PMM Insight: A Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing Podcast

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 are just 1...

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 role of sup...

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 molding machines in an ef...

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 thin polyurethane surface direct...

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 should d...

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 cybersecurity in the same...

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.  

• Manufacturers su...

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 another revolution and offer...

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 Blow Molding Confe...

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 expert sai...

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 consistency and viability of ...

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 for the customers’ needs than many...

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 mold ma...

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 reuse energy during shaft reversals to its...

What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast episode, a commentary by Editor Ron Shinn:  

• We are in an era of manufacturing transition, from huge numbers of lunchpail-toting workers streaming out of the factory gate at the end of their shift to an era of fewer workers making more goods.  

• What will it take to succeed in the new era? Embracing Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing; following sustainable practices; us...