10/4/2007 -
The Rauch Guide to the U.S. Plastics Industry (2006)
by Richard Gottlieb, editor
ISBN 1-59237-128-0. Grey House Publishing, Millerton, NY. 2006. Softcover. 646 pages. $595.
The book The Rauch Guide to the U.S. Plastics Industry which is the subject of this review, is aptly named. That name will be shortened to Plastics for this review. Note the U.S. in the title. For better or worse, Plastics covers the plastic industry in the United States and not the world. Plastics covers such significant topics as the economics, end uses, organizations, sources of information, and companies involved with the plastics trade in the United States. Unlike most books reviewed for TMS Plastics is industry oriented as distinct from academically or research oriented. To use an analogy from the world of periodicals Plastics would be like Chemical and Engineering News and not like the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Investors, marketers, and workers in the plastics industry will find that Plastics is worth studying. In fact, a central theme of this review is that Plastics is useful for professionals in the plastics and polymer industry. In the movie The Graduate the graduate is given the hot tip to get into plastics. This advice seems to be good. Plastics, which discusses the economics of plastics, shows that plastics are a growth industry. Table 1-1 on page 4 gives some pretty stunning statistics. The table covers plastics production and value in dollars from 1972 until 2004. In 1972, 25.4 billion pounds of plastic materials and resins were produced and they were worth $4.5 billion. In 2004, 115 billion pounds of plastic materials and resins were produced with a value of $53.5 billion. Economics could be said to study the sum of technologies. Plastics is thus an economics text with an emphasis on technology but finances are not ignored. A quote from chapter 1, page 5 will give a feel for this book and its economic insights. “One effect of intense competition is intense pressure on prices. Falling prices improved the competitive position of plastic products compared to nonplastic materials and thus opened large new markets to the industry. In the past, deteriorating prices were supported by gains in productivity through process improvements and economies of scale.” As demonstrated by this quote profound insights can be gotten on the polymer and plastics industry from Plastics. The text of Plastics is well written and does not require the advanced scientific background of many academic texts. The book is written for workers in the plastics industry and should prove useful and interesting. Plastics gives compressive contact information. Meetings, exhibitions, and trade shows are listed in alphabetical order as are trade associations, technical, and professional societies. Plaint and plastics companies are also listed in the Plastics Guide. Plastics does not ignore relevant journals and trade publications in its coverage. This listing covers about one half of the 644 pages of the volume. This information includes names, addresses, phone numbers and web pages. Names of key executives are to be found. Rauch and Grey House publications publishes directories and Plastics certainly can be summarized as an easy to use and significant directory. Like all directories it will be out of date in a few years and when this happens those in the plastics or related industries will need an updated version. Plastics requires some knowledge of the vocabulary and methods of the plastics industry and knowledge of organic chemical names to fully understand.
For more on The Rauch Guide to the U.S. Plastics Industry, visit the Gray House Publishing web site. |
