One Of The Best Career Jobs Is In Plastics

  One of the best career jobs in plastics. That might come as a surprise to some people because the plastics industry in the North America and Europe have been dramatically affected byAsian competition.

True enough, many plastic injection mold making and custom injection molding shops have gone out of business in the last ten or so years. Many very large shops just sold their equipment and closed for good. There are certainly many reasons for this, but one thing is certain: the available work is now shared among fewer domestic companies.

This means that the companies who have survived are now very often in the peculiar position of actually having too much work! They did things the right way to survive and now they are more efficient and more profitable as well.

Many companies are begging for skilled help

As older workers retire there is a tremendous lack of skilled youth to take their place. The old-school skills involved in plastic injection mold making are slowly vanishing with the retirees. At least a few forward thinking companies are training apprentices, but not nearly at a fast enough rate to meet the anticipated need.

Why plastic injection mold making and molding two of the best career jobs

This is because there are so many aspects to both mold making and molding. You can branch of into CAD/CAM, injection mold design, CNC programming, EDMmachining, CNC machining, highly skilled toolmaking, mold polishing, just to name a few jobs in mold making.

Or in molding you can become a molding tech, part designer, process engineer, quality engineer, plastics engineer, polymer chemist and more.

Another area you can move into is consulting. There are many opportunities for people with technical experience in areas such as lean manufacturing, shop management, offshore outsourcing, etc.

Once you have a solid foundation in your skill, it is relatively easy to cross train and branch out into other areas. This gives you a broad based career to help with your job security and interest level.

A good background in mold making and molding also give you a great foundation for sales and management. From my own personal experience, it is much better to work for a boss who has had a lot of hands on experience. They are much more understanding and compassionate when it comes to the difficulties faced in the plastics industry.

Most companies will also pay for university and college tuition for employees who want to further their education. This is a great way to move into engineering; you have a solid, practical foundation and your tuition is paid for.

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