Within 2018, the first 3D printing bridge in China will appear in Shanghai Taopu Zhichuang City Central Park. Different from traditional bridges, the new bridge is built without any reinforced concrete. The bridge is a footbridge, with 15.25 meters long, 3.8 meters wide and 1.2 meters high. The bridge body is milky white and is made of resin.  This 3D printing landscape bridge, taking 35 days through one-time "printing" . After testing for compression and loading, the public will be able to get close to seeing the 3D printed work. The bridge has an "S-shaped" curve, and the bridge deck is hollowed out. Traditional methods is difficult to this structure, and it only be achieved through 3D technology.  Now 3D printing technology does not have an advantage if building straight, steel bridges or cement bridges. From a cost perspective, as the process matures and the price of raw materials decreases, the 3D printing bridge market will be more competitive.

Japan's large-scale logistics company, Japan Express (hereinafter referred to as "Japan"), launched the first dedicated freight train transportation between China and Europe. As the internationalization of logistics networks across the mainland is accelerating, Ritong will integrate railway and truck channels to achieve one-stop transportation and increase competitiveness in terms of speed and cost. Ritong also hopes to open up customers outside Japanese-funded enterprises and strive to start regular operations in March 2019. The train will arrive in Duisburg for 16 or 7 days. The number of days required is halved compared to the method of using sea and land transport. Ritong stressed: "There is an advantage when transporting from inland cities to inland cities in Europe." Due to the “The Belt, The Road” initiative proposed by the Chinese government, regular cargo trains between China and Europe are constantly improving. Currently, it has connected about 50 cities in China and about 40 cities in more than 10 countries in Europe.

Globally, the blow-molded plastic bottles market is expected to register a CAGR of about 4% during the period 2018-2022. According to the report from Technavio (London) published in September, a key factor driving the growth of the market is the rising adoption of PET as a packaging solution. PET packaging is being used across the globe for the packaging of products such as beverages, food, perfumes and sprays, toiletries, food and pharmaceuticals. In 2017, about 50% of the beer bottles in Romania were made from PET as consumers in this country found these bottles to be convenient. Sponsored Content Brought to you by PLASTEC WEST SEE THE LATEST PLASTICS INNOVATIONS AT PLASTEC WEST PLASTEC West brings you the latest solutions and technology in injection molding, materials & additives, rapid prototyping, coatings, automation, and more. Our exhibitors offer a variety of services that can fulfill your production needs. Another trend Technavio identifies is related and growing demand for Bio-PET worldwide. Technological advances in the manufacturing of polymers are promoting the demand for polythene packaging in various end-user segments. The global demand for biodegradable-polyethylene terephthalate (Bio-PET) materials for several purposes, primarily packaging, is expected to be driven by the emergence of biodegradable plastics such as polyvinyl alcohol, polylactic acid, and polyanhydrides. PLASTEC Minneapolis 2018 held October 31-November 1 is part of the Midwest’s largest advanced design and manufacturing event that also includes MinnPack brings you the latest in materials and additives, injection molding, rapid prototyping, coatings, automation, packaging and more. For details, visit PLASTEC Minneapolis. “Microorganisms can easily decompose Bio-PET packaging solutions,” says a senior analyst at Technavio. “The disposal of this material has a less toxic effect on the environment when compared with conventional plastics. The environmental benefits of Bio-PET material will promote its use in the packaging industry, which is, in turn, anticipated to boost the growth of the blow-molded plastic bottles market.”  (by: PlasticsToday Staff in PackagingSustainability, Blow Molding, Materials on October 02, 2018)

According to the university of Sheffield, every year after Christmas, about 7 million Christmas trees end up in landfill - and that's just in the UK. Normally, evergreen occipital leaves take a long time to decompose and release large amounts of greenhouse gases. Researchers from the university of Sheffield have come up with the idea of using recycled Christmas trees as a raw material for paints or sweeteners. Cynthia Kartey, a PhD student at the university, has been studying ways to break down lignocellulose, a complex polymer that makes up about 85% of pine needles.She found that if pine needles were exposed to a cheap, environmentally friendly solvent, such as glycerin, for pyrolysis -- the decomposition of biomass by heating in the absence of oxygen -- the polymer could be converted into liquid oils and solid biochar.Bio-oils contain glucose, acetic acid and phenol, which can be used in the manufacturing process of food sweeteners, paints/adhesives and disinfectants, respectively. In the future, the trees that decorate your house can be turned into paint for the holidays, and then you can redecorate your house. Biorefineries will use a relatively simple process to do this.

As one of the major labels in the industry 4.0 era, the development of 3D printing undoubtedly provides better assistance for Chinese manufacturing.According to the research report "China's manufacturing industry towards 2025" released by IBM business value research institute, Chinese manufacturing enterprises are facing both internal challenges and external environmental changes.From the perspective of the enterprise, the specific problems that need to be solved at present are the rising production cost, insufficient r&d investment and the relatively traditional production organization mode.From the perspective of external environment, consumers have more dominant power. The development of 3D printing, robotics and other technologies will overturn the old manufacturing mode, and the trend of cross-border integration and service of manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly significant.                              In the past 27 years, the compound growth rate of the global 3D printing industry has exceeded 27%, and the market size reached 5.565 billion us dollars in 2015.The domestic 3D printing market has doubled in the past four years. In 2015, the size of the Chinese market was about 7.8 billion yuan, which is one of the fastest growing markets.

Since 2017, when the downstream manufacturing investment has not improved significantly, the income of leading domestic injection molding machine companies has increased by 20%~40%, which is obviously higher than the performance of single digit growth in previous years. The growth rate of injection molding machine sales lags behind the growth rate of plastic products production for one year. By observing the relationship between the growth rate of injection molding machine sales and the growth rate of plastic products output from 2000 to 2009, the growth rate of injection molding machine sales generally lags behind the growth rate of plastic products production for about 1 year, especially in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Most obviously, it takes more than one year for the sales of downstream plastic products to be transferred to equipment investment, which is also in line with market rules. Since 2012, the growth rate of plastic products production has stabilized at a single-digit growth level. In the first 11 months of 2017, the output of plastic products increased by 3.90%, a slight increase year-on-year. With the continuous breakthrough and innovation of polymer technology, plastic machinery has become an important technology in various fields of national economy such as aerospace, defense, petrochemical, marine, electronics, optoelectronic communication, building materials, packaging, electrical appliances, automobile and transportation, agriculture, light industry. It is equipped with special equipment for high-end manufacturing industries such as new energy, new materials, energy conservation and environmental protection, biomedicine, and information network. Its industrial relevance is high, capital and technology are intensive, the market demand is large, and its driving force is strong. It is an important guarantee for the transformation and upgrading of related industries and scientific and technological progress, and it has increasingly shown its extremely important role as a parent machine. In 2009-2015, the output of China's plastic products showed an overall upward trend. With the continuous growth of demand for downstream plastic products, the plastics machinery market will maintain a relatively stable growth trend in the future.

Since Guangzhou International Mould & Die Exhibition (Asiamold), was first held in 2007, Asiamold has become an important marketing and trading platform for Chinese mould industry, and has attracted wide attention of world professionals. Asiamold focuses on the development of China's mould industry, and provides forward-looking solutions for China's manufacturing market. It is a professional mould exhibition with great influence. The upcoming 2019 Asiamold is bound to be a wonderful one. It will be held from March 10 to 12, 2019. Most of the exhibition audiences are manufacturers, including automobiles, electronic products, household appliances, aircraft and related components, shipbuilding, telecommunications, consumer goods and medical equipment. mouldworldservice will attend the 2019 Asiamold. And we welcome our clients and collaborators to come to visit us and have a great communication and better partnership.

Since January 1, 2019, the import and export tariffs for some commodities have been adjusted. It was reviewed and approved by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council and submitted to the State Council for approval.  In order to adapt to the reform needs of the export management system, promote the structural adjustment, quality improvement and efficiency improvement of the energy resources industry. From January 1, 2019, chemical fertilizers, apatite, iron ore, slag, coal tar, wood pulp, etc. 94 items are no longer subject to export duties. Starting from July 1, 2019, China will also implement the fourth step of tax reduction on the MFN tariff rate of 298 information technology products, and adjust the provisional tax rate of some information technology products accordingly. The above adjustments are conducive to giving full play to the important functions of tariffs to make full use of domestic and international markets and resources. It is conducive to the overall coordination of the balanced development of relevant domestic industries, and is conducive to promoting open cooperation, sharing development results, and promoting the steady growth of China's foreign trade.