A 360-degree look at resin conveying systems: types, operation, economics, design, installation, components and controls.
This Knowledge Center provides an overview of resin moisture and the drying process, including information on the best drying practices for your manufacturing facility. Plastic Extrusion Machinery
Combat the skilled labor shortage using this comprehensive resource to train your own plastics processing experts.
Deep dive into the basics of blending versus dosing, controls, maintenance, process integration and more.
This Knowledge Center provides an overview of the considerations needed to understand the purchase, operation, and maintenance of a process cooling system.
Learn about sustainable scrap reprocessing—this resource offers a deep dive into everything from granulator types and options, to service tips, videos and technical articles.
Second quarter started with price hikes in PE and the four volume engineering resins, but relatively stable pricing was largely expected by the quarter’s end.
While the major correction in PP prices was finally underway, generally stable pricing was anticipated for the other four commodity resins.
Despite price increase nominations going into second quarter, it appeared there was potential for generally flat pricing with the exception of a major downward correction for PP.
First quarter was ending up with upward pricing, primarily due to higher feedstock costs and not supply/demand fundamentals.
Despite earlier anticipated rollover in prices for most of the volume commodity resins, prices were generally on the way up for all going into the third month of first quarter.
While price initiatives for PE and PVC were underway, resin prices had rollover potential for first two months of 2024, perhaps with the exception of PET.
Resin drying is a crucial, but often-misunderstood area. This collection includes details on why and what you need to dry, how to specify a dryer, and best practices.
Take a deep dive into all of the various aspects of part quoting to ensure you’ve got all the bases—as in costs—covered before preparing your customer’s quote for services.
In this collection of articles, two of the industry’s foremost authorities on screw design — Jim Frankand and Mark Spalding — offer their sage advice on screw design...what works, what doesn’t, and what to look for when things start going wrong.
In this collection, which is part one of a series representing some of John’s finest work, we present you with five articles that we think you will refer to time and again as you look to solve problems, cut cycle times and improve the quality of the parts you mold.
Gifted with extraordinary technical know how and an authoritative yet plain English writing style, in this collection of articles Fattori offers his insights on a variety of molding-related topics that are bound to make your days on the production floor go a little bit better.
In this three-part collection, veteran molder and moldmaker Jim Fattori brings to bear his 40+ years of on-the-job experience and provides molders his “from the trenches” perspective on on the why, where and how of venting injection molds. Take the trial-and-error out of the molding venting process.
Mike Sepe has authored more than 25 ANTEC papers and more than 250 articles illustrating the importance of this interdisciplanary approach. In this collection, we present some of his best work during the years he has been contributing for Plastics Technology Magazine.
In this collection of content, we provide expert advice on welding from some of the leading authorities in the field, with tips on such matters as controls, as well as insights on how to solve common problems in welding.
Mold maintenance is critical, and with this collection of content we’ve bundled some of the very best advice we’ve published on repairing, maintaining, evaluating and even hanging molds on injection molding machines.
Thousands of people visit our Supplier Guide every day to source equipment and materials. Get in front of them with a free company profile.
NPE2024: Lowering barriers to additive manufacturing adoption in toolmaking.
Allegheny Performance Plastics turned to 1factory's cloud-based manufacturing quality control software for streamlined, paperless quality systems.
To design the best mixers for single screws, you must completely understand how polymer moves through a mixer channel or groove.
NPE2024: Focus is on additives for plastics including PVC and WPC industries.
At NPE2024, Novatec moves to rewrite the rules for material conveying with patent-pending smart-pump technology.
While the major correction in PP prices was finally underway, generally stable pricing was anticipated for the other four commodity resins.
With no minimum order and an impeccable record of on-time delivery, Precision Color Compounds is becoming a force in the color masterbatch business.
Thermosets were the prevalent material in the early history of plastics, but were soon overtaken by thermoplastics in injection molding applications.
After a six-year hiatus, this year’s show was a resounding success, with meaningful technologies on display that will help processors run their businesses more efficiently.
Key factors for the progress are innovative materials, advanced automation and precision engineering.
Topping five other entries in voting by fellow molders, the Ultradent team talks about their Hot Shots sweep.
Serendipitous Learning Opportunities at PTXPO Underscore the Value of Being Present.
Introduced by Zeiger and Spark Industries at the PTXPO, the nozzle is designed for maximum heat transfer and uniformity with a continuous taper for self cleaning.
Ultradent's entry of its Umbrella cheek retractor took home the awards for Technical Sophistication and Achievement in Economics and Efficiency at PTXPO.
technotrans says climate protection, energy efficiency and customization will be key discussion topics at PTXPO as it displays its protemp flow 6 ultrasonic eco and the teco cs 90t 9.1 TCUs.
Shibaura discusses the upcoming Plastics Technology Expo (PTXPO) March 28-30
Line features a single touchscreen for easy setup and operation.
Oerlikon HRSflow’s T-Flow HRS control has launched with three models that are configurable to multiples of six zones.
NPE2024: Dukane’s new Ultrasonic Thin Wall welding system is well suited for welding applications of PP to PP TD25 painted parts.
Series offers higher output, lower melt temperatures and energy savings.
Noting that geopolitical changes require new corporate strategies, European plastics and rubber machinery trade groups announced that incoming orders fell 22% in 2023.
System tracks, controls and saves everything from material recipes to process parameters, operator activity from logging on to start, to emergency stops and more.
Mixed in among thought leaders from leading suppliers to injection molders and mold makers at the 2023 Molding and MoldMaking conferences will be molders and toolmakers themselves.
After successfully introducing a combined conference for moldmakers and injection molders in 2022, Plastics Technology and MoldMaking Technology are once again joining forces for a tooling/molding two-for-one.
Multiple speakers at Molding 2023 will address the ways simulation can impact material substitution decisions, process profitability and simplification of mold design.
When, how, what and why to automate — leading robotics suppliers and forward-thinking moldmakers will share their insights on automating manufacturing at collocated event.
As self-imposed and government-issued sustainability mandates approach, injection molders reimagine their operations.
August 29-30 in Minneapolis all things injection molding and moldmaking will be happening at the Hyatt Regency — check out who’s speaking on what topics today.
Get your clicking finger in shape and sign up for all that we have in store for you in 2023.
Molding 2023 to take place Aug. 29-30 in Minnesota; Extrusion 2023 slated for Oct. 10-12 in Indiana.
Join this webinar to learn about Conair's patented Conveying with Optimizer system, which utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to overcome resin conveying issues automatically. Conveying with Optimizer uses valves, remote sensors and AI to eliminate conveying challenges that operators face daily throughout the plant. With this new fully-retrofittable solution, interruptions like clogged filters, air leaks, changes in density or distance, moisture changes, and operators making manual adjustments can all be eliminated with Conair's Conveying with Optimizer. Agenda: What exactly is Conveying with Optimizer? What are the benefits of using Conveying with Optimizer? What problems does Conveying with Optimizer overcome? How to upgrade your system
Cooling time is typically the longest step of the molding process. How can you make it more productive? Learn how cooling time can be turned into production time by running two molding processes simultaneously on a single molding machine. For longer cycles, this can mean twice the productivity. In this webinar, you'll learn more about the Shuttle Mold System and how to calculate its potential productivity impacts for your application. Agenda: Learn how the Shuttle Mold System can deliver value to your business See the recent technical updates made to the system Calculate the potential impact on productivity
Discover possible applications in large format printing including layup tools, transport modules, film fixation devices, design components and enclosures. These are used in various industries such as automotive, aerospace, architecture and many others. Agenda: Possible applications in large format printing: layup tools, transport modules, film fixing devices, design components and enclosures. Process reliability and component quality in component production Pros and cons of the technology Sneak peek into current development projects—What will the large format printing of tomorrow look like?
In this webinar, Cold Jet will discuss some of the ways processors use dry ice such as in-machine mold cleaning at operating temperatures, de-flashing or de-burring parts, improving OEE scores, extending mold life, cleaning parts before painting, post-processing 3D printed parts, lowering GHG emissions, and monitoring and reporting the process. Agenda: Cold Jet Overview & Dry Ice 101 Understanding the Process and Fine-Tuning Techniques Case Studies: Applications in Plastics Monitoring the Process Exploring the Importance of Dry Ice Cleaning in an ESG Era
Finding it hard to get technical talent? Experiencing the pain of a knowledgeable, long-term employee's retirement? Learn how plastics processors are training generative AIs on their operations and unlocking the value from their tribal knowledge. Plastics processors are training generative AI models on their operations — from machine manuals to tools, polymers, procedures, maintenance records and engineering projects. Applying generative AI in the right ways can lower plastics processors' costs, improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and upskill teams. In this webinar, you'll learn how to deploy AI technical assistants to your teams, what works and what doesn't, and how to use AI to build an organization that never loses tribal knowledge and fosters inter-team collaboration. Agenda: What is generative AI and how can its cognitive abilities be applied to plastics? Case study: how an injection molder trained a large language model on manuals and maintenance records to reduce downtime Case study: using generative AI in engineering teams to improve product development Live demonstration of a generative AI deep-trained on plastics knowledge Looking to the future: five predictions for an AI-augmented workforce in plastics
Turnaround time can be as low as 24 hours, although two or three days might be more typical. Rapid prototyping like this is especially useful to quickly identify critical end-use part geometries that will work in the molding process. Key components include material choice, 3D printing technology selected, use of adaptable mold bases for the mold inserts and implementation of appropriate injection molding process conditions. This presentation will review work conducted toward the assessment of a high-stiffness, high-temperature-resistant ceramic modified urethane acrylate for injection molding inserts. Agenda: Guide for 3D-printed injection mold inserts Optimization of digital light processing (DLP) printing Compatibility with various thermoplastics Real-world application success stories
Debuting in 2010, the Parts Cleaning Conference is the leading and most trusted manufacturing and industrial parts cleaning forum focused solely on delivering quality technical information in the specialized field of machined parts cleansing. Providing guidance and training to understand the recognized sets of standards for industrial cleaning, every year the Conference showcases industry experts who present educational sessions on the latest and most pressing topics affecting manufacturing facilities today. Discover all that the 2022 Parts Cleaning Conference has to offer!
Presented by Additive Manufacturing Media, Plastics Technology and MoldMaking Technology, the 3D Printing Workshop at IMTS 2024 is a chance for job shops to learn the emerging possibilities for part production via 3D printing and additive manufacturing. First introduced at IMTS 2014, this workshop has helped hundreds of manufacturing professionals expand their additive capabilities.
Formnext Chicago is an industrial additive manufacturing expo taking place April 8-10, 2025 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Formnext Chicago is the second in a series of Formnext events in the U.S. being produced by Mesago Messe Frankfurt, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, and Gardner Business Media (our publisher).
‘Our reason is water.’ Those four words explain a focused strategy that helped Advanced Drainage Systems evolve from a two-man startup into a global supplier of corrugated pipe and water-management solutions with 10 billion+ ft of pipe in service all over the world.
Humble beginnings … If you asked processors today to trace their roots, many would use those words. Advanced Drainage Systems (ADS) is no different. It was launched in Wilmington, Del., in 1966 by Ron Martin and Marty Sixt, two engineers who grew up on farms and knew a thing or two about maximizing crop yield through better water management. Together, they modified old extruders—“putting pieces and parts together,” in the words of Brian King, ADS’ executive v.p. of product management and marketing—and sowed the seeds of the still-burgeoning plastics pipe market by starting a company focused on HDPE corrugated pipe as an option for clay tile in farm water distribution.
In the years that followed, ADS added talent, technology, and facilities. It moved to Ohio in the early 1970s and began to add plants around the county that were situated within a 300-mile radius of hot markets for construction. ADS also started educating civil engineers, commercial and residential contractors, and anyone else involved in construction and infrastructure on the benefits of plastics over more-established steel and concrete for water management..
Today, as a result of organic growth driven by product development, acquisitions of competitors such as Hancor, and a keen focus on becoming truly sustainable, ADS is one of the largest drainage pipe producers in the world. Headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio, it’s now a publicly held company with 65 plants in North America (and three in South America through a joint venture), more than 5000 employees, extrusion capacity of approximately 1 billion lb/yr, and decades of double-digit growth that have brought its annual sales to $1.9 billion. It estimates that it has more than 10 billion ft of pipe in service worldwide.
ADS N12 corrugated HDPE pipe is used for stormwater management and agricultural tiling systems.
The company has an undisclosed number of extrusion lines around the country, designs dies in-house that are built by its tooling suppliers, and has injection molding capacity to fabricate pipe fittings. It has complemented its line of corrugated pipe products—which include what’s believed to be the first-ever corrugated PP pipe—with what ADS calls allied products—retention/detention chambers made of extruded PP, basins, septic systems, specialty pipe products, water-quality units and a variety of connections and fittings. ADS also operates its own fleet of trucks that strengthens its service platform for its customers.
“Over the years we have had different investors and changes in leadership, including being an ESOP (Employee Stock Option Plan)company,” remarks King. “Our growth has mainly been organic, resulting from developing new products and adding new plants. One of the game-changing products came in 1987, when we introduced the N-12 corrugated dual-wall HDPE pipe with a smooth inside wall to improve water flow. We extrude a green stripe on our corrugated pipes, and that has become an iconic symbol and a representation of our brand that lets the customer know they are working with an ADS pipe. We also made acquisitions, the biggest of which was Hancor in 2005, which had 15 plants operating in North America.”
ADS went public in July 2014, a move that King believes put ADS on a fast track for growth and in a better position to attract top-level talent. “Being a publicly traded company has given us the ability to easily access capital,” he remarks. He specifically refers to ADS’ 2019 acquisition of Infiltrator Water Technologies as something that likely “would not have been possible had we not gone public.” Infiltrator makes PP-based leach-field chambers and systems, septic tanks and accessories, primarily for use in residential applications. Prior to the acquisition, Infiltrator was a 15-yr customer and supplier of ADS.
ADS sells its products through a network of distributors and at major home-improvement centers. In some cases, that might be viewed as somewhat risky since it puts a third party between the company and end users. That could be concerning in the markets ADS serves, where, King notes, “Plastic is still the new kid on the block,” compared with some other materials like concrete and corrugated metal pipe. “But our distributors are our partners and don’t stand in the way of us developing and maintaining the relationships we have with the final customer. We typically share new product designs and prototypes with them because their input is invaluable.”
He continues, “Our salespeople and distribution partners work together, which is critical for JIT and the ability for the customer to get the proper products from one place. And we have people—in sales, engineering, product development, and other areas—who talk to our distribution partners, engineers, contractors and municipal officials every day.”
Those relationships figure to benefit ADS nowadays, as residential and commercial construction are both booming. Says King, “The key drivers that we track for our business—the commercial construction business, infrastructure, residential—are all positive. For a while during the pandemic, we were concerned a bit about the commercial sector. But that’s rebounded as we’ve seen warehouses and large manufacturing-plant projects get started as companies move to get serious about tightening up the supply chain and reshoring.”
ADS extrudes corrugated pipe in a wide range of diameters and lengths.
Opportunities also beckon for ADS with a national infrastructure bill looming. Comments King, “Plastic pipe is a sustainable product. It installs faster, and from a value proposition it’s better than competing materials. The term ‘resilient infrastructure’ has come up many times in discussions about what’s in the bill. We have to build back in a resilient way, and we believe plastic pipe is the most resilient solution.”
ADS considers its ability to “make money using post-consumer recycled material” as a strong differentiator between it and its competitors. Since 2007, ADS has been issued more than 30 patents in the area of recycling and literally set the standard for how post-consumer HDPE can be deployed in corrugated pipe, working with industry groups to develop guidelines. The Infiltrator purchase pushed the amount of recycled material ADS will use to roughly 550 million lb/yr. .
ADS started recycling by buying scrap from third parties, including other processors. Now, ADS Recycling operates nine recycling plants across the country, handling both post-consumer and post-industrial scrap. “But getting recycled material continues to be a challenge,” says King. “If we could get more to include in our manufacturing process we would. In fact, we’d like to double the amount of recycled material we include in our products, without backing down on the amount of virgin material we run.”
“We’d like to double the amount of PCR we include in our products, without backing down on the amount of virgin material we run.”
In particular, ADS is looking for more sources of post-consumer PP and has joined The Recycling Partnership to assist in that effort. The Recycling Partnership is a national non-profit organization that works with communities and companies to improve recycling systems. Its funding partners include a wide array of materials companies, processors, brand owners and retailers.
ADS recycles more than 500 million lb a year, and would like to double that amount.
All told, ADS has 20 different product categories and thousands of SKUs, considering that its products can be ordered in various lengths and diameters. This can complicate matters even for a manufacturing operation the size and scope of this company. “Where and when we can, we like to turn machines on and run them for as long as we can,” King says. “But we don’t always get to do that. Demand changes. The challenge for our operations team is how do you support manufacturing as demand changes? How do you most profitably and economically get our customers the products they need, when they need them?”
“Today, as demand is quite high, every piece of product that comes off the line is most likely sold and going to somebody right away.”
Typical runs at ADS can last days. Manufacturing is set up using product wheels, and at ADS that means jobs are scheduled smaller to larger (in diameters) and longer to shorter (in lengths) to minimize changeovers. Some plants run 24:7. Most of the pipe ADS extrudes is monolayer from multiple material blends. King says ADS does some coextrusion, but more multilayer structures may be on the horizon.
He explains, “We are always looking to make a better product, a more complete package and system. We look at market segments where we are underpenetrated compared with metal and concrete. In certain applications there is structural load. So how do you use plastic in these applications? That is where coextrusion may come in.”
Operator affixes gasked to corrugated HDPE pipe with iconic green line.
Whether one layer or more, ADS has not been inventorying product lately. “Today, as demand is quite high, every piece of product that comes off the line is most likely sold and going to somebody right away,” King notes. “If we are making it, we are selling it. In normal times, we keep a certain level of inventory and ship from that. Distributors assist by stocking certain products.”
ADS has been adding material-science and engineering experts to the team to help turn ideas gleaned from regular field research into products. “We work on solving the right problems, and the best way to do that is go out and talk to distributors and customers and watch what they are doing and experience the challenges they are facing, and use that information to develop products that solve those challenges,” says King. He notes that the company has recently made big capital investments in both new extruders and injection presses in anticipation of growing demand.
“Our reason is water,” King says. “We capture it in some form of basin, we convey it through pipes, we then store it in some of our retention/detention systems, and then we treat it before returning it to the environment. This shapes how we think about products and applications, how we manage our product categories, even how we market. Ultimately that will allow us to make better products and to communicate to people about what we do and how we do it. We are stewards of environment and water.”
Extruder screws and barrels will wear over time. If you are seeing a reduction in specific rate and higher discharge temperatures, wear is the likely culprit.
The other half? Aligning and supporting downstream equipment. Here are best practices.
A new study shows how the type and amount of LDPE in blends with LLDPE affect the processing and strength/toughness properties of blown film. Data are shown for both LDPE-rich and LLDPE-rich blends.
Barrel temperature may impact melting in the case of very small extruders running very slowly. Otherwise, melting is mainly the result of shear heating of the polymer.
Here's a review some of the key variables in the technology and how they impact the process.
Tony Radoszewski, Plastics Pipe Institute president, discusses recycled content in pipe and converting packages with a 60-day shelf life into products with a 100-year service life.
Just a decade ago, roughly 10% of HDPE corrugated pipes made by Advanced Drainage Systems used recycled material. That number is 65% now, and growing. Here’s how this processor became a pioneer in this field.
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