Thanks to new packaging technology, Dove Body Wash’s new plastic bottles will contain about 15% less plastic than the original.  Unilever says it will release it’s new break-thru technology to the industry to everyone can take advantage of it.  This is another step towards the company’s goal of cutting their waste footprint in half by the year 2020.

The MuCell^® Technology for Extrusion Blow Moulding (EBM) uses gas injection to create gas bubbles in the middle layer of the bottle wall. This reduces the density of the plastic was maintaining its recyclability.  This new technology will first be released in Europe before being rolled out globally. Unilever sells about 33 million Dove Body Wash bottles across Europe so this technology can save about 275 tons of plastic per year.

Unilever continues to research and develop new packaging technology in efforts to make a difference in our environment.  We’re really happy to hear about this! Read the full article here

Do you hate the water that comes out of a ketchup bottle if you don’t shake it before you squirt some onto your hot dog or burger? This annoying problem has been solved by a couple of high school students in Missouri.  Jonathan Thompson and Tyler Richards designed an innovative ketchup bottle top that prevents the liquid from ruining your bun! Thanks to Project Lead The Way, these two Ketchup loving seniors had a 3D printer and CAD software to design this innovative bottle cap!

Check out the video below:

On average, the U.S. injection molding is still more costly than companies in China but the gaps are closing.  Thanks to our stable energy prices combined with the rising energy and wage costs in China, the gap is closing.  Mexico, who is priced between the US and China really helps make North America a reliable resource for injection molding which is helping pull back a lot more business from Asia.

It is important to know that these figures are only based on energy and labor costs.  It does not take into account other business costs such as transportation.

You can read the full story & see statistics here.

Lego, the popular company that makes toy plastic bricks, has set a target date of 2030 to look for a new sustainable resin to replace ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)

This has proved to be a difficult task because there are so many factors and standards that this new material must live up to.  The new plastic must be just as good as ABS to ensure the new Legos are seamlessly compatible with older Legos.  The ability to stay clicked together, or “clutch power” is so important that Lego has developed its own testing system for it.

There must also be a global supplier of this material because Lego has expanded its production facilities to Denmark, Mexico, Hungary and soon China.

The new plastic resin must make sense economically as well as environmentally.  They want a non-food feedstock base so they never have to choose between using crops for toys vs using them for food.

Add the fact that this new plastic material must meet all standards written in the 3,082 page legislation regulating toys worldwide, you can see how difficult this is to find.

The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. and American National Standards Institute have revised two safety standards that covers plastic machinery.  The standards cover safety requirements for the integration of robots with injection molding machines and for plastic sheet production machinery.  These new safety standards are used to minimize the hazards to people.  They eliminate recognized hazards by design criteria, establish standard approaches to design and safeguard the point of operation to protect the operator.  They also include updates to reflect changes in technology and provide additional explanatory materials, illustrations and definitions.

For more information and details about these updated safety standards, click here

Contact Lee Plastics for all your plastic design and manufacturing needs!

Switzerland – Scientist have found a way to create electronic chips that are so thin and flexible that they can be wrapped around a hair.

They make this chip by building an electronic circuit on top of two polyvinyl layers that are perched on a hard base, almost like a sandwich.

The sandwich is then places in water which dissolves two of the polyvinyl layers and causes the base to be released, sinking to the bottom of the lab dish.  With the base removed, what’s left is a circuit that is embedded on a super light, transparent non soluble polymer film called parylene that is just one micrometer think.

This new ultra flexible chip may have many medical uses including being put on contact lenses to provide a monitor for glaucoma.  In the future, it may be used for other wearable biosensors.

For more information and videos, please visit phys.org.

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Former quarterback Jim Kelly played for the Buffalo Bills for 11 season.  Now he is venturing into a new business: plastic manufacturing!  Kelly has teamed up with injection molding company Port Erie Plastics to manufacture multi-purpose clips with plastic discs imprinted with your favorite sports teams logos.  These clips can be used for papers, snacks, or anything that needs to be held in place and organized.

Kelly decided to partner with an American company because he believes “Business is not only about the dollars.”  He puts a real value on dealing with good quality people.  It also takes 9 weeks to get a sample from China as opposed to a couple hours when working with an American company.

We are excited to these clips around the office and to show off our favorite teams!

For more information about precision injection molding, please contact Lee Plastics at (978) 422-7611