CANADIAN PLASTICS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION 1
2 TABLE OF CONTENTS PLASTICS: BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY Pages 1-6 TEACHER S NOTES ACTIVITY CARDS Card N 0 MB-1 MB-2 MB-3 MB-4 MB-5 MB-6 MB-7 THE STRUCTURE OF THE PLASTIC BUSINESS Plastics Business Web Plastics in Our Lives Why Plastics? Major Plastics Markets Where Do Plastics Come From? From Fossil to Resin From Resin to Product MB-8 MB-9 MB-10 MB-11 MB-12 MB-13 MB-14 MB-15 MB-16 MB-17 MB-18 MB-19 MB-20 MANUFACTURING A PRODUCT The Heart of the Business Casting a Plastic Extrusion Machines Vacuum Barrier Film Thermoforming Blow It Up! A Mould That Spins Injection Moulding Be a Machine Detective Go and See It! THE PLASTICS BUSINESS IN CANADA How Canada is Doing: Resin Market Shares Doing Business in Canada: Balance of Trade Analyzing Data MB-21 MB-22 MB-23 MB-24 SETTING UP A BUSINESS Plastics Data What Sector, What Products? People in Your Business Produce Your Product
PLASTICS: BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY 3 THE STRUCURE OF THE PLASTIC BUSINESS Card MB-1 Plastics Business Web Students will need some suggestions as to how to get started. On the one hand, it is meant to be open ended whatever the students think they would need to know is valid. On the other hand, some of their questions will be too broad to tackle or too specific to provide much learning. You might guide them toward some of the areas that will come up as they work through the unit. If you used the Introductory Web described at the beginning of this resource, you may already have established the points about business that are raised in this card. Here are some questions: Are plastics made in Canada? What do plastics resins cost? Where can you buy resins? Would I have to be a chemist to run a plastics business? Would I have to hire a chemist? How can resins be manufactured (moulded) into a product? Is there a plastics manufacturer near me that I could visit? What are the fastest growing markets? Where would my competition come from? How much would I need to start a business? Could I get a summer job at a plastics plant? Is plastics recycling a good business to get into? What would be the best product to make? Many of these types of questions can be investigated by working through the cards. Card MB-2 Plastics in Our Lives A careful look around the home will reveal a large number of objects made entirely or partly of plastics. You may want to glance at Card MB- 21 for some ideas about what to look for. This card is very similar to Card S-1. Card MB-3 Why Plastics? This card is similar to Card S-3. In the science section, emphasis was placed on developing in students the thinking skills that enable them to make the links between the properties of materials and their application. This type of thinking is also an essential business skill for entrepreneurial activity. Card MB-4 Major Plastics Markets The order of major sectors corresponds to their ranking of market share from largest to smallest. The exercise is meant primarily to get students thinking in terms of markets, and about the kinds of products that would make up each market. Mathematics and graphing skills are involved. Market Share (%) Market Sectors (1998 figures) 1. Packaging 34 2 Building and Construction 26 3. Transportation 18 4. Home and Commercial Furnishings 5 5. Agriculture and Environment 1 6. Communications and Electronics 5 7. Institutional and Retail Serviceware 1 8. Recreation 1 9. Apparel, Accessories and Personal Care Products 1 10. Housewares 1 11. Advertising and Publications 1 12.Other 6
4 Card MB-5 Where Do Plastics Come From? This topic is also covered in Card S-8. Card MB-6 From Fossil to Resin Crude and refined oil and natural gas are moved by tanker trucks, ships, railway tankers and pipelines. Students might want to identify some routes and methods of transportation. The information in cards MB-6 and MB-7 supports aspects of geography studies, and may be integrated with them. Some of the plants referred to in these cards may be able to offer a tour of their facilities. Card MB-6 looks at the plastics business from the perspective of factors that determine where various components of the plastics industry are located. Teachers who wish to give attention to this aspect, perhaps to support this type of study in geography, may wish students to combine this type of information with their treatment of Cards MB-6 and MB-7. Card MB-7 From Resin to Product This exercise will challenge the students ability to link what they read to the flow chart. One student made the following comment during field-testing of this resource: I thought that this activity was good because you had to figure out what different parts or processors of the plastic industry did before you could figure out what parts depended on each other. Now I m sure if one part slows down then it affects all the other processors as well. -Grade 8 science student This student learned how dependent industries are on each other.
The major structure of and relationships within the Canadian plastics industry are shown on the chart. Resin manufacturers are one source of material. The other source is the material manufacturers that supply the additives fibreglass, carbon and others used to modify the properties of plastics for special purposes. Both types of materials can be used directly by the processors or they can be sent to compounders who blend them for the processors. Another important element in the Canadian plastics industry is the machinery manufacturers. They make the processing equipment and dies and moulds used by the processors. At the next stage, there are two categories of processors, those who make products that they can market themselves (captive processors), and those who make products for other businesses under contract (custom processors). The products from both of these sources are sent into the major markets for plastics products. You can see by the diagram that there are a lot of activities going on between these various sectors of the Canadian plastics industry. Resin Manufacturers In Canada, most crude oil and natural gas are moved to eastern Canada via pipelines. Since plastic resins are manufactured from petrochemicals, resin suppliers will be located close to large petrochemical facilities. Manufacturers of plastics resins serve both domestic and international markets. Resins are usually shipped in bulk to these markets, mainly by rail cars, and by ship. Short hauls to nearby plastic processors are usually accomplished by truck. NOTES ON THE CHART Machine and Mould Makers Processing machine manufacturers must have access to suppliers of steel. The availability of up-to-date plastics processing machinery is important to plastic processors. Countries with an indigenous processing machine manufacturing industry have an advantage over those that don t. In Japan, for instance, there is a major machine manufacturing industry, and new machine designs are sometimes made available only to Japanese processors for periods of up to five years. This exclusive access to innovative machines gives Japanese processors a competitive advantage. Japan, the United States, Germany, and Italy all have welldeveloped processing machine industries. Canada, too, has a well-developed plastics machinery industry, particularly in certain specialized machinery lines. Plastics processors tend to locate in regions with ready access to machinery suppliers so that parts, service, and technological support from the manufacturer is quickly and economically available. In addition, transportation costs for these large machines are lower when the manufacturer is nearby. Dies and moulds are relatively small and light and their transportation costs are not high. However, a new mould must be designed for each job, so convenient access to the mould maker for consultation at the design stage is important. Plastics Processors Many plastics products have an international market, so that the location of processing plants is often determined by access to international markets. 5
6 MANUFACTURING A PRODUCT Card MB-8 The Heart of the Business This card is an introduction to the next seven cards, which introduce the major forming and moulding techniques that are used in the industry. This card is meant to encourage students to be creative in designing their own devices, which cover the key manufacturing processes necessary. This could develop into a project for some students. Cards MB-9 MB-17 You may want to divide the class into seven groups to work with these techniques separately, and have each group report on their process to the rest of the class. The main objective of these cards is to introduce students to manufacturing processes. You may want to use just one or two of these cards. See card MB-17. If you are considering a field trip to a plastic processor in your area (which we strongly recommend), determine what process is used, and tailor your choice of card to cover this process. This section is good for establishing science/technology/society linkages. Card MB-10 Extrusion Machines Some of the most common extruded products, and those most commonly found in classrooms are floor and wall mouldings and floors. Plastic mouldings replaced wood in institutions because of their durability, resistance to harsh floor cleaning compounds, and range of potential colours and shapes. Card MB-11 Vacuum Barrier Film This article provides a perspective on food wrap films from the science, environmental, and business points of view. Some teachers may wish to assign the reading after students have done card S-16 (Properties of Food Wraps). Card MB-13 Blow It Up! Blow-moulded automotive gas tanks illustrate the incredible weight and space-saving potential of plastics in automotive design. Automotive designers can design the tank to follow every nook and cranny of the underbody without concern for problems of rattle and rust that accompany metal tanks. The use of fluorination in blow moulding gives plastics extra barrier properties, a critical consideration in the prevention of panelling (permeation) in packages containing oils and solvents. The gases cause a chemical reaction in the inner surface layer that hardens and seals it against permeation, rather like cauterizing a wound with heat. Card MB-14 A Mould That Spins A particular advantage of rotational moulding (commonly called roto moulding) is the very low cost of the mould. Because there is no pressure on the mould such as you find in injection, extrusion or blow moulding, the mould can be made from lightweight aluminium rather than steel. They can even be made from sand, plaster, wood and fibreglass. Drums that might be awkward or uneconomic to transport to remote locations (e.g.,septic tanks for prairie farms) can be moulded a few at a time in rural communities nearby. This also allows for creativity and innovation as the investment in moulds is minimal. Students could design moulds for information kiosks at the zoo or aquarium in the shapes of animals and fish.
THE PLASTICS BUSINESS IN CANADA Card MB-17 Go and See It! Processors are usually very aware of environmental issues (sometimes as a result of prodding from school-age children.) They must have MSDs (Material Safety Data Sheets) for all of the materials in their plants. Suggest to students that they ask about this information. The students should ask what the processor does with the plastic scrap. In almost every case, scrap is reused or collected and sold to plastics scrap dealers. Card MB-18 How Canada is Doing: Resin Market Shares You might want to point out to students that a career in plastics offers many opportunities for travel, both to research and technical labs in the United States and Europe, and to the processing plants around the world. Many engineers and technicians who learned their trade in Canada are managing and servicing installations in Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and other countries. When doing this activity, some students come to appreciate, perhaps for the first time, the size of the United States relative to Canada. Generally, the market shares reflect the populations of the two countries. 7 Card MB-19 Doing Business in Canada: Balance of Trade Most exporters started in business as importers. They gradually evolved into fullscale manufacturers. One particular advantage of Canadian plastics processors is their readiness to buy and adapt foreign machinery and technology. Without that Canada would simply be duplicating, on a small and uneconomic scale, what other countries are doing. Also, in buying the best machinery the world has to offer, Canadian processors can produce higher-quality and lower cost products that are easier to export. All this importing keeps Canadian machinery makers on their toes, and as many as 80 per cent of Canada s machinery makers are also exporters. The balance of trade graphs for machinery and moulds look like this: Trade Balance: Plastics Macinery & Moulds 800 600 Machinery Moulds 400 200 0-200 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98
8 Card MB-20 Analysing Data This activity requires skills in selecting the appropriate graph, obtaining information from it, and doing simple mathematics based on the information. It is also intended to help students develop a feel for the size and characteristics of an industry. SETTING UP A BUSINESS Card MB-21 Plastics Data The tables in this card give students the information they need to complete activities in Cards MB-22 and MB-24. Card MB-22 What Sector, What Products? Students are asked to choose a market sector by surveying expected growth rates from various sectors and products. Students are free to choose the sector that appeals to them, but we suggest they identify those having a large expected growth rate. It is one way of giving a focus to their survey of products. Card MB-23 People in Your Business Students need to consider the human and organizational components of a business. By matching people with tasks, students gain an appreciation for the importance of human resources. Card MB-24 Produce Your Product This can be an open-ended activity. You may wish to have students create a major report. Such a report would require students to use much of the knowledge and skills they gained through the entire unit. It would consolidate learning in science, and environmental and business studies.