How does the plastics supply chain work ?
How do raw material producers to compounders / formulators to distributors fit together?
As engineers, where would they go to find specific plastics to meet their applications?
Any info would help.Tks.
normaly good...
they work hand in hand... zogether we are strong...
to my PC searching in the campus database...
If nothing fits I woul dto develop special formulations with experiance mine and that f my suppliers
I am not a bug I am a undocumented feature
It depends on who you work for and how big they are.
When I use to work for a large international corporation (3M), we would work directly with the Dows, DuPonts, etc. and would negotiate very low prices for trainloads of resins. It was easy to get lots of support from their technical service people, free samples and could even get them to develop new resins as needed. I also had ~10,000 other scientists within the company to consult with just by punching 5 numbers on the phone.
Now that I work for a small medical startup company (St.Croix Medical which I wish was located as the name implies in the Virgin Islands since the windchill is -40 this morning here in Minneapolis), I still call the Dows and Duponts, but soon thereafter get calls from their local distributors that will be supplying us in the future. Technical service is still pretty good if it is limited to simple questions, free samples are harder to come by (we often have to pay the shipping) and I know better than to ask for the development of a new resin. (I've also learned to try and not say that I work for a medical device company since that will quickly end the conversation with many litigation-shy companies). I the only chemist in a company of electrical engineers so if I want to consult with someone, it's off to the University Library, 20 miles away and the work still piles up in the office and lab while I'm doing that.
As Michael has already suggested, there are internet resouces available as well for both the large and small alike.
John
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