Inspire young people with emotions instead of classic careers • Poor plastics image has an impact on attracting young talents • Great need for information and creation of awareness in the companies necessary • Plastics machinery manufacturer Kurtz Ersa sets a good example
The plastics industry is undergoing a transformation towards a circular economy. Common goals are resource conservation through recycling, but also CO2 reduction in the manufacture and use of plastics products. With its technology developments, plastics machinery manufacturing is making a significant contribution to the implementation of circular economy. However, the image of plastics is still poor. Often, the poor opinion of plastics products is due to a lack of information. The VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association is therefore committed to constructive dialog with industry representatives, politicians, but also with the public. This is because the critical attitude towards plastics also has a negative impact on the recruitment of young talents in VDMA member companies. Young people are increasingly demanding sustainable action from their employers. They want to identify with their company and experience that their work contributes to something good. At the plastics machinery manufacturer Kurtz Ersa, this expectation has led to a change in thinking – with success.

Kurtz Ersa scores points with junior staff for sustainability

Today, sustainability has a high priority at Kurtz Ersa, a family-owned company based in the Spessart region of Germany. In recent years, the company has successively reviewed and improved its products, its business processes and also its social behavior. In the meantime, “Sustainability” is part of the brand core, the many different sustainability projects of the company are centrally managed and strategically aligned.
In addition, the clear goal has been formulated to be climate-neutral by the 250th anniversary in 2029. “We have realized, that we have been thinking too short-term and have done too little, but the young people in our company as well as the various environmental movements have sharpened our focus,” says Managing Director Uwe Rothaug. Kurtz Ersa turns many screws at the same time. The manufacturer of plastics machinery is now focusing more on technologies for its products that conserve resources, promoting the circular economy, but also on processing alternatives to oil-based plastics. “We are looking for ways to optimize our machines with these sustainability goals in mind, but we are also moving into completely new technologies for new developments,” says Constantin Kemmer, Head of Research & Development, Kurtz GmbH. One example: Thanks to new technology, an energy saving of 90 per cent was calculated for a newly developed machine. A big step towards sustainability, Kemmer thinks. Not only in development and production, but also in sales, in administration, in the buildings and in the warehouse, everywhere Kurtz Ersa is looking for ways to initiate sustainability processes. “We are currently turning over every stone,” explains Marketing Manager Marcus Loistl. As soon as a potential for improvement is identified, it is time for implementation. “Speed is important. You see an effect quickly. That makes the efforts credible and you take others with you,” Loistl knows. The acceptance of the measures is particularly high among the younger staff. There, the commitment is also particularly high.

The topic of sustainability is becoming more and more important in job interviews Some of the younger employees have only developed a sensitivity for sustainability in recent years. The skilled worker Omid Asimi, for example, did his training at Kurtz GmbH. He started it at that time because he was impressed by the machines. Over time, he also encountered criticism in his private environment and was asked why he was working for a company from the plastics industry. “I then took a closer look and realized that Kurtz Ersa is looking for ways to process plastics as sustainably as possible. I think that’s right, because plastic itself is a very important material everywhere in the world,” he says today. Product manager Michael Müller was also initially attracted to technology in mechanical engineering when he joined Kurtz GmbH. In the meantime, he pays a lot of attention to sustainability. “I started a family, built a house. We had offspring, then the mindset changes. You want to leave something for the children,” he says. Sustainability also plays an increasingly important role in job interviews at Kurtz Ersa. Young applicants in particular are less interested in a steep career with a company tablet and company car than they used to be. Instead, they want to be able to identify with the company and its values. Job advertisements are changing accordingly. “We recently advertised a position for a sales engineer in which we deliberately deviated from the usual job description and put the green idea in the foreground. We also wanted to arouse emotions with this,” says HR Manager Tina Grummet. “If we continue like this, I am convinced that we will achieve a lot,” says Rothaug. But the changes cost money. So far, Kurtz Ersa alone is paying for the now considerable costs on the way to more sustainability. The costs could be one reason why many medium-sized companies are not yet following the example of the family-owned company at the same speed. Rothaug would therefore like to see a framework for a fair distribution of the burden that defines who has to make which contribution on the way to more environmental and resource protection – from the producer to the end consumer. But he is optimistic: “I firmly believe that the world will change in terms of sustainability, and I also firmly believe that the plastics industry will manage to help shape this path.”
Video statements by Kurtz Ersa’s young talents on the topic of sustainability:

VDMA-Statement Constantin Kemmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyz-khgkeKk

VDMA-Statement Omid Asimi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqDawV6Fq4

VDMA-Statement Michael Müller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHcs0yZwp10

dma.org

• Clariant unveils latest color trend forecast for the automotive industry

• Back to the future – looking forward to brilliant shades, metallic effects and new formulations for autonomous vehicle detection

• Experience 28 trend colors like never before in Clariant’s new Virtual Showroom

Clariant, one of the world’s best known pigment producers, has released its new Automotive Styling Shades 2025 Trendbook, including an interactive digital version for the first time.

The much-anticipated Trendbook, published every two years, highlights how globalization has made color preference more uniform worldwide than it was 20 years ago, with white still the most preferred shade in 2020 rounding off ten years of uninterrupted dominance. Yet, as people around the globe look for joy, beauty and cultural sharing after the impacts of the pandemic color is back in the air. “The 2025 edition is focused on ‘color meets culture’, exploring the inspiration and emotion that color brings to our lives and forecasting brilliant shades and metallic effects in a diverse range of color families,” says Bernhard Stengel-Rutkowski, Technical Manager Automotive Coatings at Clariant. These are Daily Relaunch – with mood lifting hues for the office commute, Value based Culture – gentle colors for a peaceful and sustainable co-existence on the planet, The Fast and the Curious – shades that shout open-mindedness and self-confidence, and Rainbow Bridge – bold colors that blaze a trail and refuse to follow the rules. Pushing the boundaries of traditional formulation knowledge, Clariant’s organic pigments are helping to solve some of the coatings formulation challenges posed by new, disruptive technologies. These include how to improve near infra-red reflectance to make dark cars detectable by LIDAR technology, essential for the safety of autonomous vehicles, or the formulation of brilliant shades when metallic effect pigments are combined with colored organic pigments.

Color at Your Fingertips For the first time, Clariant is launching a virtual version of the Trendbook along with the brand-new online and interactive Car Color Configurator, offering customers a collection of 28 new trend shades for automotive coatings. “The trend colors can be virtually selected and applied onto different car models, from a sports car to a family van, and viewed in settings that include neutral scenery, a sunset, an urban landscape or with infrared vision. This was made possible by scanning a painted panel and converting the data into a format which is compatible with common rendering software. The Car Color Configurator allows customers to collect their favorites in a personal brochure without the need to share personal data,” Stengel-Rutkowski continued. With the launch of this cutting-edge tool Clariant has combined its pigment and color formulation expertise with trend scouting and made those shades available digitally. Find out more about Clariant’s range of organic pigments for Automotive Coatings in general, and in particular about how the featured “Pigments in focus” Hostaperm Brown HFR 01, Hostaperm Blue BT-729-D & Hostaperm Blue BT-728-D synergize with new effect pigments in gold, orange, red and black.

www.clariant.com

Partially bio-based resin provides superior performance properties at lowest GWP among all PPA in the market Solvay has extended its diversified portfolio of high-performance polyphthalamide (PPA) compounds with Amodel Bios, a new family of partially bio-based long-chain PPA products particularly indicated for demanding electrical and electronic applications in e-mobility. Besides its renewable feedstock content from non-food competing sources, it is produced with 100% renewable electricity, minimizing its global warming potential (GWP) well below the level of other bio-based PPA.

Backed by a long history of pioneering PPA innovations, Solvay’s Amodel Bios PPA combines this exceptional sustainability with outstanding performance properties for components in e-motors, power electronics and other high-end electrical systems. Most notably, it offers the highest glass transition temperature (Tg 135°C) of all bio-based PPA in the market and a melting point (Tm) of 315°C. Designed for injection molding, it is an ideal candidate for non-blistering reflow soldered surface mount devices (SMD) and parts in the cooling circuit of power electronics, including fluid connectors.
In addition, the limited moisture absorption of the new polymer versus standard PPA results in a high level of dimensional stability at a low risk of stress corrosion, which is particularly important with regard to miniaturized electrical connectors. Amodel Bios PPA also provides superior impact strength even in halogen free flame-retarded grades complying with UL94 V0, and is well-suited for colorable applications. This is complemented by high elongation, weld-line strength and excellent surface aesthetics. “As we continue driving the innovation of PPA to meet the higher performance needs in e-mobility, the introduction of Amodel Bios PPA also demonstrates Solvay’s commitment to help customers achieve ambitious sustainability targets, which aligns with our One Planet message,” states Brian Baleno, Head of Marketing – Transportation at Solvay Specialty Polymers. Moreover, Solvay has gone one step further in ensuring the sustainability of the new PPA family with the support of Verisk Maplecroft to assess the sustainable sourcing characteristics of the material. The consultancy’s Commodity Risk Service complemented Solvay’s internal supply chain risk assessment process aimed at identifying and managing risks associated with a multitude of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues.

solvay.com

Leading specialty chemicals innovator Perstorp is pioneering in the PVC market with the introduction of a general-purpose plasticizer partly based on renewable raw material using a traceable mass balance concept. Emoltene 100 Pro is a dipropylheptyl phthalate (DPHP) designed to support sustainable sourcing of renewable and recycled raw materials and reduction of carbon dioxide emission throughout the value chain.
Facilitating uncomplicated adoption by users, Emoltene 100 Pro is ready to be dropped straight into existing flexible PVC formulations. Users can expect the same performance as Perstorp’s existing Emoltene 100 plasticizer, with the added benefit of a lower carbon footprint. Emoltene 100 Pro will be available in two grades, with different levels of renewable content based on mass balance: the first, containing 14 percent is available now, the second, with 71 percent is expected to become available in the near future.‘‘We are proud to add Emoltene 100 Pro to our Pro-Environment products portfolio. We launched the original Emoltene 100 plasticizer back in 2009 and it has ever since proven its performance in terms of durability and flexibility, especially for tough outdoor applications,” says Perstorp Business Manager Martin Hansson. “This track record drove us to keep working with the same DPHP molecule, but to give it a more sustainable design, in line with our customers’ demands as well as global sustainability trends in, for example, the automotive and construction industries. Being able to offer a well-known and proven plasticizer with improved environmental properties is an important milestone in future-proofing soft PVC applications.”
The renewable content of the first grade of Emoltene 100 Pro is biogas which replaces fossil natural gas as raw material. Emoltene 100 Pro, as well as all Perstorp Pro-Environment products, are certified according to the ISCC PLUS system (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification). Both the mass balance where Perstorp applies both physical and chemical traceability as well as the GHG calculations are certified. Being ISCC PLUS certified also means that our sustainable raw materials are ISCC compliant in all parts of the value chain back to the point of origin. All Pro-Environment customers are also given information about the GHG (greenhouse gas) value of the product.

Over the last few years, Perstorp has significantly expanded its portfolio of ‘Pro-Environment’ products, made from renewable and/or recycled raw materials, to cover polyols, de-icers, plasticizers, acids, aldehydes and alcohols.
perstorp.com

Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, today announced the release of its Sustainability Report for its fiscal year 2020.Prepared again in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, and building on a strong track record, the report outlines the company’s progress on its priority sustainability topics, such as human health and environmental safety, resource efficiency, sustainable sourcing and product stewardship, as well as diversity & inclusion, and talent management.

Also, for the first time ever, Archroma conducted a survey with its stakeholders to confirm the relevance of the sustainability topics covered in the report. These include biodiversity, occupational and product safety, and fair labor practices, as well as maybe less expected topics such as compliance, economic performance, and culture.The report covers these topics and more. In particular, as the world continues to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, Archroma continues to contribute to fighting the virus in many different ways, with its solid foundation as a leader in sustainable, R&D-enabled chemistry and expertise needed in times like these.At the same time, pushing on the sustainability agenda remains as critical as ever. All activities described in the report therefore support the three pillars of “The Archroma Way to a Sustainable World: Safe, efficient, enhanced. It’s our nature.”This approach is the company’s guiding light in challenging the status quo to making its operations and its value chains sustainable.“The pandemic has opened the eyes of people around the world who count on us to develop safe, high quality and durable products that help preserve our planet. In this context, we, as industry leaders, must continue to push our agenda to make our industry, and the industries we serve, safe and sustainable”, Heike van de Kerkhof, CEO of Archroma, comments.

www.archroma.com/

Challenging applications in swimming pools and explosion-proof lightsLED light sources have proven to be energy-saving and long-lasting which makes them economical light sources and are widely used in buildings, vehicles and street lighting. Light guides, reflectors, diffusers and lenses must be designed to ensure optimum use of LED light.Covestro has spent years developing a customized portfolio of transparent, translucent, reflective, as well as thermally conductive and flame-retardant grades of polycarbonate plastic to meet these needs. In that way, the company is supporting more sustainable lighting technologies, to which the International Day of Light on May 16, 2021, is dedicated.

LED lighting in swimming pools

Operating LED lamps under water puts special demands on the materials involved. In cooperation with Brazilian swimming pool equipment supplier Ecopyre Lighting, Covestro developed an integrated solution using the thermally conductive polycarbonate Makrolon® TC. It features high dimensional stability during manufacture and operation of the lights, thereby preventing water ingress (ingress protection or IP). The letters “TC” in the type designation stand for “thermally conductive” and indicate that the plastic also has good thermal conductivity. This makes it ideal – like the other types in the TC portfolio – for efficient thermal management in which the heat generated by the LEDs is well dissipated. In addition, the plastic complies with the chemical resistance required for use in swimming pool water.

Lenses for explosion-proof LED lamps

The highly transparent product Makrolon is even suitable for lenses in explosion-proof lamps, as demonstrated by a recent case study with safety technology supplier R. Stahl. The lights comply with Categories 2 and 3 (for Zones 1 and 21, or 2 and 22) of the EU ATEX directives1 for industrial environments where highly explosive dust and gas atmospheres may occur during normal operation. These include oil platforms, refineries, and also certain chemical plants. R. Stahl AG, a German trendsetter for safety technology in potentially explosive atmospheres, was looking for an optical material solution for LED safety lighting that could be used worldwide. The decision was made in favor of the transparent plastic Makrolon, which enables light-focusing optics and is applicable at elevated temperatures of 60 to 85 degrees Celsius. Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic that allows efficient development and production of optical parts for LED-powered lights. The various Makrolon types can be used for injection molding and extrusion. Stronger and lighter than glass, polycarbonate also facilitates savings in energy and CO2 emissions.

covestro.com

The Plastics Industry Association’s NEMO projects tackle the logistical or technical challenges of plastics recycling.Trade associations have a high profile in Washington, D.C., where they court politicians and try to influence public policy in ways that benefit their members. The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) certainly does that in very visible ways; however, its New End Market Opportunities (NEMO) initiatives are more below the radar but equally important to the long-term success of all companies in the plastics supply chain.

NEMO projects tackle the logistical or technical challenges of plastics recycling. PLASTICS sets the agenda and brings together companies inside and outside of the plastics industry, universities and even other trade organizations interested in solving roadblocks to recycling. Companies do not have to be members of PLASTICS to participate. The association invests money in NEMO projects, but the volunteer companies also share costs through significant in-kind contributions.“We take in early adopters when the path is not very clear for them,” said Patrick Krieger, senior director of materials and sustainability at PLASTICS. “They are essentially having to blaze a new trail and find new partners. Other companies see them creating a new process and join.“This is the open-idea ethos of the program,” he said. “We share these things and the industry itself will continue to grow.”NEMO projects do not create end products to sell, Krieger said: “We are trying to develop information in the form of reports, case studies and demonstration projects,” so companies can make good business decisions. The NEMO program is run by a 12-person advisory committee from PLASTICS member companies that selects projects, monitors progress and determines the direction of each project. The committee, which is a subcommittee of PLASTICS’ recycling committee, has a list of 22 proposed projects. In July the committee is expected to select two new NEMO projects for 2022.The first NEMO project was launched in 2017 to understand different feed streams of PE film, improve the economics of recycling it and explore new uses. That project is still going on and another NEMO project to research using recycled film in asphalt was spun off from the original film project.Krieger said the committee will decide this summer if the next phase of the film project will focus on variations in processing the film or on specific products.The use of recycled PE film in asphalt has captured some national attention. LyondellBasell paved a portion of the parking lot at its technical center in Cincinnati, using a solid additive consisting of about 71,000 recycled retail bags developed by the NEMO project. The project is trying to determine if recycled film offers the same benefits as traditional polymer-modified asphalt but at a lower cost. (Read more at plasticsmachinerymanufacturing.com/21217838.)Krieger said the LyondellBasell pavement is scheduled for a six-month project review in May, but early indications are that it has performed well. One LyondellBasell employee reported in April that the pavement has shown no wear after five months of use, including snow being plowed multiple times. Two other companies — Target and Chevron Phillips Chemical — have said they want to test the process.In addition to the film and asphalt NEMO projects, a secondary sorting demonstration project in the Pacific Northwest has already been completed. The project used a portable secondary sorting system to create six additional streams of recyclables. The American Chemistry Council, one of the partners in that project, is currently duplicating it in the Northeast.“That project was more about infrastructure,” Kreiger said. “It will inform and influence our discussions and policy decisions going forward on how we can better support the infrastructure of plastics recycling.” A NEMO project to demonstrate end-of-life vehicle bumper recycling has drawn a lot of inquiries from processors and recyclers, according to Krieger. The next phase of that project may look at recycling other plastics from cars.“Companies would love to recycle bumpers because they are so big and take up a lot of dumpster space,” Krieger said. “By demonstrating there is commercial value to this, other companies will see if it works for them.”NEMO projects do not generate quick profits. They are akin to basic research, which trade associations rarely spend time doing. “The only way I judge success of a NEMO project is how much plastic is diverted from landfills,” Krieger said. I would add that every little step in improving recycling practices and technology is a big win for the entire industry. The level of collaboration on NEMO projects between companies and organizations is impressive and is the cornerstone for success. The R&D work machinery manufacturers do to improve their own technology is important, but NEMO projects expand awareness and inform the industry where new opportunities exist.

plasticsindustry.org.

“Quality control has always been important to us. But we were not really aware at the beginning that we could also ensure a considerable process optimisation by means of the OP5. At first, the measuring device delivered results that seemed irreal to us. This was solely due to the fact that even several daily laboratory measurements could not adequately reflect the dynamic changes in production. These variations only became visible through the short measuring interval of the automated OP5 online measurement. The continuous quality control with the use of the OP5 allows us to optimise the production process at any time and at the same time to finally classify our batch material. The advantages such as the fully automated measurement, the considerable time savings through the reduction of transition times and the high reproducibility through the OCS equipment, in comparison to the manual ISO1133 measurement, contribute to an effective process optimisation and reduction.“ David Cerra González, Quality Coordinator at Transformadora de Etileno A.I.E. (TDE), Spain Plastics are produced in countless variants today. The most common is polyethylene. Modern processes mean that there are also different variations of this material today. Low-density polyethylene, or LDPE, produced using a high-pressure process, is one of them. Transformadora de Etileno A.I.E. (TDE) has three plants for the production of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in Spain. The annual capacity of LDPE is approximately 160,000 t/year. TDE focuses on continuous quality control and assurance in the ongoing production process in order to detect and optimise dynamic production fluctuations at an early stage and in a relatively short sequence. For this reason, two OP5 measuring systems are already in use in two of three production lines. Various deviations in production have an impact on viscosity and can therefore be monitored by online viscosity measurement using OP5. The continuous measurement of the Melt Index (MI) of polymer samples also allows a final classification of the batch material.
Save time and reduce costs. Due to the continuous measurement, real-time results can be visualised in 5 to 10 minutes via the touch panel with a data trend in 24/7 operation. This leads to considerable time savings compared to a manual ISO 1133 measurement. The permanent data logging makes it possible to intervene significantly in the production process and save costs. High reproducibility through OP-MFR measurement. The OP5 MFR measurement is a method carried out by means of exact control of the melt flow in combination with a high-precision and self developed melt pressure measurement. This method achieves a typical reproducibility of +/- 1 % in comparison to the manual ISO 1133 measurement with +/- 5-10 % deviation. Are you interested in a detailed performance description in a 1-to-1 conversation with our experts? Then please feel free to contact us.

www.ocsgmbh.com

Guill announces the introduction of a new version of its popular 800 series, known as 800 Series Hybrid. In some extrusion applications that utilize crossheads and inlines, layers of the exact same material are applied multiple times, using a single die. This method is used to reduce the propensity for errors caused by gels breaking through a thin wall, weld lines, inconsistent wall thickness, plus material and process variations. Additional errors include difficult-to-process materials and demanding applications where there is zero fault tolerance.

Seeking to design the next generation multi-layer die to overcome these challenges, the engineers at Guill looked for a way to incorporate this technology into an updated version of the 800 Series. This led to the creation of the 800 Series Hybrid. The inherent benefits of the 800 Series are retained, including compact design, low residence time and a common deflector bore that eliminates tolerance stack up. The challenge was to create a hybrid design that incorporates the benefits of layer overlapping, while reducing unnecessary complexity and making the technology more cost-affordable for customers. This was achieved by overlapping layers in each semi-deflector, using a single cone. The highly efficient design of the 800 Series Hybrid reduces cost and size, as opposed to other methods of overlapping layers. Essential benefits of the 800 Series Hybrid include eliminating weld lines in materials through patented overlapping technology, producing a more consistent finished product; reduced sensitivity to changes in viscosity; reduced sensitivity to changes in line speed; myriad material and multi-layer application possibilities; works in all tubing and jacketing applications with a wide range of materials; low residence time; compact design and a low tolerance stack-up error factor, all resulting in improved concentricity. The 800 Series Hybrid extrusion tool greatly reduces stagnation, because overlapping layers are more inherently balanced than single layers and also because each semi-deflector is “tuned to flush.” Conventional deflectors must simultaneously achieve a balance between flushing, balancing and eliminating the weld line. There is less difference between the slowest moving material and the fastest moving material in the deflector channels, thus making the viscosity more consistent in the deflector.

www.guill.com