PMM Insight: A Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing Podcast

Plastics machinery sales fall again: Machinery Minutes

On this episode of the Machinery Minutes podcast:
Shipments of injection molding and extrusion machinery in North America fell 17.5 percent in the first quarter from the previous quarter and 4.6 percent year over year, according to the Plastics Industry Association's Committee on Equipment Statistics. What's weighing on the market?
Learn how Wittmann's space-saving Insider Package machine cells helped ITW Deltar Fasteners make the most of its limited floor space.
A Chinese cobot manufacturer, Fairino, has entered the North American market this year and is having some success selling to plastics processors.  

Is the "big, beautiful" budget bill good for plastics?

What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast episode , a commentary by Editor Ron Shinn: 
The Plastics Industry Association and National Association of Manufacturers support the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” now being debated in the U.S. Senate. 
The challenge for the plastics industry is to influence the Senate to keep the good provisions of the tax bill while tinkering with the rest. 
Can the U.S maintain world leadership in manufacturing? That question is yet to be answered. 

Budget debate, new UR cobot, extrusion's future: Machinery Minutes

Learn about three top stories of the week:
As the U.S. Senate debates President Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” we look at what it could mean for plastics processors.
Henning Stieglitz, CEO and CTO of the German company that manufactures Battenfeld Cincinnati extrusion machines, talked with the VDMA about sustainability, artificial intelligence, post-consumer material and problems with the circular economy. 
Universal Robots has launched the UR15 collaborative robot, promising high performance and greater speeds. 

Sustainability struggles; Epson's new robots; plastics publisher dies: Machinery Minutes

Key points from this episode of the Machinery Minutes podcast:
Corporate sustainability goals are colliding with the reality of a political climate dominated by news of cuts and regulatory backlash, but work on recycling is moving ahead at the state and company level because it makes business sense. 
Pete Sullivan, a long-time publisher of trade magazines for the plastics industry, and a member of PMM's founding team, passed away last week at age 81. 
Epson unveiled the new GX-C series of SCARA robots it describes as its high-performance flagship line. 

Behind the scenes at Bekum; SPE Thermoforming award; Wittmann's latest granulator: Machinery Minutes

On this episode of Machinery Minutes:
Bekum America builds application-specific extrusion blow molding equipment and prides itself on customer support, especially to new blow molders. Take a look behind the scenes. 
The SPE Thermoforming Division presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Greg McCunn, staff engineer for materials at John Deere, at its recent conference. 
Learn about Wittmann’s latest granulator, the S-Max Dual 8. 

How plastics leaders can find opportunity in tough times: PMM Insight

Key points from this PMM Insight podcast, with Editor Ron Shinn and Senior Staff Reporter Karen Hanna:  
Leaders can put their heads down and cope with a crisis, but to successfully deal with change they have to keep their heads up, take a deep breath and make decisions that gets them to their goal. 
Lean manufacturing plays an important role in dealing with chaotic times. 
Believe it or not, there are new opportunities for processors despite the uncertainty. You just have to know how to look. 

Digital transformation; self-leadership; PTi upgrades extruder: Machinery Minutes

Key points from this episode: 
Digital transformation holds the key to making better decisions about your customers’ needs, machine maintenance, supply chain trends and more.  
A top leadership consultant discusses how to cope with fear, volatile markets, global instability and waves of tariff announcements and suspensions. 
PTi has upgraded and rebranded its twin-screw dryerless sheet extruder formerly known as the HVTSE. 

Trump's tariffs and how to manage through the chaos: Machinery Minutes

Key points from this episode of the Machinery Minutes podcast:
A survey of PMM readers found processors and equipment suppliers are unhappy and are at a loss as to how to deal with the constantly changing tariff landscape. Orders are slowing down and processors are postponing equipment purchases. Read the summary story or listen to our podcast commentary. 
It may seem like chaos in the business world, but you still have to pull up your big-boy pants and manage through it. We can help, with our story about dealing with chaos and even finding new opportunities. 
Progressive Components’ Spring Cups are our new product of the week, enabling safer and faster installation of spring-loaded ejector systems in molds.

Readers speak out on Trump tariffs in PMM poll

Key points from this PMM Insight podcast episode: 
Processors and others responding to a PMM survey said they believe that the Trump administration’s trade policies will have a negative impact on their business and that customers are already delaying orders. 
More than 60 percent said they are delaying purchases of new machinery and equipment. 
There was little optimism that reshoring would result in new business for the domestic plastics industry. 

Reshoring hits snags, automation and smart factory adoption lags: Machinery Minutes

Key points in this episode of the Machinery Minutes podcast: 
There are significant stumbling blocks to reshoring, including our labor shortage, lack of manufacturing capacity and failure to invest in artificial intelligence, according to the annual Kearney Reshoring Index. 
China is eating our lunch when it comes to investing in automation and industrial robotics. Can plastics processors help? 
Smart technology is a smart investment. A new study from Deloitte shows improvements of up to 20 percent in production output, 20 percent in employee productivity and 15 percent in unlocked capacity.