Fakuma 2011 - market situation

We publish an article written by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Bastian, who is managing director of the Southern German Plastics Centre. His text is related with the current situation in the plastics market.

The market situation for German plastics processors has been characterised by noteworthy growth during the first half of the year amounting to 13%, but profits are still unsatisfactory above all due to rising, and highly volatile energy and raw materials prices.

At the moment, we tend to discern a positive overall mood within the industry, and a sideways trend at an adequately high level can be anticipated for the coming months. Expectations are being dampened by the raw materials price situation and its ongoing development resulting from the consequences of Germany’s revised energy policy which are still difficult to assess, the difficult to estimate consequences of the unstable situation within the financial markets and, of course, the uncertainty of the outlook for the global economy.

Growth during the first half of the year was generated for the most part by the packaging sector, consumer goods and technical components. Minimal growth was achieved by, for example, building materials. The number of companies climbed once again in 2011 by more than 4% to over 2700, thus approaching the level that prevailed in 2009, and utilisation of production capacity is noticeably greater than 80%. The fact that the number of employees in the plastics processing industry has increased by 5.5% to more than 285,000 is also encouraging.

The market situation and the developments we can expect are, of course, closely linked to important trends in technological development. All in all, a great deal will depend upon further piece price reductions, energy-optimised production and improved sustainability with regard to product use.
Accordingly, for example, consistent further development in the field of lightweight construction will be important. Adequate progress is being made in this area, for example with organic sheet, reinforced compounds, foams and hollow glass micro-spheres, and of course functions integration and automated manufacturing technologies as well.

Continuous increases in the specific performance of the utilised machines are also providing the industry with corresponding potential. Significantly higher torques now available for compounding are an impressive example in this respect.

The push towards greater energy efficiency should be pursued by means of holistic approaches. However, individual aspects such as modern drives for machines, reduced maximum pressures for compressed air supply and compressed air reservoirs which are matched to actual needs will also help lead us to the desired result. Direct processing procedures, for instance for the production of high content and continuous strand-reinforced components, also represent an attractive opportunity for increasing energy efficiency and economy and, at the same time, making it more difficult for competitors to copy products.

Improving sustainability by using renewable raw materials (to a greater extent) is a further dominant trend, which is resulting in further development along these lines. Bioplastics and compounds will be presented at numerous booths at the trade fair. Unfortunately, “bio” is frequently equated with ecology, or even sustainability, without actually balancing the account. In this respect, incidentally, it’s important to make a case for maintaining credibility for serious, comprehensive evaluations of products over their entire life cycle, and to consistently avoid any “greenwashing” whatsoever. An honest, comparative balancing of accounts still needs to be established in this respect.

There is a great variety of approaches to the consistent reduction of piece prices – understandably so. I would like to emphasise innovative measuring techniques for the analysis and control of processes, as well as for quick and reliable, if applicable non-destructive testing of product characteristics, which are still being used far too infrequently in routine industrial applications.

These techniques offer considerable, as yet untapped potential. Examples range from fast methods for determining the colour of pellets and injection moulded parts, as well as intelligent utilisation of thermography which is also possible inline, right on up to computer tomographic structural analyses and more complex spectroscopic procedures which, however, necessitate the support of correspondingly qualified personnel as a rule.

Intelligent control circuits need to be installed into manufacturing applications to a greater extent, which drastically minimise the scrap rate. Professional use of thermography in quality monitoring is a highly promising example.

Intelligent manufacturing processes and intelligent use of the right manufacturing process, quick and accurate cooling processes and use of the right material in producing the mould offer a further approach to minimising piece prices. Direct processing is a highly promising example that has been around for many years, by means of which the material recipe is adapted to match the specific part, and injection moulding takes place in process heat.

Generative production, i.e. tool-free manufacturing, for example by means of laser sintering, is an important supplemental way of economically producing parts in small to medium-sized lots. However, there are still lots of restrictions in this area, for example with regard to materials variety and know-how concerning long-term performance of parts manufactured in this way.

And thus the trade fair is significant in many respects. Regardless of whether development of further improved materials, quick and reliable, if applicable non-destructive testing of products, innovative improvement of processes and products with corresponding quality assurance measures, economic and ecological assessments of comprehensive certification of companies is involved, an exchange of ideas and experience concerning these current issues is one of the main focal points for trade fair visitors. Consequently, Fakuma is an ideal platform for establishing personal contacts and discussing the possibility of further intensification of collaborative efforts. The event is thus very well suited for further optimisation of steady, further intensification of networking with partners, and for improving the prospects for mutual innovation in the future.

In my opinion, it will be even more important for the plastics industry to improve product quality and to actually reduce production scrap rates to nearly zero in the future. As a whole, the great market changes taking place in, for example, China, India and Brazil, as well as social and political mega-trends, will of course play an important role: The ageing population, climate protection and the efficient use of resources are great challenges at the moment.

Accordingly, important goals for the future will include products which are sustainable over their entire life cycles in order to assure outstanding resource and energy efficiency.

In addition to this, the material cycle will have to play a more and more important role for plastic parts, especially those with short useful lives of significantly less than 50 years. And thus recycling needs to be taken into consideration already during the developmental stage, or it must be pointed out right from the very start that use as an energy source at the end of the product life cycle is the most sustainable solution.

In summary, pressure to innovate will continue to rise for all involved parties.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Bastian*

*Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Bastian is managing director of the Southern German Plastics Centre.