innovative Plastics (Toronto); www.sabic-ip.com; 1-800-323-3783

www.canplastics.com April 2010 Canadian Plastics 29

view from the floor

Reaction injection molding: The other RIM

By Jim Anderton, technical editor

W

ith the incredible success of the BlackBerry handheld device, it’s hard to open the business pages of a Canadian newspaper without reading about our homegrown wireless device company Research In Motion.

They generally abbreviate it as RIM. Whenever I see or hear the acronym, however, I don’t think about Research in Motion, but about what I regard as the real RIM: reaction injection molding.

RIM (which henceforth means the molding operation, not the BlackBerry guys) is one of those things that hides some incredibly complex chemistry behind a deceptively simple process. A common part that’s well suited to the RIM process is polyurethane auto fascia and bumpers.

Up front, it’s a little more complex than conventional injection molding; the raw material is a two-part system. The chemistry is pretty involved, but for our purposes,

the two components can be thought of as an isocyanate and a form of alcohol...think epoxy glue. To use epoxy, you mix the “resin” with a “hardener” and, after a certain amount of time, it sets. Polyurethanes use a catalyst to speed the setting process, and as a result the mixing happens in a “mixing head”, after which the shot is immediately introduced into the mold.

I say “introduced” because unlike thermoset injection molding, you don’t need crushing pressure to fill the mold. And as typical PU formulations set up, a little gas is evolved, which increases the polymer volume and aids flow.

Disadvantages? RIM polymers involve substances that can be difficult, costly, and dangerous to handle, especially isocyanate precursors. The equipment is specialized and expensive for small parts and conventional shapes, and the process has unique maintenance and QA needs. But there’s a big positive, too: With RIM, you’re essentially making the polymer inside the mold, which means the stuff you’re injecting can be engineered to flow very easily by thermoplastic standards. That means lighter, cheaper molds, and the ability to mold very large parts with quick cycle times.

Why not just mold TPE with gas assist on conventional equipment? You can, and in many applications that’s a preferred process, but the ability to shoot a viscous liquid into a big mold without a major mold engineering effort is a big advantage of RIM. If you’re working with PU, a blowing agent like pentane or even a controlled amount of water lets you create rigid foams, allowing light, strong parts without the network of webbed reinforcement needed behind rigid thermplastics.

There’s a lot more to RIM than this simple “rant” can explain, but think of it this way: if conventional thermoplastic injection molding is like stuffing sausages, RIM is like making waffles. Both taste great with my breakfast.

(By the way, last issue I promised to expand on my mold cooling theme in this issue; watch for it next issue, CPL instead.)

JIM’S QUICK GUIDE TO RIM

RIM is similar to injection molding except thermosetting polymers are used, which require a curing reaction within the mold. When reinforcing agents are added to the mix, the process is known as reinforced reaction injection molding (RRIM); common reinforcing agents include glass fibres and mica. A subset of RRIM is structural reaction injection molding (SRIM), which uses fibre mesh for the reinforcing agent.

30 Canadian Plastics April 2010 www.canplastics.com

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