Some 78% of Americans have a strong view of the significance of manufacturing, seeing it as very important to the country's economic prosperity, while 76%, indicate that manufacturing is very important to the standard of living in the U.S. Contrast that with the fact that 55% think the long-term outlook for American manufacturing will be weaker moving forward, with only 30% of respondents saying they would encourage their children to pursue a manufacturing career.

Based in California's Bay area, custom molder Jatco Incorporated has already gone international with a plant in GuangDong, China, and now it's going national with a new molding-centric facility that will open in South Carolina during the first quarter of 2011.

So many things can go wrong during sheet extrusion that it's almost a miracle processors are able to produce as much good product as they do. Chatter marks can be a common problem when processing sheet, but with this checklist you'll be able to locate and fix a weak spot quickly. 

Medical device molder Pacific Plastics & Engineering, a contract manufacturer and custom injection molder, added another stand-alone 1000-ft² Class (7) 10,000 cleanroom within the facility’s existing footprint. The new cleanroom contains automated lines for assembly and secondary operations including pad printing, assembly, and heatstaking. This expands the company’s production line to include two Class (7) 10,000 cleanrooms, the first containing six presses, and five Class (8) 100,000 soft-walled cleanrooms.

It's a big promise but the supplier says it has customers' firsthand experience to back it up. This new and improved purging agent combines non-melting but softening thermoplastic scrubbing granules with an expanding proprietary additive. This combination removes color and contamination without leaving behind residue due to the combined power of the thermoplastic's scrubbing action and the expansion of the additive.

At the midway point in the three-year project's life, the company leading the research says good strides are being made in advancing rotational molding. Processors interested in the Rotoflex project can also track it online.

Update: The California state senate sent the proposed bag ban to defeat last night by a vote of 20-14, according to the Sacramento Bee.

DuPont has started ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) production at its Chinese joint venture Beijing Hua Mei Polymer Company Limited, with plans to market the EVA produced there under the Elvax brand. DuPont says the joint venture will supply a broad range of specialty EVAs targeting market segments like packaging, adhesives, wire and cable, footwear, renewable energy, and electronics.

Market overview: The spot resin markets were relatively slow for the second week in a row, in stark contrast to the frenetic trading seen in first half of August. Spot-trading platform The Plastics Exchange (TPE) noted that there was a steady stream of demand, but added that spot supplies have been drying up ahead of contract price increases, which are slated to take effect for September.

A partnership formed between Teledyne Tekmar Co. (Mason, OH), part of Teledyne Technologies Inc. and MLS Analytical will allow MLS to distribute Tekmar's VOC and TOC analytical instruments in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and Northern Illinois.