The doormat customer is one who puts up with anything and just keeps coming back. They are usually unassertive and seem to be content waiting for ages for you to get back to them or accepting less-than-perfect work. They are apparently awed by your expertise, afraid to ask for better, and ashamed of their own ignorance. In many cases you (or your company) has been inflicted on this client. Also, since this client has a history with you, they would rather go to you than place their trust (professional future) in someone else.
More...

Up, up, and away: Resin prices soar

While the pain is no less real, it's not much of a surprise to industry watchers that most major resin suppliers have announced price increases in the past four weeks. The driving force behind the mass-migration upward is, as usual, the cost of crude oil.
More...

Cellular mitosis in New Jersey

Actually, it's not like cellular mitosis, the means by which single-cell organisms reproduce. In mitosis, the offspring are identical to their parents. At Stull Technologies Inc. (Somerset, NJ), its new production cells aren't exactly the same as the existing ones. They're bigger and better.
More...

Dukane opens automotive center

Plastic joining equipment manufacturer Dukane Corp., Ultrasonics Div. (St. Charles, IL) has opened an Automotive Technical Center in Wixom, MI that offers more than twice the applications testing area than previously available. The new center was created to support both the North American and the worldwide automotive industry through plastic assembly feasibility, weld joint design, prototype tooling, prototype part runs, preproduction part runs, and other services.
More...

Syspro recognized again for advanced technology

Honored for the 10th year in a row, ERP software provider Syspro (Costa Mesa, CA) has made it on Start-It magazine's list of 25 ÒHottest CompaniesÓ for 2008. ÒThe companies who have been named 'hot' this year are among the leading-edge technology providers within manufacturing,Ó says Peggy Smedley, editorial director of Start-It.
More...

GlenbrookÕs two milestones

Glenbrook Technologies Inc. (Randolph, NJ), which recently celebrated 25 years in the business of x-ray technology used for inspecting electronic components, medical devices, and surgical implants, has announced another milestone: Its real-time x-ray inspection systems are now being used by every major U.S. medical device manufacturer. The systems use Glenbrook's fluoroscopic inspection technology that can, for instance, image and record a stent being deployed in real time.
Printable version...

Book on PVC analyzes nontoxic formulations

The second edition of PVC Degradation & Stabilization ($275) by George Wypych addresses the application of nontoxic stabilizers and additives that have helped renew global interest in polyvinyl chloride. It's aimed at chemists, engineers, designers, material scientists, teachers, and students to show new trends that enable PVC to be made free of toxic additives, and reportedly includes analysis of Òall essential papers published until recentlyÓ on the subject.
More...

New Product: Fast, compact robot for packaging

Designed for mechanical assembly, material handling, packaging, and other tasks that require quick, precise functions, the recently introduced Cobra s800 inverted IP65 Scara robot from Adept Technology Inc. (Livermore, CA) also saves on floor space, according to the manufacturer. It's scalable, and is said to use 70% less wiring than other Scara robots.
More...

Featured industry event: Plastic Part Design for Injection Molding workshop

Plastic Part Design for Injection Molding workshop is a seminar covering plastic parts being produced using the injection molding process, present by the University of Lowell Massachusetts, July 16-18.

For more events, visit the IMMnet.com calendar.

Networking Forum

Find answers to the questions below, post your own questions, troubleshoot online, or just chat with industry peers.

Recent Networking Forum postings:

We all know how air guns can be tooted in different notes, but have you molders ever noticed the tuning fork effect you can get from rapping on open-toed mold clamps? They all give different pitches, not only do the pitches vary with sizes but with manufacturing methods.
Reply to this posting and view other responses

I'm trying to make an acetal valve seal for a cone-shaped part with a hole through both sides. The parts look and measure fine but fail pressure testing. I have to go find out exactly how/where they fail. I've used Delrin 100AF and 100P. Customer machines seats now from 500AF and they work fine. I'm thinking of trying a different grade of acetal. Any suggestions? Or, is there anything else with the same shrink that might work as well?
Reply to this posting and view other responses

June Issue Highlights

State of the Tech: Packaging Press Pacesetters

Our quest for the best off-the-shelf injection molding technologies you could have on your shop floor brings us this month to high-speed injection molding machines for thin-wall packaging.
Our imaginary molder, John E. B. Goode, president of IMM has seen better times, but heÕs shopping around for new equipment he hopes will bring new growth opportunities in a growing market thin-wall consumer products packing. Read our imaginary molderÕs RFQ, then evaluate the responses from leading real-world suppliers of todayÕs packaging press pacesetters.
More...

The industry myth of a universal carrier for color concentrates simply isnÕt true, and the issues with incompatible carriers worsens with a lack of control over the color concentrate mixing process.
More...