Marine Lieutenant General Chesty Puller once said, “All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us … they can’t get away this time.”
It is understandable that plastics processors might feel surrounded by enemies of orderly production. Since the year is nearly over and most of us are saying “good riddance” as we look forward to 2022, December is a good time to think about what we have learned and what we can do to better position our businesses for the coming year.
Here are some of the things the plastics industry learned in 2021:
Workforce woes are bad and will likely get worse. The popular belief that workers would line up for manufacturing jobs when extra federal unemployment benefits expired was wrong. So where have all the workers gone? The perfect storm of COVID-19, aging workers and a skills gap are causing companies to curtail production and expansion plans. We address workforce issues in several stories this month. You can find them at https://plasticsmachinerymanufacturing.com/21248002.
We should have invested in more automation. Automation can help fill open jobs, take over dangerous, dirty or monotonous jobs, and improve quality-control operations. Plant managers who have been slow to adopt fixed and collaborative robots and other automation are now taking a closer look. Automation won’t solve all manufacturing problems, but it can help.
PET recycling rates dropped. Blame the pandemic. Demand for recycled PET is higher than it has ever been as brand owners want to increase the amount of rPET in their products. But COVID-19 closed some redemption centers and stopped some curbside collections. PET is the country’s most recycled resin.
Resin prices hit historic highs. Now they may be coming down, slightly and slowly, but who knows how low they will go and how long it will take.
Don’t take our efficient supply chain for granted. It is broken. Processors are waiting weeks and even months for European equipment and components to be delivered; resin delivery is slower; there is a longer wait for trucks to ship finished parts and the cost is significantly more. The luster is off just-in-time delivery. Experts say supply chain woes may last well into 2022.
The impact of COVID-19 may wane, but the critical shortage of truck drivers is going to take longer to correct. Processors are going to have to get accustomed to stockpiling more of the supplies they need and look for efficiencies in shipping parts to their customers.
Industry 4.0 and IoT look better than ever. See the item on automation above. Efficiency — rather than simply getting parts out the door — may now be a huge contributor to your bottom line. Adapting Industry 4.0 practices can take a long time, so get started.
Big bucks are pouring into recycling. Resin companies are finally interested in recycled material and are making much-needed investments in recycling, particularly chemical recycling. But it remains to be seen if recycling can increase fast enough to change the public’s negative perception of plastics.
Cyberthreats are for everyone. There was once a common belief that cyber criminals only went after big companies with deep pockets who could pay ransoms, but this year we have seen that is not necessarily the case. Most medium-sized and smaller companies have generally ignored common-sense measures and modest investments to protect their networks.
COVID has accelerated the pace of change for all manufacturing and laggards are likely to be left behind. As a leader in your company, how do you stay ahead of change?
Recently I heard Army Lieutenant General Russell Honoré (Ret.) addressing manufacturing executives at the Manufacturing & Technology Conference organized by Industry Week. Honoré coordinated relief efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, has written three books on leadership and disaster preparedness and is currently reviewing U.S. Capitol security around the Jan. 6 riots.
“The past 18 months, we’ve been challenged,” Honoré said. “For every challenge, every disaster there is a great opportunity. And I’ll be damned if you didn’t get better in the last 18 months.”
Honoré offered some tips for 2022: Do the routine things well; be decisive; embrace the impossible. Honoré suggests posting a “Damn impossible list” outside your office door. Innovation comes from tasks that today seem impossible.
It is probably short-sighted to be thinking about solving the problems of 2022. We should focus on the problems we expect in three to five years. We cannot let today’s enemies stop us from charging ahead.
It’s actually a great time to be an innovative plastics processor! The headwinds of 2021 can be opportunities to get ahead of your competition in 2022.
Ron Shinn, editor
About the Author
Ron Shinn
Editor
Editor Ron Shinn is a co-founder of Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing and has been covering the plastics industry for more than 35 years. He leads the editorial team, directs coverage and sets the editorial calendar. He also writes features, including the Talking Points column and On the Factory Floor, and covers recycling and sustainability for PMM and Plastics Recycling.