European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 stars and stripes sunday March 30, 1986 Selling plastic for its Quality Price fades As main pitch by Daniel f. Cuff new York times p Lastic once equated with Flimsy throwaway products is winning a reputation for durability Quality and versatility appearing in everything from hip implants to bodies of Jet fighters. Forty years after its mass introduction As a Stopgap during world War ii plastic is increasingly being touted As a replacement for steel Glass and aluminium in a Broad array of products. The change is keyed to technological advances that have made some plastics stronger and More heat resistant than the materials they Are replacing. Moreover the latest generation of plastics is available in countless chemical combinations that can be specially designed for new or expanded applications. Such major suppliers of plastics As the general electric company and e. I. Dupont de Nemours & company Are leading a charge on Detroit for example where general motors and other Auto makers Are seeking to adapt plastics to High volume production. The material is continuing a decade Long surge in building and construction markets replacing plumbing fixtures windows and insulation. And dramatic growth is expected in the packaging Field As plastic containers try to supplant Glass bottles and aluminium cans. Significant gains will also be made Industry analysts predict in electronics aerospace sporting goods consumer appliances and even medical technology where plastic hip implants Are already being used and biodegradable plastic sutures Are being developed. This is an enormously exciting period for plastics said Nicholas Pappas a Dupont group vice president. The time is Ripe for a changeover and new materials Are coming into being to accelerate the Market  just How widespread the changeover will be is unclear however. Analysts note that suppliers of other materials Are already seeking to outdo advances in plastic products. The steel Industry for example is trying to improve the Quality of its products and is consulting More closely with Detroit about its needs. In addition some resistance to plastic still lingers from its Early Days when it was perceived As an inferior material. Problems with recycling pose other obstacles. Moreover rising imports of finished plastic products and Competition among various plastics for the same new uses for plastics include do font s Pyra Lux flexible circuitry for space shuttle compute system markets have Hurt Domestic suppliers. According to the society of the plastics Industry a Washington based Trade group plastic production will grow just 2 percent this year up from 47.7 billion pounds in 1985, because imports As Well As expected decline in Auto sales and housing starts. Nevertheless suppliers remain optimistic. Along with Dupont and g.e., the Industry includes most of the big Oil and chemical companies As Well As foreign based companies operating in the United states such As the Moray chemical corporation and the american Hoechst corporation. Most of these big companies Are resin producers and makers of sem finished products. In addition there Are hundreds of companies that turn out fabricated plastic products. The Industry s Trade group lists a total membership of 1,800 the air by vork5 Fine. It s All the ugh Totoff Piastuk that varies me companies. The plastics Industry will Cut deeply into traditional Metal markets by the year 2000. According to Dupont. The Industry has already captured $6.3 billion in sales from Metal mostly in autos electronics and packaging the company said. That will grow to $27.5 billion by the end of the Century Dupont predicted when the newest and toughest plastics known As engineering plastics will account for 40 percent of the Metal markets up from 12.5 percent now. Analysts Are also optimistic about the electronics Field despite slowed growth in plastic sales in that sector last year because of a slump in High tech industries. The recent Sharp drop in the Price of crude Oil should make plastics a Petroleum based product less expensive adding to its attractiveness As a substitute material. The main Selling Point of plastics suppliers of late however is not the lower Cost of the material which is formed from intricate molecular arrangements of Carbon and Hydrogen compounds called polymers but rather that plastics can help turn out a better product. As a recent and for general electric put it plastics can help you make your product tougher or lighter or stronger. Price alone in t the Point. There s Quality the idea that plastic represents Quality is at Odds with a generally held impression of cheapness and inferiority that the material has never quite been Able to slip. Polyester for example referring to a fabric made of plastic fibres is still equated with inexpensive clothing even though polyester can be found in the most expensive of garments. Yet Over the years plastic has also been associated with better things to come. In the 1930s, when major plastics were first commercially developed it was said that the future would bring a better life with plastic cars houses and planes. By 1941, Ford had even demonstrated a plastic car but it could not be mass produced economically. Then the heavy use of plastics during world War ii produced a yearning after the War for the real things Glass Wood steel. Lately Radical improvements made in plastics Are forcing Detroit among others to take a second look. The aim of the Auto makers analysts say is to try to leapfrog the Cost advantage of the japanese while increasing Quality and productivity. Plastic offers fuel savings through weight reduction and makes styling