Plastic and Rubber Products Manufacturing

The US plastic and rubber products manufacturing industry includes about 16,000 companies with combined annual revenue of $215 billion. Major companies include divisions of DuPont, Pactiv, Textron, and Mark IV Industries. The highly fragmented industry has hundreds of niches, determined by material type, manufacturing process, and end-use.

Tire manufacturers are covered in a separate industry profile.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Because plastic products are widely used in industry and as consumer products, demand depends on the health of the US economy. The profitability of individual companies depends on product mix and production efficiency. Large companies have economies of scale in buying raw materials and in manufacturing commodity products such as bottles and plastic film. Small companies can compete effectively by specializing. The industry is labor-intensive: annual revenue per worker is about $220,000.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major products include plastic bottles, plastic film and sheets, plastic pipe and foams, and rubber hoses. Plastic products account for 80 percent of the industry. Plastics and rubber have a wide range of physical properties, making them suitable for different uses. Most producers specialize in a few product lines, as the equipment and tooling needed to manufacture to customer specifications can be expensive. Production usually occurs in single-use plants that can range from 50,000 to 500,000 square feet, depending on the product. The typical manufacturer has a single plant and fewer than 50 employees.

Injection and compression molding are the principal methods of ...