By Adam Noble, vice president, Blue Ridge Industries IntroductionBlue Ridge Industries (BRI) is a custom contract manufacturer specializing in injection molding, high-volume automation and engineering design – creating quality solutions since 1985. The company was founded by technical owners who excel at creating quality solutions and this technical, data-driven culture only … [Read more...] about Building a Practical AI Strategy: Lessons from BRI
Process Improvement
APMC Automates with Integrated Innovations
By Liz Stevens, writer, Plastics Business Many Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors (MAPP) members are in the vanguard of companies exploring, embracing and implementing advanced automation in plastics processing. One outstanding MAPP member is striving to build new functionality from proven technologies to make immediate improvements in its productivity and … [Read more...] about APMC Automates with Integrated Innovations
Adaptive AI-Driven Conveying Boosts Productivity by Eliminating Mistakes
By Justin Carter, conveying products manager, Conair Vacuum conveying systems use a moving stream of air to pick up plastics material at a source and move it through a system of tubes to a selected destination. The speed and density at which the material moves depend not only on pump power, which creates vacuum suction in the line, but also on the volume and velocity of the … [Read more...] about Adaptive AI-Driven Conveying Boosts Productivity by Eliminating Mistakes
Auxiliary Assets: Keeping Operations Running and Ready
By Liz Stevens, writer, Plastics Business In plastics manufacturing, auxiliary equipment often works quietly behind the scenes – but its reliability is critical to keeping production lines efficient and profitable. Maintenance and replacement planning is a strategic necessity. Reviewing equipment performance during scheduled downtime – such as year-end – helps align … [Read more...] about Auxiliary Assets: Keeping Operations Running and Ready
Implementing Computerized Vision Systems: Seeing Is Believing
By Liz Stevens, writer, Plastics Business Two MAPP member companies recently have implemented new technological innovations. Both companies now count on advanced vision-based technologies to give them very detailed insight into crucial elements of their operations – delivering more data points than could ever have been captured manually. The companies leveraged this data to … [Read more...] about Implementing Computerized Vision Systems: Seeing Is Believing