5 Methods To Manufacturing Plastic Products In Your Business

In business and consumer settings, you can find an abundance of plastic products. Everything from plastic cups to pharmaceutical strips are manufactured using plastic materials. While you might associate plastic manufacturing with a prototype in China, there are many useful products using this process. Also, known as plastic fabrication, the process of making plastic goods has several different methods. As a plant manager, you might need to consider the different methods to manufacturing plastic products. In this post, we’ll explain how these popular methods could work for the type of product that your company needs to manufacture.

Plastic Extrusion Method

Plastic extrusion can manufacture products that have a fixed and hollow shape. The thickness and flexibility of the product can vary. For example, you can make a pipe for a plumbing business. Or, you can make a simple straw for restaurant supplies. During the extrusion process, a screw pushes liquid plastic into a mold. The mold is cooled and put through an extruder. As the material passes through a metal piece or die, it takes a continuous shape. This step gives the product its static shape. To finish the product, the long shape can be cut or trimmed to the desired length. This is one of the most common ways to manufacture plastic products.

Rotational Molding Manufacturing

Alternatively, rotational molding works to manufacture hollow and thin plastic products. This plastic manufacturing method uses powder plastic material to create a coating inside a mold. Instead of heating the plastic material directly, the mold is heated on the outside. Using a rotational motion, the powered plastic then melts to the mold. This can result in a bulky product or single thin layer. Depending on your product requirements, it is an effective method for producing hollow products like toys or furniture.

Vacuum Forming Process

The vacuum forming manufacturing method uses a machine to remove all the air between plastic material and a mold. A sheet of plastic is placed over the mold. When the air is vacuumed out, the shape takes form. Similar to the other manufacturing processes, the plastic cools so that the material hardens. At the end of the vacuum forming process, the plastic product is removed from the mold. If required, any excess material is cut off. To manufacture custom parts, vacuum forming is a cheaper plastic manufacturing method compared to injection based methods. Due to the cost difference, you can come up with unique manufacturing business ideas for plastic products.

Injection Molding Method

Injection mold manufacturing is the most popular production method. This process works for mass producing plastic products. The process uses an injection machine to heat resign pellets and push the heated plastic into a mold. Unlike other processes, the machine leverages thermoplastics. This allows you to heat and cool the pellets multiple times. This offers more flexibility and less waste for your productions process. In the beginning, you can start out with used injection molding machines to manufacture plastic products in mass quantities. There are many products you can manufacture for home, consumer and industrial sectors.

Plastic Compression Molding

For larger products, compression molding can produce strong plastic shapes. Usually, the plastic comes in sheets. It is then heated and placed into a mold. While in the mold, the heated material is compressed to take its shape. This process is known as curing. After the cooling process, the material takes on a very strong structural property. Due to the hard properties associated with plastic compression made products, these types of plastic products are used in the automotive industry. Since the plastic material can be reinforced and combined with various fibers, these products can be highly durable. If you would like to manufacture plastic parts for the automotive industry, you should consider investing in plastic molding compression equipment.

You have several different methods for manufacturing plastic products. Depending on the qualities and characteristics of the product, you should consider using a suitable process. The manufacturing method should create a safe and reliable product while remaining cost effect to produce. You can create a variety of products and parts with plastic extrusion. For extremely hard products, plastic compression methods are very common. If you need to produce a hollow plastic product, you may want to consider a rotational molding method. Moreover, vacuum forming works to produce custom parts at a lower cost. Most popularly, injection molding plants are well known for mass producing a wide range of plastic parts. These are some of the best plastic manufacturing methods for businesses.