“It” is Liquidmetal Technologies, the California startup using amorphous metals IP developed at Caltech by Professor William Johnson in 1993.

Apple and Swatch love the technology and bought exclusive market specific rights. But the company has failed to establish a viable commercial revenue stream, and yesterday reported rising losses and a weakening cash position.

One reason that losses are rising is that hiring and R&D expenses are higher.

CEO Tom Steipp reported on a conference call that prototype shipments continue to rise, including four shipments in the first quarter to major suppliers to the oil and gas industry. Molded amorphous metal may be the perfect lining material for shaped charges used to blow holes in well casings deep underground, allowing surrounding oil and gas to rush into the well under very high pressure. The currently used linings are made of injected molded metal powder, a technology far inferior to `injection molded amorphous metal.

There are three important reasons why this application could be the savior of this brave little engine that could:

1.    The amorphous metal parts are stronger. The strength-to-weight ratio of amorphous metal is off the charts.

2.    Parts can be made more precisely and consistently with molded amorphous metal. Tolerances within 0.002 inches in every dimension are maintained part to part. Repeatable tolerances on MIM parts are difficult because parts shrink when autoclaved after the molding process. Final machining may be required. That adds tremendously to the costs, as well as the production time.

3.    The amorphous metal parts virtually liquefy when imploded, while the metallic MIM parts could get stuck in the casing hole, defeating the purpose of a shaped charge.

Millions of these devices are used yearly by the oil and gas industry. And US activity is being spurred by shale gas development.

And maybe that is why Tom Steipp is hiring and boosting R&D costs.

Not as much as once believed, apparently, based on a decision just announced by Bayer Material Science to exit the business and close its production plant.

“We remain convinced that carbon nanotubes have huge potential,” says Patrick Thomas, CEO of Bayer MaterialScience. ”It has been found, however, that the potential areas of application that once seemed promising from a technical standpoint are currently either very fragmented or have few overlaps with the company’s core products and their application spectrum.”

“For Bayer MaterialScience, groundbreaking applications for the mass market relating to our own portfolio and therefore comprehensive commercialization are not likely in the foreseeable future,” said Thomas. “Nonetheless, this know-how provides an important basis for a possible later use of CNT, for example in the optimization of lithium ion batteries. We are currently in contact with potential interested parties regarding the specific application of the know-how generated.”

It’s a stunner.

BMS invested at least $30 million in its multi-walled carbon nanotube ramp up at its headquarter factory site in Leverkusen, Germany. The plant has a capacity of 260 tons/year. The other players include CNano Technology (500), Nanocyl (460), Showa Denko (400), and Arkema (50).

A carbon nanotube is a tube-shaped material with a diameter measuring on the nanometer scale, or one-billionth of a meter, or about one ten-thousandth of the thickness of a human hair. Key applications were considered to be conductive plastics and structural composites. The hype four years ago was off the charts. The hype in the last three years? Well, what ever happened to carnon nanotubes?

Maybe the safety issues were insurmountable from Bayer’s perspective. There certainly are issues as far as molding compounds are concerned, that’s for sure.  

The last five years at least have been rough for the company. It had participated in an industry buildup of glass fiber capacity before the Great Recession hit in 2008. Product pricing collapsed, and still has not recovered while prices of steel, aluminum and thermoset resins have seen significant recoveries.

The company held a Web-based media briefing today in an effort to establish more transparency, and to also discuss, it seemed to me, the need for significant price relief to allow investment in new capacity to meet future demand for glass-reinforced plastics (aka composites in the traditional sense).

As I listened, I wondered why the company had never made a foray into carbon fiber reinforcements. It seems like a natural. Demand for carbon fiber is growing faster than glass (3.8 times industrial growth versus 1.6 times for GFRP by Owen Corning’s own estimate). Carbon fiber is challenging GFRP for many automotive applications. The brand-new Corvette for example is sheathed in part with carbon composites using a new production process developed by Plasan.

Arnaud Genis, Composites Group president, said there are many reasons why Owens Corning is not interested in the carbon fiber business. For one, the size of the glass fiber composite market vastly outstrips the carbon composite market–something like 4.5 million tons  versus 250,000 tons. The significant price gap between the two materials will remain a significant challenge to further use of carbon fiber despite its performance advantages (more strength at less weight).

He also said, in effect, that carbon fiber just isn’t part of the Owens Corning DNA. Owens Corning has significant intellectual property positions in glass fiber materials science, manufacturing technology and assembly processes. The company’s goal is to get back to what it does best—developing higher quality, more useful and more cost-effective glass composites.

Instead the focus in recent years has been on cutting costs to staunch the flow of red ink. The company lost $19 million last year on revenues of $5.2 billion last year.

It’s an interesting approach, and not the kind of approach I think the company would have taken in the days of Glen Hiner. It’s a bread-and-butter, down-in-the trenches, get-the-job-done-right kind of approach. Let’s hope the Force is with them.

From the bottom of the recession in 2010 with sales of just $59.5 million, Engel North America ended its fiscal year on March 31 with record sales of more than $200 million.

The company said its key markets shape up like this:

Automotive:  Vehicle manufacturing is on pace this year for a 15 million unit build, up from the recession low of 8 million units. Engel said there is pressure to replace older injection machines as the automotive market rebounds. Customers want increasingly sophisticated controls and performance as quality and efficiency demands rise.

Packaging:  Engel is focusing on energy efficiency—a key variable that affects manufacturing costs. “Closures is a very price-driven business for molders and the costs of machines, molds, and material are relatively fixed, so it is necessary to gain an advantage in energy costs,” the company said in a press release. An all-electric machine can save up to 50 per cent  in energy costs.

Medical: There is a trend to increased cavitation and faster cycle times to cut costs. Medical markets also use vertical-clamping insert molding machines, for both cleanroom and non-cleanroom environments. Automation is desirable, especially for loading inserts.

The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.’s Committee on Equipment Statistics offered a bigger picture of the domestic injection molding market, and its impact on machine sales.

The number of injection molding machines ordered last year totaled 3,307, up 16 per cent from 2011. Dollar value was up 20 per cent, indicating a move to higher level equipment—in line with Engel’s view of the market.   

GE Aviation has opened a second factory in Mississippi to produce carbon composite parts for two new engine programs: the LEAP jet engine being developed by CFM, a joint company of GE and Snecma (SAFRAN) of France and GE’s new Passport jet engine.

Aiirbus is usiing composite engine parts to boost efficiency.

The Ellisville plant will manufacture fan platforms (installed between the engine’s front fan blades) for the LEAP-1A and the LEAP-1C, which will power Airbus’s A320neo and COMAC’S C919, respectively. The “neo” designation means new engine option. Improvements with the A320neo include a 15 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, two metric tons of additional payload, up to 500 nautical miles of more range, lower operating costs, along with reductions in engine noise and emissions.

Ellisville will also manufacture the inlet for the Passport engine which was selected by Bombardier to power the Global 7000 and Global 8000 business jets. The inlet is a single-piece component that is located in the front of the Nexcelle nacelle system and directs airflow into the engine.

In addition to jet engine components, Ellisville will manufacture the transcowl, a component of the thrust reverser, which is located in the rear of the nacelle for Airbus’s A320neo.

GE says it develops and produces the world’s most advanced composite components for jet engines and aircraft systems. Composite components provide greater durability and engine weight savings, which mean improved aircraft fuel efficiency and reduced maintenance and replacement costs.

In 1995, GE introduced the first carbon fiber composite front fan blade in an airline engine with its GE90, the power behind  the Boeing 777. For the new GEnx engine, which powers the Boeing 787, GE introduced both composite fan blades, using the same fibers, resin, and manufacturing processes as the GE90 blade, and a fiber-braided composite fan case. Both provide dramatic weight savings.

The new plant is a big win for Mississippi which wants to bill itelf as a high-tech aviation site. Assistance was provided by the Mississippi Polymer Institute at The University of Southern Mississippi and The Advanced Technology Center at Jones County Junior College.

It comes to mind now because of an interesting research paper presented by failure analysis experts at Exponent at the recent Annual technical Conference of the Society of Plastics Engineers. They reported that polycarbonate used in a medical device housing and lens failed after just three to four months of use at several hospitals because of disinfectants caused environmental stress cracking. The poor chemical resistance of polycarbonate is basic plastics knowledge. Why would the engineering staff of a medical device OEM pick PC for a part subject to strong chemicals used to fight infections in hospitals?

It reminds me of the early days of polycarbonate when GE Plastics sales people convinced an Italian auto manufacturer to use it in bumpers. Gasoline spilled on the bumpers, triggering recalls when the parts cracked. A research skunk works was established near the GE Plastics’ sales office and an alloy called Xenoy was born. Xenoy is a winner, but why wasn’t testing conducted?

There is a natural tendency of consumers to assume that if a product is on the store shelves it’s safe to use. But for engineers those kinds of assumptions are totally unacceptable.

I also feel strongly that companies need to take more responsibility for the products they sell. The supplier that sold unalloyed and uncoated polycarbonate for the medical device housing application knew it would fail.

There was a gold’s rush of machine development and the American industry flourished with players such as Egan Machinery, Somerville, N.J.; HPM, Mt. Gilead, Ohio; New Britain Machine Co., New Britain, Conn.; National Automatic Tool Co. (Natco), Richmond, Ind.; Van Dorn, Strongsville, Ohio; Waldron-Hartig, New Brunswick, N.J.; Reed-Prentice, East Longmeadow, Mass.; and Newbury Industries, Newbury, Ohio.  

Cincinnati Milacron decided to enter the plastics machinery business and became a major player. But there was some arrogance among a few of the old timers who didn’t want to abandon their market position in the old-dated and doomed plunger technology. There was in fact a general arrogance among American manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s, and a disregard for the importance of technological change and the importance of global competitiveness.

We paid a steep price. All of the American molding machinery companies went bankrupt or went out of business.

Now there is a bit of a resurgence. At an open house last week, Milacron showed that is has emerged from bankruptcy with a strong product lineup and a robust manufacturing presence in Batavia, Ohio. Engel, an Austrian company which is the largest injection molding machinery builder in Eruope, has a strong and growing manufacturing presence in York, Pa.

And there is now some manufacturing at the old HPM and Van Dorn sites in Ohio.

In 2011, Chinese machinery company Yizumi purchased all the patented technology and other assets of HPM, and is now using its Mount Gilead site as a beachhead for North American sales. Hydraulics and electrics are added in the United States. Other customization is also performed at the site. The first machine was recently shipped to Pleasant Precision, an old fan of the big iron HPM machines.  Credit Bill Flickinger, former (and last) HPM president for keeping the flame alive.

Japanese machine builder Sumitomo is taking a similar, and even larger-scale tack with Van Dorn, which has a substantial number of legacy customers in the United States. On April 10, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag had an open house in Strongsville to show off its new technical and remanufacturing center.

There are other potential investors in machine rebuilding and finishing in the United States. A leading candidate is Haitian of China, which is now the global market leader in injection molding machinery. The company is very interested in the U.S. market and could expand presence through its Absolute Haitian unit, which is opening a technical center in Parma, Ohio next month.

The U.S. will never be the market for injection molding machinery it was 15 or 20 years ago, but it’s important to maintain technical and manufacturing presence. Never was that so apparent when Apple and Liquidmetal Technologies needed a technical partner. Engel Machinery made a huge contribution.

Bemis says it will make parts for a wide variety of markets, including automotive, in the

Maxima G Servo

1,500-ton MAXIMA Servo.

“After seeing our Maxima Servo platform at NPE2012, Bemis recognized the value of combining co-injection and servo technology,” said Jim Moore, VP Automotive Business at Milacron.  “Bemis’s deep-rooted commitment to zero waste and energy conservation aligns perfectly with the Maxima’s efficient servo motor technology, which uses less than half the energy of a comparable 1,500-ton hydraulic press.”

Milacron’s co-injection design can be configured for sequential or simultaneous injection (combining injection capacities for large part production), stack molding, multi-component and co-injection, as well as other advanced processes.

Co-injection (or encapsulation) can improve environmental sustainability and reduce costs by making it possible to include recycled or reground resin; technical grades of resin with material properties to improve part characteristics such as sound deadening or cold weather impact strength; or more economical material in the core with another material molded over top for aesthetics.

Collaboration between Milacron and Bemis Manufacturing on co-injection dates to 1994.  One of the fruits of that collaboration was development of a 6,600-ton co-injection machine.

Milacron LLC is a privately held company owned by affiliates of CCMP Capital Advisors and is the last remaining American-owned manufacturer of injection molding machinery.

Bemis Manufacturing is based in Sheboygan Falls, Wisc. and is best known for production of toilet seats.

Missing from the equation have been small injection molders who don’t have deep

Meet Baxter the friendly robot.

pockets and often have rapidly changing work projects. Those are the people that have been most vulnerable to Asian competition.

A new humanoid robot called Baxter is changing that—and it is creating a firestorm of interest wherever it’s shown, most recently at BIOMEDevice in Boston.

This is a robot that can be programmed on the spot by line workers and can work safely side-by-side that same worker. And the best part is its starting price: $22,000. Robotics for work cells can easily cost into the thousands of dollars, need to be programmed by professionals and need cages to protect workers in the area.

And, of course, Baxter isn’t for those kinds of jobs. Baxter is good for the odd jobs that people have to do (and don’t like to do).

So far the molders that have announced acquisition of Baxters are big players—Nypro and Rodon. But the big hope is that Baxter catches on with small processors keeping them cost competitive and helping in the much-publicized potential for reshoring of manufacturing jobs.

Baxter was developed by Rethink Robotics, founded by Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot and former director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. Brooks figures that it costs about $4 an hour to operate a Baxter, well below human wages.

Capabilities are rapidly ramping up. For example, the robot will soon be able to operate in more than one axis and perform tasks in a more efficient manner. The company today announced development of a Baxter Research Robot that is powered by a new Software Development Kit (SDK) that will enable people to “hack” the robot and create countless uses and applications.

A process developed by American feedstock partner Genomatica (San Diego) was used for the commercial-scale production of 5 million pounds of 1,4-butanediol (BDO) in

Sample parts made from bio-PBT.

November, 2012. Toray used the BDO to produce PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), an important engineering plastic used in automotive, electrical/electronics, and elsewhere. Key properties include resistance to solvents, minimal shrinkage, mechanical strength and heat-resistance up to 150 °C without reinforcement.

Toray (Tokyo) molded and tested prototypes made from the bio feedstock and reports that its properties compare to petroleum-derived BDO. Producers of the fossil fuel version include a Who’s Who of the global engineering plastics supply base: DuPont, BASF, Sabic Innovative Plastics (former GE Plastics), Ticona, Lanxess, DSM and Evonik.

Toray said it expects to bring products to market as soon as supplies of the bio BDO are available from one of the producers that Genomatica licenses to use its BDO process.

Toray, in 1976, was the first to succeed in the industrial production of PBT using direct polymerization of terephthalic acid and BDO as feedstocks. Toray has been working with Genomatica for over two years, and in February, 2011 produced the first PBT pellets made with BDO samples from Genomatica. Toray has also worked on green PET and nylon.

PBT is the second largest use for BDO, accounting for about 29% of all BDO worldwide, or about 700,000 tons per year as a PBT compound.