I mean funnels, drain pans and what not. Plastic tool box also. My theory is that these are made from byproducts of refining petroleum. So probably oil companies give plastic makers for free. Otherwise, they have to deal with the waste themselves. Does it make sense?
Why are there so many made in USA plastic tools?
- Thread starter qqzj
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K13
Well-known member
More likely is they take very little human labour to make and they cost as much to ship from China as they cost to make so in the end their is probably no real cost savings getting them from overseas.
JerseyBoatBuilder
Well-known member
Plano and Flambeau make made in the USA tool boxes and totes, Flambeau also makes some of Snap On's totes and plastic boxes.
nm read your post wrong.
nm read your post wrong.
neophyte
Well-known member
The US still makes plenty of things.
Some are niche items,
others are world vlass items, the average person rarely if ever sees or know about.
As far as common stuff that is US made, it’s mostly the stuff you purchase every week or month at the grocery store, since that has a reliable return on profits and cash flow.
With plastic stuff, the major cost is making a good mold.
Once a mold is made, you can keep knocking the item out for years in many cases.
WAID
Well-known member
That's a big part of it. The injection molding shops I've been in have been surprisingly small operations that competed at lost production levels than the big offshore manufacturers. I think some people underestimate just how much manufacturing still happens here. We make a tone with machines people are too expensive.
2ndGearRubber
Well-known member
Bingo. Stuff like Styrofoam which is bulky to ship and weighs little is a loser for international trade. Stuff like plastics can be readily made here. The new Shell ethane cracker plant near my place, for instance, makes plastic pellets among other things.
Plastics can be made with minimal human labor force, and the shipping costs saved.
southalabama
Well-known member
Nothing coming out or an oil well or refinery is free.
JerseyBoatBuilder
Well-known member
Cant be by products of oil Plano is in I.L. and Flambeau is in Wisconsin
True but then I see videos of food production on discovery/natgeo of US companies where the workers are doing the most boring repetitive work for probably very low wages.
I guess making steel products just requires a little bit more skill and anyone who is capable of that rather finds a better job than... flipping forgings? (I don't mean machinists, but just factory workers for steel products...?)
Just seems very sad. At one end US labour is too expensive for making nice stuff, but for peeling crabs there's whole chambers of workers doing such lousy jobs... Someone has to do it, I guess.
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Orangina
Well-known member
Plastic today is cheap - and has some great properties here and there.
Unfortunately, plastic has a very long shelf life, even after it has been used as waste - in the oceans or in landfills. The subject of recycling is often just a lie, even in industrialized countries - most of it is sold to poor countries (ends up there on large unmanaged undignified dumps) or goes to waste incineration plants with energy extraction or can be found in nature and the oceans and at some point as microplastics on our dinner plates (meanwhile measurable). Only rarely as downcycling products as flower pots or similar.
In some countries, environmental regulations and better labeling (purity of materials for recycling) are trying to get this under control and reduce it (e.g. ban on disposable plastic tableware and straws) - but far too little for nature conservation and the environment - so far consumption is increasing. So it will remain a big problem for generations to come... We are on the wrong track worldwide...
If I look at my old tools: handles without soft plastic protection or with wooden handles.
If I look at my fifty years old cars with metal, wood, natural fibers, leather: hardly a hundredth of plastic of a new car.
regards,
Unfortunately, plastic has a very long shelf life, even after it has been used as waste - in the oceans or in landfills. The subject of recycling is often just a lie, even in industrialized countries - most of it is sold to poor countries (ends up there on large unmanaged undignified dumps) or goes to waste incineration plants with energy extraction or can be found in nature and the oceans and at some point as microplastics on our dinner plates (meanwhile measurable). Only rarely as downcycling products as flower pots or similar.
In some countries, environmental regulations and better labeling (purity of materials for recycling) are trying to get this under control and reduce it (e.g. ban on disposable plastic tableware and straws) - but far too little for nature conservation and the environment - so far consumption is increasing. So it will remain a big problem for generations to come... We are on the wrong track worldwide...
If I look at my old tools: handles without soft plastic protection or with wooden handles.
If I look at my fifty years old cars with metal, wood, natural fibers, leather: hardly a hundredth of plastic of a new car.
regards,
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There aren’t oil refineries in the Midwest?
WAID
Well-known member
That sounds like manufacturing in general to me. Doubly so with any automation. Even in a job shop with fairly high variety in output, it still ends up being the same thing over and over again. I won't get into pay as much, though the moreautomated places I worked at generally payed more than the less automated places.
rsanter
Well-known member
Plastic companies get nothing for free, especially from oil companies.
I worked for. Plastic injection company for a number of years, they were the largest on the west coast.
The machines do most the work.
Plant are located in cheaper real estate areas
In Fact the interesting thing is that we make parts that fed the construction industry and we were pushed for more recycled content so builders got tax credits. Sometimes the recycled material cost the same as the new material.
We as they have gotten better and making the plastic material and the cost of labor, fuel, energy, and all Abe gone up. it is now often that recycled material cost more that new material.
Read up,folks, ...the amount of plastic getting recycled it going down due to the cost of recycling it. Last I looked the plastic that you recycle about 50-80% of it ends up in landfill anyway as due to the cost of it there are fewer buyers wanting it.
Now you want to know what was free? For a while the rejects from plastic medical products we used to get for free (for the cost of trucking) as those companies were spending money to grind up the defects then haul them to the dump. So if you were close to one of those plants they used to give you the defects to save themselves money
I worked for. Plastic injection company for a number of years, they were the largest on the west coast.
The machines do most the work.
Plant are located in cheaper real estate areas
In Fact the interesting thing is that we make parts that fed the construction industry and we were pushed for more recycled content so builders got tax credits. Sometimes the recycled material cost the same as the new material.
We as they have gotten better and making the plastic material and the cost of labor, fuel, energy, and all Abe gone up. it is now often that recycled material cost more that new material.
Read up,folks, ...the amount of plastic getting recycled it going down due to the cost of recycling it. Last I looked the plastic that you recycle about 50-80% of it ends up in landfill anyway as due to the cost of it there are fewer buyers wanting it.
Now you want to know what was free? For a while the rejects from plastic medical products we used to get for free (for the cost of trucking) as those companies were spending money to grind up the defects then haul them to the dump. So if you were close to one of those plants they used to give you the defects to save themselves money
While US manufacturing isn't what it used to be, it is still a significant part of the economy.
Manufacturing in America: 2021
Manufacturing plays a major role in our economy, with 12.1 million employees producing goods that we consume domestically or export abroad.
www.census.gov
engineer2
Well-known member
There are 4 refineries in Illinois and one in Wisconsin.
Lemont Refinery (Citgo), Lemont, IL 175,940 bbl/d
Joliet Refinery (ExxonMobil), Joliet, IL 238,600 bbl/d
Robinson Refinery (Marathon Petroleum Company), Robinson, IL 265,000 bbl/d
Wood River Refinery (WRB Refining LP by Phillips 66/Cenovus, Roxana, IL 336,000 bbl/d
Superior Refinery (Husky Energy), Superior, WI 38,000 bbl/d
The B-P Whiting, Indiana refinery is the largest in the Midwest. 430,000 bbl/d