Skippy: hey Buzz - sharing a little nugget -
"When working toward the solution of a problem, it always helps if you know the answer."
Buzz: "Corollary - Provided, of course, that you know there is a problem."
Sunday, November 7, 2010
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Another good post from Skippy and Buzz.
ReplyDeleteAn important factor in determining the amount of regrind that you can use is knowing the requirements of the customer. With some Polymers, the addition of regrind can affect the performance and properties of the material. For example, in the case of Polycarbonate which is a clear plastic, adding regrind can lower the strength, cause black specks and make the material yellow in appearance.
For some customers limited degradation of the material caused by regrind is not a problem. The lower price of the material that can be achieved by adding say 40% regrind is much more important.
Other customers, for example those using Polycarbonate for high end optical applications can not tolerate any regrind in the material and are prepared to pay the additional price for material produced from 100% virgin resin.
[The inevitable problem comes when customers want the quality of material produced only with virgin resin but want the price of a high regrind material].
A number of strategies for managing regrind include:
- Optimizing the production process to minimize the production of regrind.
- Understanding customer requirements and the effect of regrind on those requirements, so that you can maximize the usage of regrind. As stated in the post, it is always better when the maximum usage is greater than the maximum production of regrind.
- Obtaining a good mix of customers so that you have an outlet for the regrind material. If you understand the cost of regrind, you can often offer a low priced solution to a customer that does not need a high specification product.
- As we target only high end customers, we actually consume zero regrind. Our strategy involves partnering with other companies that have more commodity customers and are able to use more regrind than they produce. This strategy allows us to maintain our quality and allows them to have a price competitive product.
All the best.