Top 100 Companies in the Miscellaneous Plastics Products Industry
When conducting a survey of a sample size of 10 people on what they thought of when they heard ‘the Plastics Industry’, likely 10 different answers will be produced, many of which would contain words such as ‘resin manufacturer’ or ‘packaging company’. NAICS 3261 (Miscellaneous Plastics Products) is used as a categorization by the US Census Bureau for that part of the Plastics Industry that receives the resin that resin manufacturers create and converts this to a form of a finished product. Though ‘Miscellaneous Plastics Products’ may seem an odd name for something so massive (15,000+ establishments in the United States alone), other countries have Manufacturers of Products made from resins including: PET containers, Microchip bases and Cable ties that hold together your Vehicle’s Wiring harnesses.
This is a listing of the major players of the Plastics Industry (a complete listing of this topic is beyond the scope of this article). Importantly, we want to make it clear that it is NOT A RANKING. Within this listing, we outline 100 of the major players of the Plastics Industry, by the end markets for which they supply; and provide a brief description of each of their products and location.
The NAICS code 3261 can be briefly defined as constituting the Plastics Product Manufacturing Industry. Mainly, this is given that it is the only code that constitutes businesses involved in the production of a wide range of plastic products. The industry has around 14,978 businesses that produce different plastics products either utilizing raw resin or recycled resin using different production methods like molding and casting; however, this industry does not include businesses using the NAICS3261 that manufacture the resin and monomers so that the products made or services being offered within this industry do not account for the products used to manufacture them (pipes and films) being assigned different NAICS classifications. Among the notable public limited organizations within the plastics industry based on their size are Newell Brands, Entegris, AptarGroup, Advanced Drainage Systems, and Armstrong World Industries, while there are also other giants with regard to private or international presence in this industry such as Berry Global, Amcor, Plastipak, Nypro, Röchling, and Kingfa. For the industries concerned with the provision of their services or products to the end user customers, the major companies that come into the spotlight are HellermannTyton, Panduit, ABB Installation Products, Essentra, KSS and OEMs, who in this case use nylon laces produced by igoto, which happens to be an exporter from Ukraine.
What NAICS 3261 Actually Covers
The definition of the group is accurate, but it lacks practical use: organizations that are engaged mainly in processing new or recycled plastic resins into final or intermediate products via methods such as injection molding, blow molding, compression molding, extrusion molding, and casting. But the significance lies in the exclusions rather than in the inclusions: producers of resins, manufacturers of monomers, and almost all composite manufacturers are classified differently.
The classification shows how many businesses are there in this field within the US.
| Code | Segment | US establishments |
|---|---|---|
| 326111 | Plastics Bag and Pouch Manufacturing | 349 |
| 326112 | Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing | 211 |
| 326113 | Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except Packaging) Manufacturing | 815 |
| 326121 | Unlaminated Plastics Profile Shape Manufacturing | 156 |
| 326122 | Plastics Pipe and Pipe Fitting Manufacturing | 407 |
| 326130 | Laminated Plastics Plate, Sheet and Shape Manufacturing | 358 |
| 326140 | Polystyrene Foam Product Manufacturing | 72 |
| 326150 | Urethane and Other Foam Product Manufacturing | 1,245 |
| 326160 | Plastics Bottle Manufacturing | 253 |
| 326191 | Plastics Plumbing Fixture Manufacturing | 297 |
| 326199 | All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing | 10,815 |
Check out the last specification given. 10,815 out of approximately 14,978 installations, or approximately 72%, are categorized as “other.” This is how it becomes so hard to categorize this whole industry. It is not about a few hundred big factories; it is about thousands of smaller factories specializing in different niches. None of those factories has a chance to get into a “best of” list, but still, most likely some of the components on your table came from there.
It is also worth mentioning the following point: nylon is a type of plastic. Polyamide – PA6 and PA66, which are used for producing the major part of cable ties, gears and automotive under-hood parts, is a type of engineering thermoplastic, rather than a separate group of materials. If you want the longer version of that argument, it’s set out in this explanation of whether nylon counts as plastic, and it matters here because nylon parts sit inside almost every segment on the list below.
Why There’s No Single “Top 100” List
One important clarification before using the tables properly.
The concept of “top” depends entirely on one’s perspective on what they are trying to assess. In the terms of revenue, the packaging and resin-related firms are on top. However, in terms of assets we see that the U.S.’s companies that lead in this industry are Newell Brands, Entegris, AptarGroup, Advanced Drainage Systems and Armstrong World Industries. When it comes to strategic importance a precision medical molder in Vermont with 600 employees is more significant for a medical device producer than one packaging molder that is ten times larger than Vermont’s company. And in terms of production volumes the firms are not known outside industry circles and they produce billions of widgets.
Public data sources do not resolve the issue either. Commercial databases do not agree with each other and the really big players in this industry do not publish anything, being privately held. So the below list is just an example of companies in the industry.
How These Companies Actually Make Things
The processes mentioned are what essentially bring a scattered sector together. Six processes are responsible for creating almost every item in this section. It seems safe to say that the process determines which companies are eligible to quote a job.
| Process | How it works | Typical products |
|---|---|---|
| Injection moulding | Molten resin injected into a closed metal mould under pressure | Closures, housings, gears, cable ties, precision components |
| Extrusion | Resin pushed continuously through a die | Pipe, profile shapes, tubing, film, sheet |
| Blow moulding | A hot parison inflated against a mould cavity | Bottles, drums, tanks, hollow parts |
| Thermoforming | Heated sheet drawn over or into a mould | Trays, clamshells, large panels, vehicle trim |
| Rotational moulding | Powder tumbled in a heated, rotating mould | Tanks, kayaks, playground parts, large hollow items |
| Compression moulding | Material shaped under heat and pressure in a matched mould | Heavy-gauge parts, composites, under-hood components |
The reason behind the prevalence of injection moulding by quantity is the economics of tooling. Once a mould is made, the cost per piece will fall sharply with increased production volume, which helps to explain how this market is structured: long series production is the domain of companies with large quantities of in-house tooling and multiple plants, while smaller quantities are produced by job shops, and everything in between is handled by the best qualified candidate.That’s the model behind the manufacturing approach at igoto, where mould design, resin selection and process validation sit on the same side of the fence as the finished part.
Packaging and Containers
It is the biggest and probably most famous end-use market for plastic products. Packaging converters are characterized by high volumes of production but low profit margins. This is the reason why it is extremely important to be large within this industry and have vertical integration.
| # | Company | Headquarters | What it makes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berry Global | Evansville, Indiana, USA | Rigid and flexible packaging, closures, engineered materials |
| 2 | Amcor | Zurich, Switzerland | Flexible and rigid plastic packaging |
| 3 | Sealed Air | Charlotte, North Carolina, USA | Protective and food packaging, packaging systems |
| 4 | Plastipak Holdings | Plymouth, Michigan, USA | PET containers, preforms, closures, recycling |
| 5 | Novolex | Hartsville, South Carolina, USA | Bags, foodservice packaging, films |
| 6 | Dart Container | Mason, Michigan, USA | Foam and plastic foodservice containers |
| 7 | Silgan Plastics | Chesterfield, Missouri, USA | Rigid plastic containers and closures |
| 8 | AptarGroup | Crystal Lake, Illinois, USA | Dispensing systems, closures, drug delivery components |
| 9 | Pactiv Evergreen | Lake Forest, Illinois, USA | Foodservice and food merchandising packaging |
| 10 | Sonoco Products | Hartsville, South Carolina, USA | Rigid plastic and paper containers, protective packaging |
| 11 | Karat Packaging | Chino, California, USA | Foodservice disposables and containers |
| 12 | Inteplast Group | Livingston, New Jersey, USA | Integrated films, bags and packaging products |
| 13 | Klöckner Pentaplast | London, United Kingdom | Rigid and flexible film for pharma, food and medical |
| 14 | RENOLIT | Worms, Germany | Plastic films and sheets |
| 15 | Constantia Flexibles | Vienna, Austria | Flexible packaging and labels |
| 16 | Taghleef Industries | Dubai, UAE | Biaxially oriented polypropylene films |
| 17 | Faerch Group | Denmark | Rigid food packaging, recycled-content trays |
| 18 | Cedo | United Kingdom | Household and food flexible packaging |
| 19 | Polyplex | Noida, India | Polyester film |
| 20 | Coveris | Vienna, Austria | Flexible packaging for food, retail and industrial |
Automotive and Transportation
In the automotive plastic segment, lightweighting is the main way of benefiting from metals’ substitution. In this field, removing metals from automobiles is not a superficial matter: each very kilogram taken off a car has a positive effect on fuel consumption and mileage. Electric vehicles take advantage of these properties of plastics even more.
| # | Company | Headquarters | What it makes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Magna International | Aurora, Ontario, Canada | Plastic and composite body, interior and exterior systems |
| 22 | Röchling Group | Mannheim, Germany | High-performance engineering plastics for automotive and industrial |
| 23 | ElringKlinger | Dettingen an der Erms, Germany | Plastic and hybrid lightweight structural components |
| 24 | Toyoda Gosei | Kiyosu, Japan | Plastic and rubber interior and exterior automotive parts |
| 25 | Grupo Antolin | Burgos, Spain | Automotive interior trim and overhead systems |
| 26 | Flex-N-Gate | Urbana, Illinois, USA | Plastic and metal automotive components |
| 27 | Core Molding Technologies | Columbus, Ohio, USA | Reinforced plastic and composite moulded parts |
| 28 | Engineered Plastic Components | West Des Moines, Iowa, USA | Precision injection-moulded automotive parts |
| 29 | Solar Plastics | Delano, Minnesota, USA | Custom rotational moulding for vehicle and industrial parts |
| 30 | Yanfeng | Shanghai, China | Automotive interior systems and trim |
| 31 | Grammer AG | Amberg, Germany | Automotive interior plastic components and seating |
| 32 | Nifco | Yokohama, Japan | Plastic fasteners and precision automotive components |
| 33 | Sanoh Industrial | Koga, Japan | Resin tubing and automotive plastic assemblies |
| 34 | Tokai Rika | Oguchi, Japan | Plastic automotive switches, trim and safety parts |
| 35 | Latham Group | Latham, New York, USA | Moulded composite pool structures and components |
Medical, Healthcare and Life Sciences
This field of business has a high threshold of entry. Things need to be done in cleanroom conditions, including ensuring full traceability of materials, and solid proof of processes and procedures, which would successfully pass inspections by the FDA and other related authorities. The field requires utmost compatibility, and suppliers that do not know how to produce devices and perform their manufacturing and validation are not able to offer their services.
| # | Company | Headquarters | What it makes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | Nypro (Jabil Healthcare) | Clinton, Massachusetts, USA | Precision healthcare moulding and diagnostics components |
| 37 | GW Plastics | Bethel, Vermont, USA | High-tolerance medical and automotive moulding, cleanroom |
| 38 | Mack Molding | Arlington, Vermont, USA | Contract manufacturing, medical and large-part moulding |
| 39 | Tessy Plastics | Elbridge, New York, USA | High-volume precision moulding for medical devices |
| 40 | Plastikon Industries | Hayward, California, USA | Medical, automotive and electronics moulding, vertically integrated |
| 41 | PTI Engineered Plastics | Macomb, Michigan, USA | Engineering and production for medical and automotive |
| 42 | B. Braun Medical | Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA | Medical devices and drug delivery systems, in-house moulding |
| 43 | Nipro Corporation | Osaka, Japan | Medical-grade moulded parts, dialysers, syringe components |
| 44 | Bemis Manufacturing | Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, USA | Medical, seating and consumer plastic products |
| 45 | Rapidwerks | Irvine, California, USA | High-precision, low-volume medical, aerospace and defence parts |
| 46 | C&J Industries | Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA | Precision custom moulding for medical and automotive |
| 47 | Röchling Medical | Mannheim, Germany | Medical and diagnostic plastic components |
| 48 | Terumo Corporation | Tokyo, Japan | Medical plastics and single-use device components |
| 49 | West Pharmaceutical Services | Exton, Pennsylvania, USA | Elastomer and plastic drug delivery components |
| 50 | Nolato | Torekov, Sweden | Polymer components for healthcare and industrial applications |
Electrical, Electronics and Cable Management
It is the section that most users never think about but where a lot of the most valuable precision plastics work is also done. High-end semiconductor sockets, connectors micro-moulded gears, and optical parts are in the forefront, while low-end cable ties, fixings, conduits, ducting, and other components make the bulk of this sector. Together, these components cover an amazing range of part complexity in one submarket.
| # | Company | Headquarters | What it makes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | Entegris | Billerica, Massachusetts, USA | Advanced materials and components for semiconductor and life sciences |
| 52 | Enplas Corporation | Tokyo, Japan | Precision plastic gears, semiconductor burn-in sockets, micro-fluidic chips |
| 53 | Sunningdale Tech | Singapore | Precision moulding and tooling across 27 plants in Asia |
| 54 | Molex | Lisle, Illinois, USA | Connectors and precision plastic components |
| 55 | HellermannTyton | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA / Crawley, UK | Cable ties, fixings and cable management systems |
| 56 | Panduit | Tinley Park, Illinois, USA | Cable ties, wiring duct and electrical infrastructure |
| 57 | ABB Installation Products | Memphis, Tennessee, USA | Cable ties, conduit fittings and electrical components |
| 58 | Gardner Bender | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA | Electrical tools and cable management products |
| 59 | Essentra Components | Kidlington, United Kingdom | Plastic fasteners, cable management, caps and plugs |
| 60 | Advanced Cable Ties | Gardner, Massachusetts, USA | Nylon cable ties and accessories |
| 61 | Nelco Products | Pembroke, Massachusetts, USA | Cable ties and wiring accessories |
| 62 | KSS (Kai Suh Suh Enterprise) | New Taipei, Taiwan, China | Cable ties and wiring accessories |
| 63 | igoto | China | Nylon cable ties, UV-resistant and heat-stabilised ties, OEM/ODM programmes |
| 64 | Legrand | Limoges, France | Cable management, wiring devices and enclosures |
| 65 | 3M | St. Paul, Minnesota, USA | Electrical tapes and cable accessories |
| 66 | Southwire | Carrollton, Georgia, USA | Wire, cable and cable accessories |
Pay attention to the scope of the table. An Enplas semiconductor socket and an igoto 4-inch nylon tie are about as far apart as any two plastic items can be, but are still classified together under NAICS 326199. This is what the category means. If you are looking specifically for ties, the difference between a general use tie and one designed for a specific application mostly lies in the resin grade, UV stabilisation, and the moulding tolerances, which is the very reason why companies catering to this segment exist in such a competitive market.The scope of what a dedicated nylon cable tie manufacturing operation covers — standard ties, heavy-duty, heat-stabilised, coloured and UV-grade — is a fair illustration of how far a single product family can be differentiated.
Building, Construction and Infrastructure
Metal, clay and concrete may have ruled the world of construction for centuries, but plastic has taken over the lead in this groundbreaking sector in the past 5 decades. The kazillion uses of plastic in making pipes, drains, windows, decks and sanitation systems have made it possible to figure a couple of important properties of the material: it is antirust and much lighter.
| # | Company | Headquarters | What it makes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | Advanced Drainage Systems | Hilliard, Ohio, USA | HDPE pipe and drainage systems |
| 68 | REHAU | Rehau, Germany | Polymer pipe systems, window profiles, industrial products |
| 69 | Armstrong World Industries | Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA | Ceiling and architectural products |
| 70 | Myers Industries | Akron, Ohio, USA | Plastic material handling containers and products |
| 71 | Brentwood Industries | Reading, Pennsylvania, USA | Thermoformed and moulded plastic products, water treatment media |
| 72 | Geberit | Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland | Sanitary plastic piping and concealed cistern systems |
| 73 | Uponor | Vantaa, Finland | Plastic pipe systems for water and heating |
| 74 | Wavin | Zwolle, Netherlands | Plastic pipe and drainage systems |
| 75 | WL Plastics | Fort Worth, Texas, USA | HDPE pipe for water, gas and industrial use |
| 76 | Trex Company | Winchester, Virginia, USA | Composite decking from recycled plastic and reclaimed wood fibre |
| 77 | LMT Mercer Group | Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA | Plastic fencing and decking accessories |
| 78 | CertainTeed (Saint-Gobain) | Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA | Building products including polymer-based systems |
Industrial, Engineering and Advanced Materials
These companies produce components that support, slide, seal, insulate, or bear load. These components are rarely visible in the end product, yet they are nearly always responsible for machines that last longer than five years.
| # | Company | Headquarters | What it makes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 79 | Ensinger | Nufringen, Germany | High-performance engineering plastic stock shapes and machined parts |
| 80 | igus | Cologne, Germany | Motion plastics, cable carriers, polymer bearings |
| 81 | Zeus | Orangeburg, South Carolina, USA | Advanced polymer tubing and components |
| 82 | Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics | Solon, Ohio, USA | Polymer components, seals and films |
| 83 | Teknor Apex | Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA | Custom compounds, thermoplastic elastomers, vinyl |
| 84 | Avient | Avon Lake, Ohio, USA | Colourants, additives and engineered polymer formulations |
| 85 | Trinseo | Wayne, Pennsylvania, USA | Engineering plastics, latex binders, synthetic rubber |
| 86 | Ampacet | Tarrytown, New York, USA | Colour and additive masterbatches |
| 87 | Poly-America | Grand Prairie, Texas, USA | Polyethylene films and products |
| 88 | Rosti Group | Malmö, Sweden | Technical plastic components and assembly |
| 89 | Kaysun Corporation | Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA | Technical moulding, multi-material parts, assembly |
| 90 | EVCO Plastics | DeForest, Wisconsin, USA | Custom injection moulding across multiple industries |
| 91 | Venture Plastics | Newton Falls, Ohio, USA | Custom injection moulding |
| 92 | Plastek Group | Erie, Pennsylvania, USA | Consumer and packaging moulding |
| 93 | Custom Engineered Wheels | Baldwyn, Mississippi, USA | Engineered plastic wheels and components |
| 94 | forteq Group | Nidau, Switzerland | Precision plastic components for industry and healthcare |
| 95 | Greiner Group | Kremsmünster, Austria | Plastics, foam and packaging products |
| 96 | Ravago | Arendonk, Belgium | Polymer distribution and compounding |
| 97 | Kingfa Sci. & Tech. | Guangzhou, China | Modified plastics and high-performance polymer materials |
| 98 | SABIC | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Engineering thermoplastics and compounds |
| 99 | Covestro | Leverkusen, Germany | Polycarbonate and polyurethane materials |
| 100 | Toray Industries | Tokyo, Japan | Engineering plastics and carbon fibre composites |
Consumer Goods, Appliances and Housewares
Housewares products are the ones that people truly know as “plastics” – things such as dishes, caddies and outdoor seating. This is also one of the most competitive areas, because these products can be seen and produced easily, and their prices can defy quality.
| Company | Headquarters | What it makes |
|---|---|---|
| Newell Brands | Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Consumer plastic products including Rubbermaid storage |
| Tupperware Brands | Orlando, Florida, USA | Food storage and kitchen plastic products |
| Visual Pak Companies | Waukegan, Illinois, USA | Contract packaging and moulding |
| Coating Excellence International | Wrightstown, Wisconsin, USA | Coated and laminated substrates, bags |
| AEP Industries | Montvale, New Jersey, USA | Polyethylene film products |
| Lewisburg Container | Lewisburg, Ohio, USA | Corrugated and plastic packaging |
| NatureWorks | Plymouth, Minnesota, USA | PLA biopolymer for packaging and consumer parts |
| Haier Smart Home | Qingdao, China | Appliance plastic components and moulded assemblies |
Agriculture, Irrigation and Outdoor
The usage of irrigation represents one of the biggest hidden drivers of demand for plastics. Drip lines, micro-sprinklers, filters and fittings all consist of plastic materials that are changed seasonally, assuring a steady demand.
| Company | Headquarters | What it makes |
|---|---|---|
| Jain Irrigation Systems | Jalgaon, India | Plastic pipe and drip irrigation systems |
| Netafim | Tel Aviv, Israel | Drip irrigation plastic systems and components |
| Rivulis | Israel | Irrigation plastic components and micro-irrigation |
| The Supreme Industries | Mumbai, India | Plastic piping, packaging and industrial products |
Recycling and Sustainable Materials
In many markets, the use of recycled content has moved from being a marketing option to being a specification. A few of the firms listed above operate their own recycling streams, while another set supplies recycled resin at specification.
| Company | Headquarters | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Indorama Ventures | Bangkok, Thailand | PET production and large-scale PET recycling |
| Veolia (Plastics Recycling) | France | Post-consumer plastics recovery and recycled resin |
| MBA Polymers | Austria | Recovery of plastics from end-of-life durable goods |
| KW Plastics | Troy, Alabama, USA | HDPE and PP recycling and reprocessing |
Here we see a real tension in design that buyers consistently faced. Recycled content is often a requirement but recycled resin behaves differently from virgin resin, which leads to variability in melt flow, color, and impact strength between batches. A part designed with virgin resin may no longer be able to pass the same tests with recycled material unless the specs are changed. Additionally, for certains types of products, there may be no overlap between recyclability and biodegradable status; for example, a compostable tie should be sent to an industrial composting, rather than being recycled.If you’re evaluating the alternatives, this comparison of biodegradable and compostable zip ties is a useful reality check on where each one actually belongs.
The Cable Tie Corner: A Small Product in a Big Industry
Cable ties are notable in that they epitomize the functioning of the industry in question.
A cable tie is a single-shot injection molded item consisting of a flexible strap, a ratchet pawl and a head – one piece, no assembly, produced in million of items, with the cost of a unit measured in pennies. This might sound plain until one considers the actual demands of the market; standard cable ties; UV-protected and heat-stabilized ones for outdoor or engine bay conditions where black carbon-filled nylon material exhibits better resistance to sunlight than the natural nylon ones; flame-retardant types for wiring in plenums; detection types with metal content, for food processing; stainless steel types, for high temperature and load conditions; colored ones for coding; and more and more often – biodegradable types for environmentally conscious customers.
The result is that the product looks uniform from the external point of view but is actually very complex. What matters is the type of nylon; the type of stabilizer used; the precision in molding in terms of the pawl and strap teeth; and the tensile strength stability across production batches. A cheap cable tie and a reputable one look identical when taken from a bag, but behave completely differently when exposed to the sun for a number of months.
And this is the reason why despite being in a crowded market space, there is room for specialists. Companies like igoto exist because OEMs, related panel manufacturers and distributors need cable ties that meet declared tensile strength requirements, can resist the sun for a certain period of time and can be supplied with stable material certifications rather than simply cheap cables.
How to Use This List as a Buyer
If you’re using this page to build a supplier shortlist, a few practical filters will save you time.
| Buyer situation | Which segment of the list fits | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| You need commodity parts at volume | Large packaging and consumer converters | Published price breaks, capacity, resin sourcing |
| You need tight tolerances or cleanroom moulding | Medical and precision moulders | Validation records, traceability, cleanroom class, ISO 13485 |
| You need a private-label or branded product | Specialist product manufacturers in your category | Tooling ownership, mould amortisation, packaging support, MOQ |
| You need a small, difficult run | Regional job shops and design-to-production moulders | In-house tooling, prototyping capability, minimum run |
| You need documented sustainability credentials | Recyclers and converters with recycled-content grades | Recycled content percentage, certification, batch consistency data |
Two major alerts. First, don’t presume that a renowned name will accept a small order — a lot of companies impose impossible minimum order quantities creating a structural barrier to middle-market companies. Second, do not conclude that a small company is being risky. In custom molding, a company with forty people engaged in impressive process control will outdo a giant factory treating your order as an option between greater jobs.
And if your company sells your products under a trademark, what matters is no longer “who can manufacture this part”, but rather “who can manufacture this part under the conditions I need, in my box, together with my brand printing, and at a quantity I can afford.” That’s a different brief, and it’s the one that OEM and ODM supply arrangements are designed to answer — covering tooling ownership, private-label packaging, artwork control and the MOQ that the whole arrangement has to work at.
FAQ
What does “miscellaneous plastics products” mean?
If you’re referring to NAICS code 3261, Plastics Product Manufacturing, it encompasses those establishments that change raw material or recycled plastic into the intermediate step leading to finished goods. There exists a term as “miscellaneous” because the largest subgroup, known as 326199 (known as all other plastics product manufacturing), has about 10,800 out of an approximate total of 15,000 establishments in the entire industry.
How many companies are in the plastics products industry?
There are nearly 14,978 businesses in the U.S. that are categorized under NAICS 3261, which is further divided into eleven sub-categories. The total number of firms worldwide is in the several hundreds of thousands if one takes into account all the small injection molding setups that exist in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. A majority of these firms are small and privately-held; therefore, any blog reporting ‘top’ businesses on this subject will only manage to cover a small amount of those enterprises.
Where do cable ties fit in this industry?
Cable ties fall under the category of manufacturing of plastic products where they come under all other plastics product category as they are made from injection moulding process rather than being produced into other plastic products like plastic pipe, film, bottle or foam. The most prominent manufacturers of cable ties include HellermannTyton, Panduit, ABB Installation Products, Gardner Bender, Essentra Components, Advanced Cable Ties, Nelco, KSS, etc.
Why isn’t there one official top 100 plastics companies list?
As a matter of fact, it is impossible to define “the best” as the information is not particular and the data is not clean. Revenue, assets, production volumes and importance yield entirely different lists. Moreover, many big firms in this area are privately owned and have no public information on their finances. Commercial firm sources also differing in classification. Thus, any reliable list needs to indicate which method was used and understand that rather is a sample than a ranking.
Which plastics segment is growing fastest?
Plastics in medicine and the healthcare sector seem to be the fastest growing sector mainly due to the use of single-use instruments, drug delivery systems, and growing population of old people, whereby stringent cleanroom and validation processes create high entry barriers reducing competition. Other sectors that grow include automotive plastics, as the need to reduce weight and pack batteries for electric vehicles generate bigger need for plastics. Packaging remains the sector that uses the biggest volumes of plastics; however, it faces the most regulation, as well as pressure to increase recyclables.
References
- NAICS 3261 — Plastics Product Manufacturing — code description and establishment counts
- PLASTICS (Plastics Industry Association) — US industry data and advocacy
- American Chemistry Council — plastics and chemistry industry statistics
- US EPA — Plastics — materials management, recycling and environmental data
- ASTM International — test standards for plastics materials and products
- NSF — third-party certification for plastics and food-contact products
Conclusion
The terminology used throughout the production of the many different kinds of plastic products, and on the documents that accompany these plastics, can be misleading because they come from the same root. The plastic industry doesn’t exist; instead, there are many end-user markets, including the construction industry, health care, packaging, automotive, electrical engineering, and consumer goods, to name a few, that are characterized as having very similar processes (six manufacturing cycles & one resin supply chain). While the characteristics of the industry generally demonstrate why companies in the industry should be viewed based on their map, not by their rankings, as the most profitable companies are those who manufacture plastic bottles, the most respected companies in the industry are those who manufacture medical devices and semiconductor molds (the majority of the public is not even familiar with these kinds of companies anymore), and a large number of products produced in total come from companies that have less than a 200% manufacturing capacity, who do not appear on any ranking lists.As a result, the classification of a business does not provide the end-user with meaningful information; the primary factor in determining whether a business can meet the order is whether it meets its service level commitments.
