Possibly the most ubiquitous substance in modern consumer products, it’s hard to believe plastics were created first as billiard balls. As the sport became popular in the 1860’s, the ivory used to make the balls became more and more expensive until inventor John Wesley Hyatt improved on Alexander Parkes’ 1862 Parkesine material to create a substance that could be made into any shape, any weight, any density and for any purpose desired.
While plastic may seem like old news today, it is still used in nearly every next-generation invention, from wind turbines to rocket ships. Some of the fastest growing businesses in Pennsylvania’s manufacturing sector, like medical devices and solar panels, use plastic every day. This fact has not escaped Williamsport’s Pennsylvania College of Technology, which opened two successful Plastics Centers for Excellence over the last two years. PCT hopes to continue its focus on plastics as a $10,000 grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners will go toward the expansion of the Thermoforming Center for Excellence, a plastics manufacturing center that PCT opened in April.
“Right now, there is not a good place to go for research and development on thermoforming in North America and this center is going to be the first of its kind,” says Director of the PCT Plastics Manufacturing Center Hank White. “What we want to do is be able to improve the productivity of this technology so that we can help expand it.”
Just because thermoforming education is lacking in the U.S. doesn’t mean there isn’t demand. Working with Ben Franklin and other partners around the state, PCT has made some great networking connections, even creating partnerships where first-year students will have the opportunity to work with real companies on real manufacturing projects. Just as the American Chemistry Council has been telling us for years, for Pennsylvania manufacturing students, plastics make it possible.
“We will be helping companies with either productivity or new materials in various aspects of their operation,” says White. “We are able to run line trials here of new materials and new products for the medical industry, the transportation industry. This new funding has helped out tremendously and we are ready to start immediately.”
Source: Hank White, Pennsylvania College of Technology
Writer: John Steele