PMM Insight: A Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing Podcast

What you will learn on today’s episode of PMM's Machinery Minutes podcast, in which we round up three top stories from the past week in five minutes:  Injection molding equipment manufacturer Husky Technologies has been acquired by CompoSecure , a financial technology services firm. Husky will continue to operate under current management as a standalone company.  The Plastics Industry Association...

What you’ll hear on this episode of PMM’s Machinery Minutes podcast, in which we round up three top stories from the past week in five minutes:  If 50 percent of plastics in the municipal solid waste stream were redirected from landfills to recycling facilities, the U.S. could add an estimated 173,200 jobs, $12.8 billion in annual payroll and $48.7 billion in annual economic output, according to ...

What you will hear on today’s PMM Machinery Minutes podcast:  A comprehensive story about  the state of advanced recycling  revealed some interesting developments.  Creating a stand-up pouch that can be recycled  seemed like an impossible task when a team from Effytec, LD Pack USA, Dukane Corp. and Hoffer Plastics first looked at the problem.  Conair’s new PowerFill Pro  is a compact, portable vac...

Today’s PMM Insight Commentary by Editor Ron Shinn looks ahead to NPE2027:  Despite industry headwinds, early booth reservations are on track.  Companies that traditionally buy big booths do not seem to be reducing their space.  A top NPE official said it is too early to tell if new visa restrictions and tariffs from the Trump administration will impact NPE exhibitors or attendees. There were more...

What you'll learn on today’s Machinery Minutes podcast from Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing:  The recycling industry has been stuck in a perpetual cycle of volatility for years. Its future depends on overcoming technical, economic and legislative challenges, alongside investment in infrastructure and recovery efforts, according to an ICIS analysis. Hillenbrand, which owns Mold-Masters, DME,...

On today’s Machinery Minutes, PMM editor Ron Shinn reports on three innovations he's seen so far at the K Show in Germany:  Processors who have always thought they could not afford Arburg molding machines should take another look. The German machinery maker launched the Allrounder Trend , aimed at standard molding tasks and with a lower price.  Reifenhäuser introduced the Everex flat film extrusio...

What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast:  The K Show has opened and PMM Editor Ron Shinn lists 10 things he is excited to see.  Engel is unveiling Inject AI, the evolution of its Inject 4.0 technology. This is expected to be a peek at the things artificial intelligence will do for plastics processing. There are also exciting new machines from Arburg, Kautex, KraussMaffei and Haitian on the l...

What you will learn on this episode of Machinery Minutes:  The  Plastics Industry Association and the Society of Plastics Engineers are merging . SPE will become a division of PLASTICS.  PLASTICS and the National Association of Manufacturers are  warning of potential harm  to domestic manufacturers if additional tariffs are imposed on importers of industrial machinery and robots.  PMM’s seventh an...

What we're talking about in this episode of Machinery Minutes:  Cavalier Tool has become one of the world’s best mold builders by following a simple principle of people, process, equipment. “The right people doing the right things on the right equipment,” said Brian Bendig, President and CEO.  Arburg has a new vertical, servo-hydraulic press designed for manual and automated overmolding.  There ar...

On this episode of PMM Insight, Editor Ron Shinn and Senior Reporter Karen Hanna discuss high-tonnage injection molding machines. You'll learn:  Some of the special infrastructure requirements for these presses, which can be the size of a basketball court.  Increased capacity required in materials handling systems for machines that can consume as much as 250 tons of resin a month.  The growing rol...

Key takeaways on today’s Machinery Minutes podcast with PMM Editor Ron Shinn:  The  plastics industry still faces headwinds , but employment is outpacing the broad manufacturing sector and the plastics industry is showing resilience in difficult times, according to the Plastics Industry Association's annual Size and Impact Report.  Sumitomo (SHI) Demag  plans to discontinue  hydraulic injection mo...

On this week’s Machinery Minutes podcast:  Arburg is leaving the additive manufacturing market, 12 years after introducing the Freeformer series of 3D printers.  Dan Weissmann played key roles during the evolution of plastic beverage containers as well as the plastic closure for hot-fill packaging.  At the K Show next month, KraussMaffei is showing how to use its ColorForm technology to apply a th...

What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast episode, a commentary by Editor Ron Shinn:     After more than two years of negotiating, talks for a worldwide treaty to end plastic pollution collapsed.  There has been a great deal of innovation built on and because of the advances made in plastics. The industry needs to keep pushing the limits and capabilities of the material.  What next? Countries...

On this episode of Machinery Minutes:  Expanded steel and aluminum duties may  slow investment and complicate equipment imports , warns PLASTICS chief economist Perc Pineda.  If you share manufacturing data — with customers or suppliers — you share risk. Whether buying new machinery or making deals for raw materials or parts deliveries,  processors should scrutinize their partners’ approach to cyb...

What you'll learn on this episode of Machinery Minutes:  Retaining a cybersecurity expert  in advance can help with negotiating a ransom payment, recovering lost data and getting a business up and running after an attack.  Jason Sears , second-generation owner of Dri-Air Industries, learned the business from his Hall of Fame father, Charlie. He has pushed the company’s technology forward.   Manufa...

On this episode of PMM Insight, Editor Ron Shinn and Senior Reporter Karen Hanna discuss cybersecurity:  Any given company has a 50-50 chance of being hacked, and manufacturing companies are among the most commonly targeted.    Small companies are as much at risk as bigger companies.  It is important to always segregate IT systems from operational technology systems. 

These are the stories you will hear on this Machinery Minutes podcast episode:  Peter Gardner , president of LS Mtron Injection Molding Machine USA,  is retiring . During his tenure, the  South Korean machinery manufacturer’s  share of the North American market has risen from a negligible amount to an estimated 10 percent.  Artificial intelligence has brought manufacturing to the threshold of anot...

What you will learn in this episode of the Machinery Minutes podcast:  North American shipments of injection molding and extrusion equipment in the second quarter of 2025 were up 0.7 percent from both the previous quarter and the same quarter of last year.   Currier Plastics has always excelled at adapting to changing times. It will be honored with the Recognition of Excellence Award at the Annual...

What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast episode, a commentary by Editor Ron Shinn:    The new tax and spending law reinstates 100 percent deduction of the cost of capital equipment purchases in the year the purchase is made and accelerates deductions for manufacturing buildings.  Research and experimental or development costs can now be deducted in the year the costs were incurred.  A tax ex...

These are the stories covered in today’s Machinery Minutes podcast:  Plastics processors say they have plenty of unused capacity immediately available if manufacturing picks up.  Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp.  has acquired Addex, Inc. , a supplier of blown film extrusion equipment.   Kautex is relaunching its KEB series of extrusion blow molding machines, which  debuted in 1968 . 

Here are the stories covered in this week’s Machinery Minutes podcast:  Mold making in the U.S.  is an up-and-down business. Mold shops are expanding services, consolidating operations and embracing automation and smart manufacturing.  Canadian based Nova Chemicals has opened a linear low-density polyethylene  mechanical recycling plant  in Connersville, Ind. The company hopes to prove the consist...

These are the stories covered in today’s Machinery Minutes podcast:  Yaskawa America plans to build  a state-of-the-art robotic manufacturing facility at its Franklin, Wis., campus. This marks the first time Yaskawa’s high-volume industrial robots will be manufactured on U.S. soil.   R&B Plastics Machinery  specializes in building blow molding machines and extruders that are more customized fo...

On this episode of PMM Insight, with Editor Ron Shinn and Senior Reporter Karen Hanna: Mold makers continue to face tough competition from foreign competitors and are seeing higher costs due to tariffs.   New technologies such as sophisticated design software, additive manufacturing and robots and other automation help mold makers stay competitive.  Artificial intelligence is the latest technology...

On this episode of Machinery Minutes:  Mold makers are taking on  intricate projects requiring precision that was unattainable just a few years ago, and they are employing a variety of new manufacturing tools to get the job done.  LS Mtron employed  retractable tie bars to help Stanford Manufacturing fit two large presses under a low roof.  M&J Recycling  has added a system to capture and reus...

On this episode of Machinery Minutes:   Meet Geoff Foster  of injection molding company Core Technology, whose non-profit provides free STEM camps for middle schoolers.  Additive manufacturing technology maker  Stratasys has acquired  “a collection of assets” from Nexa3D, which shut down in December.   Shini USA introduced  three new film pelletizers designed for precise cutting and uniform pellet...