Matthew Naitove Contributing Editor
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ERP Software: New Ways to Find Your Data, Lower-Cost Entry for Small Plants
The past year has seen several product upgrades and new features in the EnterpriseIQ enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system from IQMS, Paso Robles, Calif.
Read MoreWhat Kind of a Show Will It Be?
NPE 2009 in Chicago next month will be like previous triennial shows—but it will be different, too.
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Energy-Saving Dryer Pays Off In an Uncertain Economy
Plastics processors struggling through the recession need to save energy costs where they can, they need an affordable means to do so, and they could use energy-saving technology that pays for itself during times when plant throughputs are variable and below optimum capacity utilization.
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Survival of the Most Efficient
After preparing our latest Custom Injection Molders’ Hourly Rates Survey report, with its grim picture for custom molders, I became curious about long-term trends in molding economics.
Read MoreWe Take You to the Show in Style
This year, you may need to make better use of your time at NPE than ever before.
Read MoreHow Do You Keep Up With News in Materials?
I hope your answer includes reading Plastics Technology, particularly our monthly “Keeping Up With Materials” department.
Read MoreThe Quiet Revolution Continues
Not quite two decades ago, I wrote in this space, “Something needs to be done to improve the quality, usefulness, and believability of materials property data.” All three quantities were sorely lacking because materials specifiers had no assurance that any two materials had been tested in the same way, using specimens with the same geometry and same method of preparation.
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A Quiet Revolution In Materials Characterization
In December, about a dozen representatives of European chemical companies gathered in Aachen, Germany, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of a quiet revolution in plastics.
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Thinking Seriously About Costs
No time like the present for some comprehensive cost control, right?
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They’re Multiplying Everywhere!
Preoccupied as you may have been lately by high resin prices, a stagnating economy, overseas competitors, hurricane disruptions, and the credit crunch, not to mention the chaos on Wall Street, you may not have noticed something new and different sprouting up all around you, so to speak.
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Find Those ‘Hidden Costs’ And Do Something About Them
The lead-off speaker at our Processing Conference & Workshop in Chicago at the end of this month asks an important question: “What is your old auxiliary equipment costing you?” In other words, what is it costing you not to replace it?
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