posted January 09, 2003 11:14 AM               

For example if a 4 1/2" extruder is able to run only 10% faster, it could increase company profits by $500,000 in one year (assuming the orders are there). This is big money! Do the calculations yourself. However no one seems to care that much, or the technologies I have been involved in would be much more popular. Even when management is presented with these calculations, they don't take action!

Can anyone explain this phenomenon? Screw designers and manufactuers want to know.

posted January 09, 2003 11:48 PM               

In my experiance, the higher up the ladder they climb- the more "numerically challenged" they become

posted January 10, 2003 05:15 AM               

We have been battling this one for years. Back in 1996 we had a grant from the British Government to perform a case study to demonstrate that with screw optimisation we could improve the throughput of an extruder. Tom, forget 10%, we managed to get 22% improvement. (See Screw Optimisation.

This was on a film blowing line and the only complaint we received was that the cooling ring couldn't cope with the increased throughput. £17,000 and a new, more efficient cooling ring and everyone was happy. The increased profit paid for the air ring in no time.

This work was published as a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) report and we stood back and waited for extrusion companies to beat down our door. Nobody came!

posted January 10, 2003 06:30 AM               

I'm not sure where their heads are anymore.

posted January 11, 2003 07:36 AM               

From what I've seen in the U.S. at the moment, there is so much imported product (blown film, anyhow) at very low prices, that most blown film lines are producing much less than they are capable of.

Why bother making film at $0.70 / pound when you can buy imported film for $0.50 / pound? Just shut down your lines and become a film importer, you'll make more money.

Just my (unfortunate) perspective.

posted January 11, 2003 02:21 PM               

"tweaking" the process to improve output can be used to make more to sell. The other way to realize a "profit", is to reduce the cost of what is currently being made.

Faster throughput, setups, changeovers all mean that for every hour of labour we pay out for, we get more kilos of product to sell. I monitor every every "sold" kilo produced and devide the total number of sold kilos by the total number of hours paid (inc vacation/sick etc). For my company, so long as we maintain an average rate of 25- 26 Kg/Hr, we're breaking even.

Another KPI, is the waste rate. We measure the total input of raw materials against the total sold. Over the last few years, about half of one percent of slippage has occured each year.

I race yachts, and I see a number of parallels between extrusion and sailing. Everyone has approximately similar setups, but how well an individual line performs depends of how well the line has been setup, maintained and the various settings have been optimised. The settings that "worked" today on this "lot" of resin- will not be the best for the next "lot".

It's much the same sailing, and the boats that consistently win have got:
(a) reliable equipment that is well maintained.
(b) good crew who know their individual jobs, but can also do two or three other positions also. The crew has to be a team (no i in team)
(c) good instrumentation
(d) a "skipper" who can make sure the boat is always in the best place relative to other boats
(e) an excellent knowledge of the "rules" and how they apply to any situation

In short, you have to know what the numbers currently are, what they should be, and how to close the gap. Most people in business are too focused on the monthly report- which is a bit like driving a car by looking in the rear view mirror. The other problem is that most managers are in their current job for one or two years, so they're only interested in the "here and the now", not something that will benifit the company over a longer term.

I'll stop now if you've got this far, go have a beer

posted January 12, 2003 09:54 AM               

Where are the low cost imports coming from?

posted January 14, 2003 05:20 AM               

I'm not sure why such would lead to such a dreaded debate, as China simply has targeted the worlds customers - period. They have become successful in outproducing and selling to jobbers every film imaginable, and they spend some hefty money for State-of-the-Art equipment.

posted January 15, 2003 06:40 AM               

1 US$ = ~ 8.33 RmB, and you simply overlook monatary exchange rates.

A five star Hotel stay is < US$ 100. Her in America, it is easily $ 500 - $ 600.

You also overlook their cultural differences as well, including their strict adherance to Communism. However, China today is significantly different then even 12 years ago. They are practicing a two fold system now in the larger area's. First is Communism, and salted with secondly, Capitalistic qualitites.

In essence, they are favorable to capitalism - as long as it brings in money. Because of this, they keep their people employed.

posted January 15, 2003 08:56 AM               

We have been here before.

You feel that the Chinese compete under fair business practices, while I'm sure they don't.

Being in the plastics industry surely you must have seen the effects of China's business practices on the industry. It has been mentioned in this forum that some would chose to shut down production because the price for imported Chinese goods are so low that competing is out of the question.

As stated you believe that the ability of the Chinese to price way below market is just because of good business practices.

I believe that their ability to price this way is an artifice based on past and present Chinese government practices. I have had long dealings with the Japanese who think nothing about using predatory pricing practices to gain market share. They did it for decades, but do you see low cost Japanese good any longer? No, because that was an artificial situation also.

The damage is evident certainly in the injection molding industry. Mexican labor and goverment incentives are not even able to retain the business. Are you willing to give up that industry while not questioning Chinese business practices at all? (None the less the human rights issues. Try having too many children!)

Tom C

posted January 18, 2003 07:33 AM               

However, for those interested in contacting their Government Representitives in filing complaints, I would highly suggest that you look into the web-site: opensecrets.org to see just where each extracts their political/financhial "gift's".

Modern Plastics (January, 2003) have some other examples of how the Blown Film Industry is losing out to foreign compitition, as well as an article on why Portugal is building Molds at an accelerated rate.

I tend to look at such trends as Geographical Economics, as well as Geographical Ethics but most importantly - compitition. It will get sharper and sharper.

More & more Mold's are being made abroad, and it is short circuting our MADE IN USA theme started up many years ago.

Does the USA have similiar Trade Commisions as does Portugal?

[This message has been edited by zabielski (edited January 18, 2003).]

posted May 26, 2003 09:08 AM               

I have never yet heard of any political movement to stopr all trade with China, nor to oust those in elective offices that yield to their Communist regime.