What you’ll hear on this episode of PMM’s Machinery Minutes podcast, in which we round up three top stories from the past week in five minutes:

• If 50 percent of plastics in the municipal solid waste stream were redirected from landfills to recycling facilities, the U.S. could add an estimated 173,200 jobs, $12.8 billion in annual payroll and $48.7 billion in annual economic output, according to a new study from the American Chemistry Council.

• Advanced recycling methods using heat and chemicals, chemical depolymerization and thermal processes such as pyrolysis are explained.

• Maguire Products has unveiled the fourth generation of its Ultra line of vacuum dryers.

What you will hear on today’s PMM Machinery Minutes podcast:

• A comprehensive story about the state of advanced recycling revealed some interesting developments.

• Creating a stand-up pouch that can be recycled seemed like an impossible task when a team from Effytec, LD Pack USA, Dukane Corp. and Hoffer Plastics first looked at the problem.
• Conair’s new PowerFill Pro is a compact, portable vacuum conveying system for processors who want the benefits of a central system without the infrastructure of long tubing runs or in-depth wiring and terminations.

Today’s PMM Insight Commentary by Editor Ron Shinn looks ahead to NPE2027:

• Despite industry headwinds, early booth reservations are on track.

• Companies that traditionally buy big booths do not seem to be reducing their space.

• A top NPE official said it is too early to tell if new visa restrictions and tariffs from the Trump administration will impact NPE exhibitors or attendees. There were more than 15,000 registrations from 133 foreign companies at the last NPE.

What you'll learn on today’s Machinery Minutes podcast from Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing:

• The recycling industry has been stuck in a perpetual cycle of volatility for years. Its future depends on overcoming technical, economic and legislative challenges, alongside investment in infrastructure and recovery efforts, according to an ICIS analysis.

• Hillenbrand, which owns Mold-Masters, DME, Tirad, Herbold Meckesheim and Coperion, has been acquired by Lone Star Funds in a $3.8 billion deal.

• The U.S. plastics industry accounted for $154.3 billion in trade volume in 2024 but turned from a trade surplus in 2023 to a deficit in 2024, according to the annual Global Trends Report from PLASTICS.

On today’s Machinery Minutes, PMM editor Ron Shinn reports on three innovations he's seen so far at the K Show in Germany:

• Processors who have always thought they could not afford Arburg molding machines should take another look. The German machinery maker launched the Allrounder Trend, aimed at standard molding tasks and with a lower price.

• Reifenhäuser introduced the Everex flat film extrusion line, which features high automation and a next-generation HMI for easier operation, even by inexperienced operators.

• Engel unveiled the tie-bar-less Victory Electric 220 injection molding machine that is designed to save space and energy. The company said it is highly precise, enables short cycles and offers excellent process stability.

What you'll learn on this PMM Insight podcast:

• The K Show has opened and PMM Editor Ron Shinn lists 10 things he is excited to see.

• Engel is unveiling Inject AI, the evolution of its Inject 4.0 technology. This is expected to be a peek at the things artificial intelligence will do for plastics processing. There are also exciting new machines from Arburg, Kautex, KraussMaffei and Haitian on the list.

• Maguire is demonstrating the new Ultra line of vacuum dryers with Pitstop functionality that can make material changeovers in 15 minutes. There is more interesting new auxiliary equipment from Sepro and Dr. Boy to see.

What you will learn on this episode of Machinery Minutes:

• The Plastics Industry Association and the Society of Plastics Engineers are merging. SPE will become a division of PLASTICS.

• PLASTICS and the National Association of Manufacturers are warning of potential harm to domestic manufacturers if additional tariffs are imposed on importers of industrial machinery and robots.

• PMM’s seventh annual machinery buying survey is open. Survey results help us shape our coverage, telling us what’s happening in machinery markets, such as the effects of trade policy, labor shortages and other factors.

What we're talking about in this episode of Machinery Minutes:

• Cavalier Tool has become one of the world’s best mold builders by following a simple principle of people, process, equipment. “The right people doing the right things on the right equipment,” said Brian Bendig, President and CEO.

• Arburg has a new vertical, servo-hydraulic press designed for manual and automated overmolding.

• There are just 10 days remaining until the start of the K Show on Oct. 8. Learn how you can find out the 10 things Editor Ron Shinn is excited to see at the show.