Plastic thermoforming companies are growing: our example

Plastic thermoforming is a manufacturing process that, starting from a simple plastic sheet, allows the creation of components and products for daily or industrial use. Plastic thermoforming companies are growing: whether it may seem a piece of weird news to hear, LMP is one of the companies which are facing the Coronavirus economic crisis with proactivity. Since plastic thermoforming is a quite versatile and affordable industrial production process, this technology involves several industries: food packaging, design furniture, and home decor accessories, components for industrial and automotive vehicles, and blister packs for medical supplies.

What’s plastic thermoforming?

In our company philosophy, plastic thermoforming still is one of the few manufacturing processes which are interesting and beautiful to stare at. It’s possible to witness the “magical creation” within the thermoforming process because the sheet shaping takes place at sight: the heating feature retreats while revealing the heated sheet, which swells up and then leans against the mold. Plastic thermoforming is a technique mainly used to transform plastic polymers. Among the plastic materials which are most widely used: are ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), PC/polycarbonate, PE/polyethylene, PP/polypropylene, PPS/polystyrene, PETG/poly, PMMA/methacrylate. Plastic thermoforming flexibility is mostly owed to the specific features of the several materials available for this manufacturing process and to the option to choose different sheet thicknesses in order to create very different products. Speaking of technical features of thermoforming process, it may be useful a brief overview of the main pros that vacuum forming can bring to industrial production:

• materials and methods versatility;
• affordable prices compared with the general cost of other molding techniques such as injection molding, which allow smaller series production;
• surface finishing is quite good it almost doesn’t need further adjustments;
• plastic thermoforming offers less than 1 mm precision, due to advanced CNC machinery in use, but it also allows manual operations when needed;
• freedom of design is almost absolute: because of the technical features of thermoforming, companies are allowed to create various shapes, including undercut ones;
• state-of-the-art machinery allows us to produce quite large components.
• So, vacuum forming is not just a beautiful process that offers accurate results: plastic thermoforming features clear advantages, such as affordability, flexibility, and high production rates.

How plastic thermoforming companies faced the Covid emergency

Speaking about vacuum forming versatility, a piece of clear evidence about the process flexibility is the one coming directly from the Covid global health emergency. Since our plastic thermoforming company is well-rooted in Lombardy, which is one of the hardest-hit territories in Italy, we couldn’t simply step back and faced the tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic. So, we decided to help our region in a tough time. Plastic thermoforming can be used for the manufacturing of Covid-19 anti-droplets barriers and protections, as well as stands for hand sanitizing gel bottles and other equipment no one could ever guess, would become of daily use. A lot of objects of common use come from vacuum forming processes: automobile parts, home decor elements, kitchenware, and even design lamps. Most products stored in supermarkets feature a thermoformed plastic packaging: it comes as no surprise that plastic thermoforming companies all around the world are growing their businesses.  Over the last ten years, the plastic thermoforming industrial sector has increased by about 5% on a global scale. According to a new Industry Research study (“Thermoforming Packaging Machines Market”, 2021), “the global thermoforming packaging machines market size was USD 894 million and it is expected to reach USD 1244.3 million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 4.6% during 2021-2027”. Plastic thermoforming is not just the most widely used manufacturing process worldwide, it is a growing business that can take advantage of technological progress, improving its features even under the most complicated circumstances. LMP is a vacuum forming specialist who can boast over 30 years of experience in plastics and fiberglass industrial processing. Since the late-70s our company philosophy is based on a close cooperation relationship with the clients, involving their needs and intentions in the whole production process. We’ve grown old though, so we set up a classic contact form for you to reach us!