What are you buying?The market votes with its checkbook. Sometimes there's no better indicator of economic and technological trends than the statistics on where processors are spending their money and how much. Unfortunately, the data tends to arrive well after the fact. Each autumn, PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY tries to get a jump on these trends by asking our readers how much they plan to spend, and on what, in the coming year. Several thousand of you will be receiving our 2008 Capital Spending capital spending Spending for long-term assets such as factories, equipment, machinery, and buildings that permits the production of more goods and services in future years. Forecast survey questionnaire questionnaire, n a series of questions used to gather information. questionnaire, n a form usually filled out by patients that provides data concerning their dental and general health. in a couple of months. The forecasts for 2005 to 2007 were each based on 750 to 950 responses, about half from injection molders. These plants planned to spend around $5 billion a year in capital equipment. The dollars per plant grew 32% from 2005 to '06 and another 6.4% from '06 to '07. In each of those years, about two-thirds of the equipment budget was for new hardware, one-fifth for used, and one-eighth n. 1. an eightht part. Noun 1. one-eighth - one part in eight equal parts eighth common fraction, simple fraction - the quotient of two integers for rebuilding. The table shows some interesting details. About 21% of the dollars budgeted for injection presses this year are for energy-saving energy-saving adj [policy] → para ahorrar energía; [device] → que ahorra energía n → ahorro de energía energy-saving all-electric machines, a little less than in the previous two years. The budgeted percentage for electric machines is nearly as big for vertical as for horizontal units. Electric-hydraulic hybrids did not attract many budget dollars, and hydraulic presses hydraulic press Machine consisting of a cylinder fitted with a piston (see piston and cylinder) that uses liquid under pressure to exert a compressive force upon a stationary anvil or baseplate. The liquid is forced into the cylinder by a pump. still account for 50% to 60% of the total. Multi-component molding molding, in architecture, furniture, and decorative objects, a surface or group of surfaces of projecting or receding contours. A molding may serve as a defining element, terminating a unit or an entire composition (e.g. drew only 7% to 8% of the budget for presses. In auxiliary equipment Noun 1. auxiliary equipment - electronic equipment not in direct communication (or under the control of) the central processing unit off-line equipment , materials handling Materials handling The loading, moving, and unloading of materials. The hundreds of different ways of handling materials are generally classified according to the type of equipment used. was at the top of the spending plans for all processors in the survey. Robots came in second, and cooling and blending equipment next. BY MATT NAITOVE, EDITOR
PROCESSORS' CAPITAL SPENDING PLANS
(Source: PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY Annual Survey)
Injection Molding Machines (% of Total $)
2007 2006 2005 Avg.
All-Electric 20.7 29.7 25.9 25.4
Hybrid (E/H) 8.5 4.9 10.3 7.9
Hydraulic 64.1 52.2 60.8 59.0
Multi-Component 6.8 13.2 3.0 7.7
Auxiliary Equipment/Components (% of Total $)
2007 2006 2005 Avg.
Materials Handling 11.2 14.4 17.5 14.4
Robots 11.2 9.7 11.6 10.8
Chillers, Cooling
Towers 10.5 8.8 9.2 9.5
Blenders, Additive
Feeders 10.4 12.4 13.6 12.1
Screws, Barrels 9.8 8.2 8.6 8.9
Machine/Mold
Temp. Controls 9.0 6.6 7.1 7.6
Dryers 6.6 6.3 6.8 6.6
Granulators 6.6 4.9 6.5 6.0
Welding/Assembly 4.7 3.4 4.1 4.1
Parts Conveyors 3.6 2.6 NA 3.1
Resin Testing 3.5 2.4 2.3 2.7
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