The Plastics Industry Association’s PLASTICS Magazine recently looked at the importance of plastic to the automotive industry and how PLASTICS’ members are at the forefront of automotive innovation.
Protecting consumers’ pocketbooks and lives
Michael Cirone, president of MANAR Inc. and chairman of the PLASTICS Transportation and Industrial Plastics Committee, spoke with PLASTICS Magazine about the vital importance of plastics in contemporary vehicles. MANAR is a world-class parts manufacturer with a significant presence in the automotive and transportation sector.
Cirone recounted an instance from the early 1980s when MANAR designers were trying to help a major pickup truck brand reduce vehicle weight. “The major thing in automotive is better fuel economy,” he said. “That’s what’s been driving a lot of the move toward plastics over the years. They always want things to be lighter-weight.”
One way to do that was to replace a metal defroster duct with a plastic one. When the MANAR team was finished, the company’s plastic defroster duct came in at 73 percent lighter than the original metal part. That’s just one of many instances in which a PLASTICS member company has made a huge difference for a client and, by extension, the public at large.
“We couldn’t do the things we do in vehicles without plastics,” Cirone said. “In addition to light weight and better performance, plastics have helped in the creation of safety elements that contributed to a drop in fatalities among people who get into accidents.”
Helping to build a circular economy
One of the recent innovations in the automotive industry has been the increased demand for recycled content in vehicles.
Where the fuel economy that comes with lighter weight remains probably the most promoted environmental benefit of plastics, due to decreased fuel consumption and related emissions, a marketplace calling for increased sustainability is leading to promoting the fact that recycled plastics are also part of the equation.
Recycled plastics have been used in cars for some 20 years, but only recently, since sustainability has become of increasing importance to consumers, have manufacturers called attention to the fact.
Once again, PLASTICS members are on the cutting edge of meeting a marketplace need.
“We’re working on a couple of hot programs for multiple auto OEMs right now, where all they want is recycled plastic,” said Eric Parrell of Entec Polymers, part of the Ravago group of companies.
Where does the manufacturer get those recycled plastics? From a number of sources. One innovative source is carpets. Ravago is the world’s largest recycler of nylon carpet fiber. Along with other post-industrial nylon, it provides raw material for use in automotive manufacturing and other industries.
And the demand for recycled materials is only increasing. Robert Render, business development manager for sustainability at Ravago Recycling Group, said the dawn of electric vehicles calls for more plastics innovation in the area of sustainable materials. “There are specific projects going on,” he said, “involving recycled materials, that are focused on the way batteries are stored, covered and held in place.” Because an electric car battery can be as heavy as 1,000 pounds, saving weight around it is key.
As the marketplace calls for more innovation and sustainability in the manufacturing of cars, trucks and other vehicles, PLASTICS members will be there to help make it all happen.
