Extrusion International USA 6-2019

28 Extrusion International 6/2019 EXTRUSION INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS U.S. Plastics Industry Maintained Trade Surplus According to Two New PLASTICS Reports The size of the U.S. plastics industry expanded in 2018, ac- counting for 993,000 jobs and$451.3billionworthof shipments. In the same year, it maintained a trade surplus of $500 million – an increasingly rare feat amongmanufacturing sectors – as con- sumption of plastics products continued to grow in the U.S. Each of these figures are key insights included in two new re- ports released by the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS). The 2019 Size & Impact of the U.S. Plastics Industry focuses on the U.S. market while Global Business Trends focuses on the U.S. plastics industry’s position in the global market. Both reports contain forecasting data unique to PLASTICS, aimed to help its members identify newmarkets and trends in order tomake bet- ter business decisions. “Our ability to provide the most insightful, actionable data to our members is a big part of our value proposition. These two reports are the twin pillars that hold up the rest of our grow- ing data apparatus,” said president and CEO of PLASTICS Tony Radoszewski. “Taken together the reports show a dynamic U.S. plastics industry and a strong U.S. economy where the demand for plastics and plastics products continues to grow.” Though the U.S. plastics industry is one of the only manufactur- ing sectors to have maintained a trade surplus for many years, in 2018 the surplus did shrink from $3.0 billion in 2017 to $500 million in 2018. “A strong U.S. dollar and sustained U.S. economic expansion has increased the economy’s propensity to consume imported goods, in addition to the use of imported intermediate goods in U.S. plastics manufacturing,” said PLASTICS Chief Economist Perc Pineda, PhD. “This caused imports to rise faster than ex- ports, which shrank our surplus, but it also indicates strong de- mand for plastics. The 2019 Global Trends report also indicated that apparent consumption of plastics industry goods, calcu- lated as the difference between shipments and exports plus im- ports, grew by 6.9% in 2018.” The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) plasticsindustry.org New TPE Manufacturing Plant in Houston opened United Soft Plastics, a leading manufacturer and custom compounder of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), has an- nounced the opening of a new 10 million lb production facility in Houston in response to strongmarket demand for its exten- sive line of TPE products. The new plant, which complements USP’s existing facility in Lawrenceville, Ga., consists of new state-of-the-art compounding equipment which expands production of its broad portfolio of thermoplastic elastomers including traditional SEBS-based TPE, TPO, TPU, and special products such as acrylic-based TPE compounds. Over the last 15 years, USP has enjoyed strong growth for its engineered TPE materials which serve the automotive, food packaging, consumer, medical, and industrial markets inmore than 20 countries. “This investment reaffirms our continued commitment to the engineering TPE plastics market in the U.S., Mexico, and also outside of the Americas,” said Bene- dict Herbst, executive vice president of USP. “The expansion of our manufacturing assets will play a key role in meeting the application development needs of our customers and further unlock new business opportunities and maintain our supe- rior customer response time.” Herbst said the new plant represents a stra- tegic market reposition- ing which enables USP to move closer to raw United Soft Plastics (USP) www.unitedsoftplastics.com material hubs and high-volume customer accounts in Mexico, the Southwest U.S., and also Asia. The company envisions the hiring of up to 25 new pro- duction employees and possibly even further hiring as addi- tional new lines come on-stream. The additional capacity will allow the existing USP plant located in Georgia to further fo- cus on specialized product development and creating cutting- edge solutions for its customers. The newmanufacturing facility will be run on a twin-screw ex- trusion system furnished by KraussMaffei Berstorff, equipped with an underwater pelletizer from Nordson. The nearly 20,000 ft² facility is also equipped with state-of-the-art testing equipment and a fully equipped laboratory. In response to continued growth, USP has undertaken exten- sive product development work and now offers a broad port- folio of TPE products. The company’s product line includes standard grades adhering to PP and special adhesion grades for non-PP overmolding applications with substrates such as ABS, PC, PA6, and PMMA. Other innovative materials have been developed to meet special regulatory requirements within the FDA, EU food contact, and NSF. The range of prod- ucts also includes new acrylic-based TPEs which offer an ultra- transparent profile and a smooth dry surface with improved oil and chemical resistance. The company’s TPE materials are used to produce injection molded, extruded, and blowmolded.