Ongoing material shortages and supply bottlenecks also pose problems for the plastics processing industry. The SKZ Plastics Center is offering a two-day online course on "Alternative Materials and Second Sources" March 14-15, 2022.
The topic of material shortages and supply bottlenecks remains hot and has become an integral part of daily plastics news across platforms. Due to the currently anyway limited availability of certain (raw) materials, exacerbated by various "force majeure" announcements, this topic is of correspondingly high relevance for the plastics processing industry. Clearly, at least in 2022, the topic of material shortages will also The topic of alternative materials or "second sources" is becoming increasingly important for manufacturing companies. Not only can raw materials that are difficult to procure be replaced, but products can also be made more environmentally friendly, for example.
However, many factors play an important role in the switch to alternative materials. That is why the SKZ Plastics Center in Würzburg is committed to providing important insights and suggestions for action on this topic. Since mid-2021, course participants have been able to understand how to navigate this material conversion process, which material properties, consistency and other factors are important, and how to find and interpret these factors in material data sheets. The application-based derivation of "second source" is also an essential part of this training.
Many years of experience
Andreas Büttner, group leader of education in the area of material development, compounding and extrusion, explains, "We naturally benefit immensely here from the knowledge and many years of experience from our research area of material development at SKZ, which we transfer to industry in a didactically prepared form. Due to the numerous inquiries, we now offer the course on a regular basis, also as an in-house training course." Interested companies can also obtain advice directly from the experts at SKZ Material Development in the search for alternative materials or in the material conversion process.