When discussing sustainability in the plastics industry, the extent to which this is associated with materials – their use, their origins – is striking. And yes, reducing the use of virgin fossil-based raw materials and replacing these with more environmentally friendly substitutes would seem an easy and obvious win. Yet there is so much more to the sustainability story than materials alone, as this issue reveals.
The role of machinery in the transition towards a more sustainable future for this industry try is hard to overstate. The past 10 to 15 years have seen major transformations in terms of
increased efficiency and quality, energy reduction and product innovation, considerably enhancing sustainable production – in line with customer demand.
As Brooke Maltun, CEO and co-owner of OMV Technologies explains in an interview that starts on page 26, it is no longer a choice. “Sustainability concerns play a significant role in shaping machine purchase choices, often on par with, or even surpassing, factors like price.” She added that OMV has found that ‘sustainability considerations have become a key contributor in the decision-making process for machine purchases’.
To become more sustainable, machines have had to become intelligent. Instead of relying on the operator's expertise – or ‘intuition’ - today’s machines come equipped with a host of smart sensors. These allow real-time monitoring and data analytics that help increase efficiency, optimise production processes and minimise downtime – all key factors in achieving more sustainable manufacturing operations. Using machine learning techniques to reduce defect rates is becoming increasingly common, as is predictive maintenance, both of which reduce costs and improve quality.
The upcoming Fakuma trade show, which opens in just a few weeks in Friedrichshafen this year for the 28th time, offers as good an opportunity as any to check out the newest developments in machinery and in all other aspects of the industry.
We’ll also be there: Sustainable Plastics, together with our sister publication Plastics News, will once again be producing the English-language daily newspapers that will be distributed at the show, reporting on the news, novelties and innovations on display. We’ve added a tiny selection of what to expect there in this issue, as well.
What else? Our Inside at… feature highlights a young company called Xheme that has developed and is launching an additive ‘that does it all’, as the company says.
We explore the path to productivity gains in injection moulding and how to keep a cap on moulding project costs in the injection moulding section, provide a report on PET recycling in Brazil, and include an article by Professor Edward Kosior and Paul Marshall on a breakthrough development in characterising the contamination levels in post-consumer polypropylene packaging.
And, as always, we've got the latest polymer prices updates for you. However, for a more interactive experience that provides enhanced insight into the prices' history and development, we’d encourage you to check out our revamped prices section online here.
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