Supply chain, plastics converters

Converting the Pollutants into Resources Carbon dioxide is a pollutant of immediate interest, and most operations in the plastics supply chain emit CO into the atmosphere. Emerging research suggests that emissions from industry might be used to produce polymer raw materials ... 

In the manufacturing of plastic parts, the supply chain is not a linear relationship it is more of a network. It begins with the resin suppliers, who sell raw materials to converters. The converters buy the raw material, as well as processing machinery and tools, and convert the resin into molded parts, and then sell the molded parts to the product manufacturer (Figure 8.1). 

The next link in the supply chain is the converters. These are molders, extruders, and stock shape suppliers, who buy plastic materials, and then melt and form them into a finished shape. Some converters will act as a supplier for a second converter. An example would be a thermoformer, who would buy sheet material from a stock shape supplier, and then convert it into a finished part. 

Toolmakers are a specialized subset of the supply chain. They provide customized molds and tools that are used hy the converters to create plastic parts. Toolmakers may be employed by converters directly, or they may he a supplier to the converter. The molds and tools they make are typically designed so that they can be used in most standard processing equipment, but they may also be designed to ht only in a specihc machine. 

---