Plastics extrusion is a manufacturing process that involves melting raw plastic material and forming it into a continuous product. Stock plastic extrusions are common sizes, shapes and angles of plastic that can be readily bought from an extrusions company. This is in contrast to custom plastic extrusions, which must be manufactured to the customer’s unique size and shape requests. Comprising a wide variety of merchandise, common stock plastic extrusion products are piping, tubing, window framing, plastic extrusion and wire insulation.
A Brief Overview of the Plastic Extrusions Process
Plastic extrusion begins when a rotating screw gathers small beads of thermoplastic resin, which may include additives like coloring, into an extruder. The resin melts down and the extruder forces the beads into a new shape, at which point a water bath cools them. When the plastic has properly cooled, the final product is removed from the die.
Benefits of Stock Plastic Extrusion
Manufacturers who choose to purchase stock plastic extrusions open themselves up to a number of benefits.
Fast turnaround: Since stock plastic extrusions are already manufactured at the time of ordering, shipment of your order is incredibly quick
Reduced workload: Ordering standard extrusions means one less in-house manufacturing step.
Large pool of suppliers: There are many companies offering stock plastic extrusions.
Large product mix: Supplier inventories carry virtually all of the most popular sizes, shapes, colors and applications.
Cost-efficiency: Because extrusion is a high-volume manufacturing process, large quantities can be purchased relatively cheaply
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