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People sometimes look at extrusion as an investment, like pork bellies or medtech. It is that, of course, but also much more. If I’m asked to advise in this arena, I make sure the investors know a few basic rules.

I left my plastophobia comments for the end, as there is too much to say about the recent movements to ban straws (see my June 2018 column) and reduce plastics’ use in so many other ways. If it saves us consumers money, or reduces our addiction to waste, I’m for it, as expressed in my acronym ULS-FOS-TANA (Use Less Stuff, Fix Old Stuff, Throw Almost Nothing Away). But if it singles out plastics as toxic (which they’re not) or if it fans the fears of “chemicals” (which get in the news almost every day), I will call it out as expression of the denial of science based on the need to believe the impossible.

Allan Griff is a veteran extrusion engineer, starting out in tech service for a major resin supplier, and working on his own now for many years as a consultant, expert witness in law cases and especially as an educator via webinars and seminars, both public and in-house. He wrote the first practical extrusion book back in the 1960s as well as the Plastics Extrusion Operating Manual, updated almost every year, and available in Spanish and French as well as English. Find out more on his website, www.griffex.com, or e-mail him at [email protected] .

Griff will present live seminars in Houston on Sept. 27 and Chicago on Nov. 8. Seminars in your plant are also available. If you can’t attend his live events, he offers a Virtual Seminar, which can be seen at anytime, anywhere. E-mail Griff at the address listed above for more information.

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