Archived - A Technology Road Map for the Plastics Industry 
SMART Objectives and Next Steps

The technology road map creates a clear vision of the future, identifies gaps and proposes initiatives to bridge them. Moving forward involves two specific next steps and three SMART objectives.

The first step is industry consultations in all the regions. This document and executive summary can be used in a series of industry consultations that would include media coverage and regional meetings to review the ideas, seek support and refinements.

The second step is market specific road maps. Industry leaders in the four market areas (packaging, construction and building materials, transportation and new products) can be invited to review this TRM document treating it as a framework that can guide more specific work on products and technology platforms that will move each segment into the mainstream of the polymer materials industry.

SMART Objectives

The objectives outlined previously can be consolidated and organized around a recommendation to create a Polymer Materials Industry Centre of Excellence. The new Centre of Excellence would have as its core mandate the promotion of industry change.

New Product and Applications Goals. Ensure that by 2017, new products and applications of plastics represent 30 percent of the plastics product mix. Further, ensure that a 30 percent change in products is achieved every five years thereafter.

Canada's plastics industry is not alone in facing the challenges of change. There are opportunities to benefit from related work.

Joint Ventures. The plastics industry will collaborate with industry groups who have developed technology road maps in related areas. The collaboration will promote the polymer materials industry's vision while avoiding duplication, building synergy and leveraging related initiatives with activities currently underway.

The core recommendation would consolidate work on the road map in one centre of excellence.

The Polymer Materials Industry Centre for Excellence would be established with a mandate to initiate research and experiment with industrial processes at the centre of the transition to the polymer materials industry. Reflecting the ideas in this framework road map the activities might focus on:

• Processing systems:
  • Rapid prototyping systems with polymer composites,
  • Operation of injection, blow moulding and profile or film extrusion machinery with new resins and composites with alternative reinforcing agents,
  • Customer order and systems management with information and communications software for processing customer orders,
  • Research on the potential of adopting structural building materials made from new polymer composite materials to meet specific local, provincial and national building or environmental codes.
• Export Development Activities. Adapt Canadian export development activities for plastics firms to target new products and processes that fit the Technology Road Map. Access to global markets is crucial to give Canadian innovations access to global opportunities for commercialisation.
• Life Cycle Analysis
  • Definition. It is proposed that the industry promote the concept of life cycle analysis (LCA) as a common measure of sustainability. The Centre would create rigorous and objective measures of Life Cycle Costs for polymer materials. Product labelling based on LCA results would be developed to build consumer acceptance of polymer-based materials as the best sustainable product.
  • Consumer Recognition. Once standards based on the LCA measures are defined, an extended promotion campaign would be launched. The standards and the promotion campaigns must be segmented to target markets, suppliers and customers all along the value chain.
• Research on bio resins
  • Innovation with bio-resins. Working with universities the Centre would promote higher education in advanced engineering and chemistry to encourage the development of new resins.
• Human Resources
  • Applications with bio-resins. Working with the Canadian Plastics Sector Council, the Centre would promote existing and develop new human resource management practices including; training, occupational standards and certifications targeting the use of existing and the adaptation of new processing equipment with new resins and new composites.

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association will work with sector/process groups to identify three technologies and research and development processes in each sector that meet the criteria set out in the Technology Road Map.