The Rodon Blog - A Focus on Plastic Injection Molding and American Manufacturing

Over the past few years, we've written many articles about the state of manufacturing within the United States but thought we'd narrow in on the Philadelphia region since our facility is located about 45 minutes outside of the city. We are proud to be third generation family business located in this region. Manufacturing is a top priority throughout the nation and continues to support over 17 million U.S. jobs. Manufacturers in the Greater Philadelphia area in particular have good reason to be optimistic about the outlook for 2015 and 2016. 

Kreischer Miller, a leading independent accounting, tax, and advisory firm serving the Greater Philadelphia area since 1975, recently announced that its Manufacturing Industry Group has released the results from its first Regional Manufacturing Capability and Outlook Survey.  The survey covered key areas such as economic outlook, workforce turnover, employee training, outsourcing, information security and more.  

This article written by the Reshoring Initiative Editorial Team originally appeared on the Reshore Now blog on October 15, 2014

It is no secret that the last decade has brought a surge in demand for products made in the USA. But it was only recently we realized how much the “Buy American” movement has evolved.

In a recent survey conducted by American Certified, 1500 people across the nation were asked the question, “Other than price/ quality, what factor is most important to you when purchasing a product?”

This article written by Adam Robinson, Marketing Manager at Cerasis, originally appeared on the Cerasis blog on March 6, 2015

While US manufacturing has been hit hard by nearly two decades of policy failures that have damaged its international competitiveness, it remains a vital part of the U.S. economy.

The US manufacturing sector employed 12 million workers in 2013, or about 8.8 percent of total US employment. Manufacturing employs a higher share of workers without a college degree than the economy overall. On average, non-college-educated workers in manufacturing made 10.9 percent more than similar workers in the rest of the economy in 2012–2013.

How do you achieve just the right shade of grey in your plastic part?  It’s all in the masterbatch.  A masterbatch is a concentrated mixture of pigments and/or additives encapsulated during a heat process into a carrier resin*. The resulting product is used to color raw polymer materials and provide other desired characteristics to the final part such as UV light resistance, flame retardants, slip agents and anti-stat agents.

We all know the importance color plays in our lives.  And for manufacturers, getting the color right is an integral part of product quality.   Unlike metal or other base materials, plastics lend themselves to a wide array of colors and additives.  They are used in everything from bottle caps to medical devices.  Each plastic application requires specific properties from the chosen polymer.

In today’s world, the green movement is more important than ever. No matter what the industry, it’s a company’s responsibility to make changes and choices that support the environment.When you’re looking for a plastic injection molding company, there are several things you can check for to be sure you’ll be working with an environmentally responsible business.

Certification

ISO 9001 Certification is a way for companies to keep a close eye on their production processes. Meeting the International Standards for Quality Management ensures the company has been thoroughly audited and is fully in control of its’ procedures so that no part of the production process “slips through the cracks.”

Waste Reduction

Make sure the company you work with is minimizing waste. During the molding process, excess plastic is generated. What does the company you work with do with it? Look for a company that has a system to recycle all excess plastic.

What about boxes? The efforts of cardboard recycling make a huge difference. At Rodon, we conserve 150 tons of cardboard per year, enough to fill 3000 cubic yards of landfill space or 3 football fields about a foot deep!  Using servo robots to incrementally stack parts, we reduce part distortion while tripling or quadrupling the number of parts packed into the same size carton. Rodon's customers are also offered a returnable/reusable packaging program to further reduce cardboard use

The Rodon Group was busy in 2014 providing information to help companies make better decisions about their plastic manufacturing.  With nearly 80 articles on our blog post, we covered a lot of territory.  

So, we thought we would take a moment to highlight our top sellers; the articles that got the greatest response from our readers.

Like anything in life, there are degrees of perfection. This is true in plastic injection molding.  Some molders specialize in lower volume parts that don’t require a high level of detail or precision.  This type of manufacturing may be suitable as some projects don’t require a perfect part based on the application.

Take disposable cutlery for instance.  Because of its “use and toss” status in this world, plastic knives and forks don’t need to maintain a high level of perfection.  They can have a bit of flash around the perimeter, and no one gives it a second thought.