By Liz Stevens, writer, Plastics Business The US manufacturing industry continues to face challenges recruiting workers. Colleges and universities are helping to address the problem by offering plastics-oriented courses and credentials, ranging from degree programs that equip young adults with an educational foundation in the industry to credential programs designed for … [Read more...] about Secondary Education Programs Offer Opportunities in Plastics
STEM & Training
“Future Proofing” Your Production Workforce – Confidence and Knowledge Are the Keys to Handling Change
By Daniel Stephens, vice president, Routsis Training LLC In production environments, the most important goal is maintaining “productive uptime.” This means that product is being produced at a rate that is profitable, and the customer base is satisfied with its quality level. One of the biggest factors that interrupt productive uptime is change. Examples of change can be new … [Read more...] about “Future Proofing” Your Production Workforce – Confidence and Knowledge Are the Keys to Handling Change
NIST Awards Funding to Study Plastic Waste Reduction
The US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland, has awarded $500,000 to each of five universities to develop new curricula for students who are interested in helping to solve the growing problem of plastic waste. The new curricula will focus on chemistry, economics, business management, entrepreneurship and related … [Read more...] about NIST Awards Funding to Study Plastic Waste Reduction
Finding and Assessing New Business Opportunities
by Nicole Mitchell, editor, Plastics Business Manufacturing companies across the US are struggling to find the right new business opportunities for their teams – and those new opportunities have to be weighed against current capacity due to labor shortages, increased product cost, transportation issues and more. In the last two years, manufacturers have had to step back and … [Read more...] about Finding and Assessing New Business Opportunities
Booklist: We Already Are Leaders
by Dianna Brodine, vice president, editorial, Plastics Business Every day, in every role, in every company, we have an opportunity to lead. Whether our title is CEO or opposite-of-CEO, we have the opportunity to influence others when we are at work – positively or negatively – and that especially is true these days, where turnover is the norm and authority often belongs to the … [Read more...] about Booklist: We Already Are Leaders