The good, the bad… and the K Show

Plastics Team Head of Content Dave Gray introduces the September edition of British Plastics & Rubber.

I was impressed to read that the UK plastics industry has slashed lead times by more than 50% for ’21-’22, vs the same period in ’20-’21. It’s an encouraging sign of resilience and agility. Having travelled through multiple international airports recently, I can confirm that not all sectors are recovering their efficiencies in quite the same way.

In fact, according to the Product Lead Time Index, which is produced by software company Unleashed, plastics and rubber in the UK was the second-fastest sub-sector to recover lead times, after tea and coffee (and let’s face it, nobody’s willing to wait too long for a brew).

What’s even more impressive about this stat is that the shortening of lead times has come in spite of significant levels of re-shoring (resulting from the very same challenges that caused delays for manufacturers in the first place). With brand owners still scrabbling to bring back production from the East and elsewhere before the next major disruption hits supply chains, moulders in this country have been reporting the need to run all hours, often at max capacity. It's welcome news, and it makes that shortening of lead times even more impressive.

BEC Group, for example, told me they’ve seen a 30% increase in enquiries for new projects in the last 12 months. Just-in-time supply chain models are no more – now, the major concern has to be ‘just-in-case’. Speed and competitive pricing, at the expense of quality, is a model that limped on for a long time, albeit beset by problems and doomed expectations. Now though, manufacturers and brand owners have started to see the light – and it only took a global pandemic and one massive stranded container ship to get there. Read more from BEC Group’s experience with reshoring on p.17 of the latest issue of British Plastics & Rubber.

While the mood in the industry right now is cautiously optimistic, UK manufacturers are facing a serious challenge ahead, with further rises to energy prices set to bite again in October. It’s not fun to talk about, but it’s something that can’t go unacknowledged. I met with Carl Reeve at Premier Moulding Machinery recently. On his desk he keeps a copy of Dr Robin Kent’s book, Sustainability Management in Plastics Processing. Carl pointed out to me that when he speaks to manufacturers, the number one thing he hears on the topic of sustainability is, ‘we’ve upgraded the lighting’. As Robin Kent points out – that’s really not the game-changer when you’re running something as energy-intensive as a moulding operation. And putting energy prices aside for one moment, it’s certainly not going to make much of a dent if we’re going to get the industry to net zero.

Carl elucidated his thoughts on what the plastics sector can do mitigate the risk of rising energy prices in a recent column, which you can find here. Spoiler alert – it involves accelerated capital investment. He’s put together some eye-popping statistics, so I really recommend giving it a read. Now is the time to acknowledge there is a – manageable – challenge coming around the corner. New machinery investments may not be the solution/necessary for all moulders and processors – but nevertheless, the impact of ramping prices may turn out to be more than it appears.

Finally, we’ve started our coverage of K 2022 early this year. I had a feeling there was going to be a lot of ground to cover, and so far, I’ve been proven right. In this issue we focus on some – potentially – big news from KraussMaffei, plus a look at solutions for the automotive industry, and finally, a whistle-stop tour of the materials launches that have been announced so far.