Thermoforming

Sheet, compounds, and packaging products supplier Spartech Corp. (St. Louis, MO) will open a new technology center in St. Louis, combining its material, product, and packaging development centers into one location. The new center will expand to an 80,000- to 100,000-ft² facility that Spartech plans to have operational by mid-summer 2010.

Even though manufacturing activity at U.S. firms slowed up a bit compared with January, the latest data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM; Tempe, AZ) showed February was the seventh successive positive month. The hope is that the activity will filter into other sectors; the fear is that current activity may be largely due to replacement of depleted inventories.

A technology initially developed to absorb impact in running shoes now protects soldiers, seeing use in everything from helmets and kneepads to blast-limiting sheets and seat cushions, with development of ballistic grades for vests currently under way.

How much protection? During an interview with Mike Buchen, president and CEO of Skydex, at its Centennial, CO headquarters, he covered one hand with the company’s new thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) sheet padding and used the other to repeatedly slam a ballistic helmet into the material. This reporter was convinced.

Consumer and foodservice packaging major Pactiv has acquired thermoformer PWP Industries from holding company HPC Industries for $200 million. HPC is the holding company run by Leon Farahnik, who just two years ago sold his stake in the world's largest shopping bag processor, Hilex Poly, another company he founded.

A new high-clarity, high-gloss, non-stress-whitening olefin capstock material can be directly co-extruded onto polyethylene (PE), creating sheets with a painted plastics appearance for a cost-effective, decorative, and durable thermoformed product. A.

Flexible plastics packaging processor Klöckner Pentaplast Group (Gordonsville, VA) will market and sell sheet extruded from Plantic's high-amylase corn starch-based plastic in the Americas. The exclusive arrangement with Klöckner also means that Plantic is ending its marketing and sales relationship for sheet in North America with DuPont, which had been handling sheet sales there since 2007.

A better understanding of what works, and what doesn't, when using infrared heaters could prove profitable for thermoformers, and even more so for processors of high-volume packaging applications. According to heating element supplier Ceramicx, simply reviewing and renewing the infrared heating platen can lead to a 30-40% improvement in operational efficiency of most packaging thermoforming lines.

Rapid innovations enabling lighter, more eco-friendly packaging have made plastics the "material of choice" in the packaging market, according to a study that included interviews with 71 leading beverage manufacturers and packaging supply chain firms.  The study, "Beverage Packaging Market Assessment-A Benchmark Study," was conducted by Proactive Worldwide Inc., on behalf of the packaging machinery trade group, PMMI (Arlington, VA).

The race is on to see who can thermoform the best parts. The finish line will be reached in April at the Society of Plastics Engineers' 3rd European Thermoforming Parts Competition, held in conjunction with the European Thermoforming Division's conference in Antwerp, Belgium.

Injection molder and thermoformer Wilbert Plastic Services will relocate its headquarters from Broadview, IL to Belmont, NC, investing $5.7 million in an expansion of its existing Gaston County site, with the prospect of creating 41 jobs over the next three years. The company was helped in part by an $82,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund.