OHIO NAVIGATES ROAD TO STRONGER PLASTICS INDUSTRY
In Q4 2004, the Ohio Polymer Strategy Council released a report that recommends specific steps to strengthen the state’s polymer industry. The “Polymer Strategic Opportunity Roadmap,” suggests that industry, universities, and government invest $232 million over the next 10 years ($23.2 million per year) to achieve goals such as creating 3450 new high-wage jobs in northeast Ohio and supporting more than 140,000 existing jobs. Columbus, OH-based Battelle, a leading science and technology enterprise, authored the study.

Results of the Roadmap study indicate that Ohio employs more people in polymers (105,766) than any other state. In addition, the majority of these jobs are concentrated in northeast Ohio. According to the Roadmap, if northeast Ohio were a state, its 43,562 polymer jobs would make it the 10th largest polymer state. Members of the Council commissioned the study at a time when the state and region are feeling the negative effects of manufacturers’ outsourcing to China. Much of the region’s polymer industry is dedicated to high-volume part production, an area where Asian competition is strong and where cost structures are lower. The report concludes that polymer companies need to shift toward higher-value products and processes that generate more profit and are less vulnerable to foreign rivals. One way to facilitate that shift, according to the Roadmap, is to generate more business-university initiatives that give companies access to research.—MM

HAIL TO THE CHIEF
A press release went out on Jan. 6 from Demag Plastics Group (Strongsville, OH) announcing the resignation of William Carteaux. Carteaux joined the company in 1999 and became president and CEO in July 2002, which he admits was hardly a great year to take over the helm of a press supplier.

“Looking back, you wouldn’t think that it was a good time to be named president/CEO of a machinery maker,” Carteaux says. “While there were difficult times, it gave us the opportunity to map out the type of company Demag needed to be so we could be successful when business rebounded. The former Van Dorn Demag could not have continued to do business as usual.”

End of story? Hardly. On March 1, Carteaux will assume a new job as the president of the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. (Washington, DC). Carteaux has held a number of leadership positions within the SPI for the past 15 years. “While I look forward to the new challenge with SPI, I am leaving Demag on a solid foundation, and more than able to fulfill the molding machinery and processing needs of the marketplace.”

DPG had yet to announce his replacement at press time.—CK

LABOR SURVEY RELEASED
In December, the SPI released 2004 data on wage rates for plastics processing firms, including injection molders, in its 63rd labor survey. It includes data from 63 companies for 78 plants, providing weighted average hourly rates for 61 positions and weighted average monthly base salaries for 13 first-line supervisor positions. Other stats reported:

• Hours of plant operation per week.
• Seasonal or other bonus stats for both hourlies and first-line supervisors.
• Overtime stats.
• Paid breaks.
• Leased employees.
• Shift policies.
• Shift premium policies.
• Manufacturing teams/cells.
• Turnover rates.

The survey is free of charge to participants. It costs nonmembers $150 and is $125 for nonparticipant members, plus postage and handling. Visit http://www.plas%20ticsindustry.org/business/literatu.htm#BA-174.—CK

CTC’s president, Rick Sofia (left) and Cequent’s VP of integrated product management and business development, Paul Caruso, accept the first-place innovations award from DuPont Automotive’s Terrance Cressy (right), a member of the SPE’s Automotive Div.

INJECTION-COMPRESSION AWARD WINNER
A first-of-its-kind part molded with a first-of-its-kind technology took a first-place finish for the most innovative use of plastics in the vehicle customization and personalization category at the SPE International’s 34th annual Innovations Award gala late last year.

The part is a cargo-management/towing package tray that is 15% lighter and 30% cheaper than aluminum and 25% lighter and cheaper than steel. It’s also 10% cheaper to ship than a metal tray, and it’s easier for you and me to assemble on our vehicles.

The technology used to produce the part is gas-assisted injection-compression molding. We’re not talking about coining here; we’re talking about injecting into a compression molding press. The part was molded for Cequent Transportation Group by Composite Technologies Co. LLC (Dayton, OH).

CTC teamed up with Alliance Gas Systems Inc. (Chesterfield Township, MI) to develop what Alliance calls CompPack, a method of injecting nitrogen gas into a closed compression mold to hollow out internal areas of the part. The material used was a 25% long-glass-fiber-filled PP composite.—CK

IS CHINA CHEAPER?
As detailed last November in IMM, the folks at Boothroyd Dewhurst Inc. (Wakefield, RI) say it ain’t necessarily so (see “Manufacturing in China? The True Cost May Surprise You,” November 2004 IMM).

B&D has posted “Improved Product Design Practices Would Make U.S. Manufacturing More Cost Effective” on its website, www.dfma.com/truecost. It’s a benchmarking study reportedly proving that U.S. manufacturers could develop innovative products that are more economical to manufacture stateside, if they incorporate a rigorous cost analysis during design.

Is redesigning products for manufacturing them here better than outsourcing production? You be the judge.—CK

Husky president and CEO Robert Schad exits the company later this year.

A NEW BEGINNING
Arriving in Canada from Germany with $25 and a letter of reference from family friend Albert Einstein, Robert Schad founded Husky in a garage in Toronto in 1953. Today, Husky IMS Ltd. (Bolton, ON) is a $774 million business with customers in more than 100 countries.

In December, Schad announced that he is stepping down as Husky’s president and CEO by Q4 2005. He will remain a director of the company. The company’s board has established a committee to identify a successor.

“I believe we’re headed in the right direction,” Schad says. “We have developed a strong product platform, solid global operations, we have the industry’s best customer support network, and our leadership team is strong. I know I will be leaving the company in good hands.”—CK

SHORT SHOTS
The $200 million Tech Group (Scottsdale, AZ) has purchased a 70,000-sq-ft manufacturing facility in Frankfort, IN to better serve its midwest and East Coast customers. There’s room in the plant for 32 presses, ranging up to 700 tons.

Sterling’s newly designed website (http://www.sterlco.com/) shows that the division names—Sterlco, Sterltech, Ball & Jewell, and Sterling Material Processing—are no longer. All product lines are marketed under the Sterling brand, grouped as temperature regulation, size reduction products, and robotics and automation.

If it’s already Feb. 18 and you’re just reading this, it’s too late for you to apply for participation in the SPI’s NPE 2006 exhibitor space drawing. If it’s already Feb. 22 or 23, you’ve missed the NPE 2006 booth drawing in Chicago. Sorry.