The first man-made plastic was invented in Britain in 1854 by Alexander Parkes. He publicly demonstrated it at the 1862 International Exhibition in London, calling the material he produced "Parkesine." Derived from cellulose, Parkesine could be heated, molded, and retain its shape when cooled. It was, however, expensive to produce, prone to cracking, and highly flammable.
But as we all know, the plastic injection molding industry has evolved over the years from producing combs and buttons to producing a vast array of products for many industries including automotive, medical, aerospace, consumer products, toys, plumbing, packaging, and construction.
Nowadays, injection molding is used to create many things such as wire spools, packaging, bottle caps, automotive dashboards, pocket combs, and most other plastic products available today. Injection molding is the most common method of part manufacturing. It is ideal for producing high volumes of the same object.
Some advantages of injection molding are high production rates, repeatable high tolerances, the ability to use a wide range of materials, low labor cost, minimal scrap losses, and little need to finish parts after molding.
Portuguese plastics injection industry dates back from 1935, when the first company started producing Backelite (the first real syntetic plastic) utility goods. All this happened inside an industrial context that encompassed the 1929 big Crisis, the Industrial conditioning regimen of 1931 and the Great Exhibition of Portuguese Industry in 1932. And everything evolved from there.Plastic injection manufacturing from Portugal, nowadays, injects and exports parts for all over Europe, for such diverse markets as packaging, automotive, transport, in fact all available areas you can think of.
Over the last few years, the industry has invested in new equipments all around and, most of all, in automation and high level quality control.
Portuguese plastic injection companies are able to supply you with:
- Help on the project, conception and design of any kind of plastic parts / molds
- Quotations for the final product you need
- Supply of production mass moldings, with your own molds
- Help with secondary operations and full, complex assemblies
- Follow up and support of the project after delivery
- Assistance on anything you may need in Portugal
- After sales assistance and maintenance