Concept 2024

Plastic products must become sustainable. But replacing virgin material with recycled material is not enough – the entire value chain must be considered. 

More and more manufacturing companies are rethinking how they can reduce waste, whether we’re talking about making injection molding machines more efficient, which saves energy, creating products from 100% recycled materials, using more and more renewable energy sources, or hybrid in the factories or the material waste reduction. 

But how do you produce sustainably, and qualitatively, so that your products retain their physical and mechanical properties? 

More and more companies are making progress in reducing their carbon footprint by reviewing production methods, energy waste, and materials used. Next steps could be taken towards the use of LED lights in factories and offices, solar panels, heat pumps, and other ways to heat and power commercial spaces. 

How important is this trend for companies in Romania, to worth the financial investment? Good practice examples. 

Digital technologies are indispensable in industrial production, where digitization can interconnect and optimize equipment, systems, and production processes. Yes, Industry 4.0 is still at the beginning in Romania, but more and more entrepreneurs – 74%, according to the study “Digitalization in industrial companies in Romania” – say that digitization (technologies, robotics, cloud services, smart services, Big Data) is the main way to increase company’s efficiency.  

How do we get the most out of digitization? 

It is one of the trends that will continue in 2022. The use of software in the production process leads to faster cycles, with less downtime and more efficient maintenance. However, the next step is to switch to smart software in the process of analyzing the mold’s flow, to predict how the mold will be filled (a very useful process in the design phase). Technology may seem expensive, but the technical and economic benefits far outweigh these costs.  

How do we get to the next level? 

There is more and more talk about the benefits of bioplastic (a plastic derived from corn, sugar cane, seaweed, or even shrimp shells) in molds’ manufacture and injection molding. It is even estimated that the market will grow by 25% until 2023, globally. But here too there are limits: the materials are biodegradable, but not completely free of pollution, which means high costs of harvesting, refining, and transport. In addition, for strength, bioplastic is often combined with non-recyclable polymers, becoming a hybrid product – if it isn’t stored properly, decomposition can take 100 years.  

What smart solutions do we use? 

The last two years have shown that plastic plays an important role in modern life, as a result, new types of materials will appear to meet future needs. Statistics show that the future industry (automotive and aerospace) will increase the demand for composite plastics in the next ten years – more durable, stronger, lighter, and safer. And two other sectors are starting to turn more and more to composite materials: the military industry and the medical industry.  

Are we ready to honor orders? 

At the same time with the cost reductions in the production process, there is an increasing demand for products made of light plastic. Both producers and consumers want products as light as possible because they mean cost reductions with transport and storage – in the aerospace sector. In the medical sector, lighter implantable devices can lead to less invasive surgeries and improved recovery rates for patients. For the electronics sector, lighter and smaller components often mean space gained for design and improved performance. 

How many product teams are considering including weight in production design plans for 2022?