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Pharmaceutical-style packaging isn't just for drugs anymore. Thanks to regulations from the U.S. FDA, makers of vitamins and other nutritional supplements now must meet the same rigorous quality control and [...]

If your idea of smart fabrics is a pair of khaki pants that sheds food stains, think again. The smartest fabrics are becoming electroactive, allowing them to address far more [...]

If your idea of "smart fabrics" is a pair of khaki pants that sheds food stains, think again. The smartest fabrics are becoming electro-active, allowing them to address far more […]

If you've struggled to take weight out of your designs without sacrificing strength, you could likely learn a thing or two from the engineers who created the world's biggest commercial […]

THE VERY IDEA OF DESIGNING "GREEN" PRODUCTS may be the kind of thing that keeps you up at night. After all, you might have to reconsider all your time-tested design […]

ENGINEERS WITH PROBLEMS TO SOLVE RIGHT NOW MIGHT NOT GIVE A SECOND thought to nanotechnology since so much of it still seems more like science fiction than fact. But nanotech […]

HURRY UP AND WAIT. IT'S A FITTING MOTTO FOR CUSTOM-PART MANUFACTURING. Though you may be in a hurry to bring your product to market, you will have to wait for […]

UNRAVEL ALL THE WIRING FROM A TYPICAL LUXURY CAR, AND IT WOULD STRETCH more than a mile and half. Just about every inch of that wire would be covered with […]

If you fire up the Formula race car that Raser Technologies recently built, don't expect to hear the roar of the engine. Because there isn't one. Raser's racer instead runs […]

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, AT LEAST THE KIND THAT OPERATES IN MANY PURCHASING departments, has it that moving manufacturing operations to cheaper labor markets will invariably lower the total cost of making […]

IF YOU THINK THAT CARBON-FIBER COMPOSITES BELONG ONLY IN THE AIR AND ON racetracks, think again. The 34th annual Society of Plastics Engineers' Innovation Awards, which honor the year's best […]

NASA'S PLANS TO SEND ASTRONAUTS BACK TO THE Moon and, ultimately, to Mars raises an important sartorial question: What ever will they wear? The zero-gravity spacesuits that astronauts currently don […]

ENGINEERING PLASTICS AND BOAT engines already go together like ducks and water. With their corrosion resistance and ever-improving structural capabilities, plastics have taken the place of metal in components both […]

High-temperature superconductors (HTS) sure sound like a good idea. When fashioned into wires and cooled to about 77K, which passes for balmy in superconductivity circles, these ceramic materials can carry […]

ANYONE WHO DOES THEIR COMPUTING ON THE GO RECOGNIZES first-hand the trade-off between size and performance. Notebook computers can perform much like a desktop machine, but even the tiniest ones […]

BRETT Blaisdell PLASTICS ENGINEER Kodak Kodak's latest single-use cameras may be almost as pretty as the photos they take. Intended as a premium product that will appeal to consumers around […]

Picking the right plastic for a new product really is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. There are at least 50,000 grades of commercial plastics on the […]

MOST PEOPLE ENJOY CLEAN AIR, BUT IT CAN GIVE HEAVY-TRUCK ENGINEERS A REAL HEADACHE now that truck builders have to comply with Environmental Protection Agency regulations that require them to […]

DO CAR WINDOWS HAVE TO BE MADE FROM GLASS? THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY HAS always answered "yes." But you may soon find yourself gazing through a very different kind of glazing. […]

FOR ENGINEERS INTERESTED IN FUNCTIONAL prototypes of plastic parts, the models produced on 3D printing machines may not have much to offer at first glance. These rapid prototyping machines create […]

The Tablet PC, a new class of pen-based mobile computers, brings an old fable to mind. With the birds and animals poised for a battle, both sides ask the bat […]

Ugly just doesn't sell anymore. Need proof? Just take a walk through any of today's big-box retailers, where even the most mundane household products have gotten a dash of style. […]

When cordless drills first turned up on job sites about a decade ago, construction workers had a graphic way of showing their skepticism about the power of unplugged tools. They […]

Ever watch someone try to squeeze a full-size pickup truck into a parking space down at the local mini-mall? "The more sizeable trucks often take two or three tries to […]

Even a glimpse at John Deere's tractors and combines will quickly drive away any doubt about the growing use of plastics in agricultural equipment. Over the past decade, the company […]

So you need a plastic gear set. Just crack open a catalog or design handbook. With a little basic information about center distances, pitch and pressure angles in hand, you […]

Engineers in the U.S. and Germany worked together to build a crane that not only takes the prize for its best-of-class lifting capacity but also meets conflicting global transport standards. […]

Injection mold design is in the midst of a second computer revolution. The first one occurred when designers exchanged their drafting tables for CAD workstations. Now, mold designers are again [...]

All-electric injection presses carry higher price tags, but molders who use them don't seem to care. They say price pales in comparison to the valuable molding advantages they get with [...]

An updated Scorim process oscillates the melt back and forth inside the mold with more flexibility and fewer machinery modifications. Here's a look at how the 'new' Scorim can enhance [...]

A new generation of process-control systems interpret results of injection molding simulation as the starting point for machine settings and control setpoints. Efforts to make injection machine set-up and control [...]

K'98 showed off a wide range of technologies that cut costs by consolidating process steps. One of the most unusual was in-line compounding and molding of filled PP with a [...]

Multi-color or multi-material molding isn't just for captive molders anymore. Applications are multiplying far beyond keycaps and taillights, making investment in specialty machines thinkable for custom shops. * Looking for [...]

This nasty computer defect will likely pop up somewhere in your plant, but you can keep it from spoiling your New Year's Day 2000. The key is to hunt out [...]

Will chip-carrying cards become a booming business for injection molders? If the market's explosive growth continues, the answer could be a profitable 'yes' for those with the right mix of [...]

Sure, you can find tooling bargains overseas. But the savings can vanish if you don't keep a firm hold on quality and project management. Here are some proven strategies for [...]

Processors shopping for MRP II and related manufacturing-management software systems have a surfeit of choices on their hands. With more than 100 systems out there, most of which have dozens [...]

Packing the most machine into the least amount of space has spurred rapid proliferation of two-platen injection machines. Here's a complete guide to what's available now. If you run big [...]

LOW-COST & COMPACT TOGGLE MACHINES Among the new toggle-clamp machines, HPM Corp., Mt. Gilead, Ohio, rolled out its aggressively priced Universal Series in 60 to 560 tons. Assembled partly in [...]

'Windows' will be everywhere you look, from new CIM systems to control software. For better or worse, it's becoming a 'Windows' world, and process-control and monitoring products for plastics equipment [...]

This year's show will be the place to kick the tires on large two-platen machines. At least five suppliers will exhibit machines over 1000 tons. If you're a molder who [...]

Time is money. Opportunities to save some of both are often overlooked. Try out these tips from experts who spend their time trimming the fat off molding cycles. What molder [...]

If you didn't make it to Birmingham, England in November, our editors scoured the show floor for new hardware and software for injection, extrusion, blow molding, and thermoforming. Interplas 96 [...]

How many hours do you spend looking for material data sheets or machinery specifications? You start by rifling through the file cabinets - or the piles on your desk. Even [...]

What is the best source of nitrogen for gas-assist injection molding? According to recent cost comparisons from two leading nitrogen suppliers, on-site nitrogen generation often beats compressed-gas cylinders and liquid [...]

BMW and Mercedes-Benz of Germany recently opened production facilities in the Southern U.S., and they've been followed by parts suppliers with sophisticated injection molding capabilities. Here's a look at two [...]

Two-platen injection machines take up less floor space without sacrificing performance. Tiebarless models make mold changing and robot mounting easier. Does that means these alternative clamp styles are poised to [...]

Maintenance software won't do the dirty work, but it can help you organize maintenance tasks and even predict when machines will need repairs. No software will replace the elbow grease [...]

No single solution will solve all your worker-training woes. But a good place to start is with an in-plant program that addresses your most immediate concern - ensuring competency on [...]