plastics Archives - Unitherm Insulation Systems

June 1, 2026 by UniAdmin

The ROI of Removable Insulation: How Plastics Manufacturers Cut Energy Costs

Walk the floor of almost any injection molding or extrusion facility and you’ll find the same scene: bare barrel heater bands radiating heat into the air, cooling systems working overtime to compensate, and utility bills that never seem to come down.

It’s inefficiency hiding in plain sight, and it’s surprisingly simple to fix.

Removable insulation jackets for plastics equipment are not a new idea, but their return on investment is often dramatically underestimated. At UniTherm International, we’ve conducted energy studies across hundreds of facilities. The results are consistent: properly insulated barrel zones and hot runner systems typically reduce energy consumption by 35–50% in those areas, with payback periods measured in months, not years.

Where the Heat (and the Money) Is Going:

An exposed heater band on an injection molding barrel can radiate significant energy losses. Multiply that across a 10-machine shop running two shifts, and you’re looking at a meaningful annual waste. Beyond direct energy cost, there are secondary effects:

Ambient temperature rise forces HVAC systems to work harder, especially in summer.
Uneven thermal conditions stress components and contribute to faster wear.
Workers in close proximity to hot equipment face health and safety concerns.

Why Removable? Why Not Just Permanent Insulation?

This is the key question, and it’s where UniVest® insulation jackets shine. Unlike rigid or permanent insulation, removable jackets come off quickly for maintenance, inspection, or changeover and reattach in minutes. No cutting, no mess, no downtime penalty.

UniVest® jackets, constructed from high-temperature-rated materials, withstand heat, oils, and mechanical abuse typical on plastics shop floors. Custom-fit to your equipment using 3D AutoCAD modeling, they cover barrels, nozzles, hot runners, and other heated zones without interfering with normal operation.

What Does an Energy Study Show?

UniTherm offers complimentary energy studies that calculate the projected savings specific to your equipment, run schedule, and utility rates. Inputs include current surface temperatures, hours of operation, and local kWh cost. The output is a straightforward payback analysis — typically showing full cost recovery within 6 to 18 months.

One Texas-based molder with 22 machines reduced monthly energy spend by over $3,000 after insulating barrel zones on their larger presses. The jackets paid for themselves in under a year. More importantly, their process temperatures stabilized, reducing scrap rates as a secondary benefit.

Getting Started

The fastest way to assess the opportunity at your facility is to request a free sample jacket to test on your highest-heat machine. UniTherm International’s team will work with you to identify which zones offer the greatest return and quote custom-fit jackets from there.

Margins are tight and energy costs are one of the few controllable line items. Removable insulation is one of the highest-ROI investments available that doesn’t require a capital budget approval to get started.

Click Here to order your free UniVest® Sample today, or connect with our Sales Team to discuss a custom sample request.

April 7, 2015 by UniAdmin

Dangers of Heat Illness

HEAT ILLNESS CAN BE DEADLY. When employees are exposed to hot temperatures, maintaining a safe work environment can be more challenging than you think. As summertime temperatures continue to rise, it becomes increasingly important for employers to focus on providing workplace conditions that are safe from the excessive heat.

Heat Fatalities 2008-2014

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA), thousands of workers become sick and even die as a result of exposure to heat each year. In the United States, an average of 400 deaths per year are directly related to heat, and an estimated 1,800 die from illnesses made worse by heat.

Many industries face challenges when it comes to providing a cool working environment, particularly in heat-susceptible areas such as industrial plants, warehouses, and manufacturing facilities. When surface temperatures on pipe and equipment routinely exceed 140° F (60° C), measures should be taken to improve the working environment. Without adequate cooling or precautions, workers are put in danger while equipment and manufactured products are at an increased risk of failure, which can impact worker safety and productivity, and certainly, a company’s bottom-line.

So how can you protect your employees from heat exposure while also ensuring that the work is accomplished on time?

According to OSHA, “The best way to prevent heat-related illness is to make the work environment cooler”. However, the dilemma now becomes how to efficiently and economically cool large, open areas where high ambient outdoor temperatures and heat-generating machinery are factors.

OSHA Touch Safe, Ambient Air temperature

The radiating heat of a running barrel affects the ambient temperature.

Fortunately, the use of industrial insulation on process equipment and piping not only saves money and energy, but also reduces the potential for heat- related illnesses. As insulation is added to systems, the surface temperature of these systems is dramatically reduced. This provides a cooler work environment that yields higher productivity, as workers do not require as many breaks and are less concerned with the potential for burns from hot surfaces. Furthermore, insulation helps reduce the amount of work your machine has to do by decreasing the amount of energy used without sacrificing quality or performance. Learn more about the energy saving benefits of insulation.

The use of UniTherm’s UniVest® and ISOCOVERS Insulation Systems product lines provide easy and efficient ways to save energy and money while creating a cooler and safer work environment. Additionally, these product lines can be purchased online because they now are available in standard “off-the-shelf” sizes, which drastically reduces the time and costs often associated with custom insulation jobs. For all of our heat prevention products, view our online shopping cart here.

For additional tips on how to keep your facility cooler and your workforce happy and motivated, click here for more information about preventing heat-related illness.

Share your stories about dangers of heat illness and let us know how you are preparing for the coming summer months on our social media pages:

Facebook

Twitter

January 21, 2015 by UniAdmin

4 Common Misconceptions About Industrial Insulation

We come across many people who have the wrong idea about industrial insulation and think what we offer is not right for them. We ask them a few questions, and usually they are left wondering why they haven’t insulated their equipment sooner. We throw them a UniVest and they rush out the door to install it (cause it’s really that simple).

So we don’t have to go through the same spiel every time, we’ve compiled the most common misconceptions people have when it comes to industrial insulation.

1. Insulation is for my home, not my machines

This is the most common one we come across and it’s pretty obvious why. The first thing people think about when you say insulation is their home and what’s inside their walls. That’s a perfect analogy because UniVests work the same way. Properly insulating your home saves you hundreds of dollars a year on home heating and cooling costs. It protects outside temperatures from affecting the temperatures you want inside. The easier it is for your home to maintain its temperature, the less you spend at the end of the month. UniVests are no different, except we deal with higher inside temperatures. Take a second and think, if you save hundreds by properly insulating your home, imagine how much could be saved when insulating your machine. We’ll give you a hint…its much greater!

2. No Budget for Insulation

We all have budgets. Yeah, and we know they can be small and hard to deal with. Trust us, Windows 98 is getting really old at the office. Making new purchases on things that you are already operating without can seem like a luxury purchase. Little known fact is that with proper insulation, a company can see ROI (Return on Investment) in under 12 months. In the right conditions, a single set of UniVests or ISOCOVERS can last 5+ years after installed. That’s 5+ years of return. In 12 months or less, most companies make back the purchase price of a UniVest from energy savings alone.

3. My machines are working fine now without insulation

We’re sure they do, but wouldn’t you like for them to work better? Insulation minimizes the downtime of the machines they are on and relieves stresses from a hard working machine. This even increases the lifespan of the equipment. Wouldn’t we all like to work a little easier? Your machines would too.

4. Who Needs Protection Anyway

The biggest thing that people don’t realize is that insulation also improves workplace safety. As seen in a few of our videos on Youtube, a heated barrel with a UniVest on it can be touched and worked around without any special protective gear. More Safety = Less downtime and less liability. Insulation can also decrease surrounding ambient air temperature. Decreasing work fatigue due to high temperature and more comfortable work areas.

Here’s typically the point where some people are kicking themselves for not already having insulation installed. If you didn’t make it this far, we completely understand. Our insulation systems are much more than the sum of their parts and offer a lot more usability than most people realize. If you’ve finally come to the conclusion that insulation could benefit you, take a look around our online shopping cart at www.shop.unitherm.com. For some help finding the product, measuring, or just want some more insulation entertainment like this blog, visit our youtube page: www.Youtube.com/UniThermInsulations

September 24, 2014 by UniAdmin

New Shop Experience

We’ve just released our latest version of our new shop and we are excited for our customers to start using it. Shop.Unitherm.com is a little different and is much easier to use than our old shop. What we wanted most from our new store is ease of use for the customer and usability, and we think we’ve achieved that. On the store front, you can see our running specials and featured products, along with all of our product categories, and helpful links.

Ease of Use

The main goal of our new shop was to make the shopping experience easy and accessible to the customer. On our old shop, we found many customers would get lost or not know how to find what they are looking for. Now we have multiple avenues to search for what you need. Every page can be found with a couple of simple clicks. Whether you have a question or need to check out, you can get there from every page.

New Shop Features

Crucial to our design was adding a few new features to aid the customer. Some are more subtle than others, but here are a few of my favorite.

What we consider to be best new feature of the site is how easily you can find the right product for you. Each product is set into specific categories based on your needs, applications, or industry. Within each category you can set custom search perimeters to find the right size product you need. By selecting:

Diameter or Circumference
Width

You can have the exact fitting UniVest ordered in seconds. This makes our selection process even easier.

You can now also compare multiple products to be certain which is perfect for you. Selecting up to 5 items, and clicking the “compare” button will bring up a screen that will list all of the products benefits and features side-by-side for your viewing. From here you can add to cart or click an individual item for a closer look.

My Account adds the ability to return to your personal preferences and shopping history. From the My Account tab you can track your orders, change your preferences, and manage all of your information. This gives our customer the benefit of a personalized shopping experience.

My personal favorite feature is the new Wish List. The Wish List is your own personal shopping cart that you can come back to at anytime. Unsure about a product, not ready to check out, or are just making a dream Christmas List, the Wish List makes it simple to keep track of your items. Inside the Wish List page you can view products, compare, and add to cart normally. This list is saved to your customer account so it will be there next time you choose to visit.

Checking Out

Lastly (and probably most important), we felt that our check out process was a little overcomplicated and some customers had issues submitting their order. We condensed the order process down to 3 easy steps and can be completed in the matter of seconds. The checkout process becomes even easier and faster when My Account is used with the new checkout process.

Let’s Go Shopping

Enough talking about the new shop, take it for a spin, and see all our new changes for yourself. Let us know what you think and what your favorite new feature is on our Facebook & Twitter pages. Stay tuned for more exciting content soon.

New Shop Page: Shop.Unitherm.com

Facebook: facebook.com/UniTherm

Twitter: twitter.com/UniTherm

March 17, 2014 by UniAdmin

Check Out Our New Website!!!

UniTherm Insulation Systems, manufacturer of insulation blankets for high temperature applications, is excited to announce the launch of its redesigned website this week at: www.unitherm.com.

The design, e-commerce software platform and infrastructure of UniTherm.com have been completely reengineered. The goal is to provide a more personalized and simplified user experience on the website and e-commerce site. The revamped site also boasts ad units and integrations that are larger, more effective, and newly optimized for mobile users. Visitors of the site can now enjoy a seamless experience across all screens — desktop, mobile and tablet.

With the launch of the e-commerce website, the company’s President, Dan Sherrill, explains that, “In today’s market the launch of a new website may not be seen as groundbreaking, but within our niche, we recognized a need for and developed an e-commerce site that provides clear-cut, detailed information (such as delivery, product care, common FAQ’s, technical specifications etc.) on every product or part we sell.”

The new website includes a clean design, with brand new content that enables customers to easily search for new products and services. It is fully integrated with the company’s social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and its blog, and has an integral customer relationship management system to ensure that UniTherm’s sales and after-service professionals are fully informed of its customers’ needs.

Furthermore, the new web site showcases UniTherm’s pioneering efforts in offering a standardized product line –including product specifications for a broad range of available sizes and levels of performance– to make it easy for customers to order our products. This product line, along with the instant quoting, has eliminated the need for each project to receive a custom estimate and allows all orders to be instantly placed and processed.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with our new website. It’s well-designed, streamlined, and easy to use – just like our products,” according to Sherrill. “Our goal was to create a website that meets the needs of both our customers, who need easy access to our information, and the UniTherm staff, who need to be able to update the content easily to keep our customers informed. What we ended up with is a web site that looks great, is loaded with features, and has the ability to grow.”

June 4, 2013 by Kendal White

Plastics & The Human Body (Infographic)

Plastic Cast: heat-moldable plastic is shaped around a patient’s limb using rivets.
Plastic Foam: polyurethane foam could stabilize trauma patients. Foam expands inside the body to prevent blood loss, and conform to the shape of injured tissue.
3-D Body Part Printing: 3-D printed implants are being created from living cells and polyester plastic; example is an ear.
3-D Printed Plastic Splint: a 3-D printed tracheal splint was implanted into a baby made from polycaprolactone, a medical plastic.
Artificial Cornea: these silicone corneas treat eye injuries or chronic inflammations. They can restore vision and are similar to a natural cornea.
Hearing Aids: a new implant directly stimulates the auditory nerve: microphone, microcomputer, stimulator, and an electrode carrier.
Spinal Implants: a cervical interbody fusion system made of machined polyetheretherketone (PEEK) rods has been approved by the U.S. FDA.
Absorbable Heart Stent: blood flow to the heart can be restored with a plastic heart stent, which can later dissolve into the body.
Vaccination patches: a skin patch containing plastic “micro needles” could possibly deliver vaccinations painlessly, replacing injections.
Plastic Heart: plastic tubes mimic heart valves to let blood in and out of plastic ventricles in an artificial heart.
Artificial Blood Vessels: these are made by coating a biodegradable, plastic mesh tube with human or animal muscle cells.
Plastic Knee Replacements: a new ceramic and plastic knee implant is to last 20 to 30 years longer than traditional knee replacements.
Hip Replacements: metal-on-metal hip replacements are declining due to new technologies and materials: ceramic polyethylene (a medial-grade plastic).
Self-healing Prosthetics: this plastic skin recognizes injury and is self healing. It has the sensitivity and flexibility of human skin and can restore its electrical and mechanical properties.
Prosthesis: plastic orthopedic devices align, correct, and support deformities, and can improve the function of movable body parts.
Plastics in Medical Implants: ethylene vinyl acetate, Proniva self-reinforced polyphenylene (SRP), Veriva polyphenylsulfone (PPSU), Zeniva (PEEK)
Bacteria-Resistant Plastics: these nonstick plastics can help ward off disease and contamination.
Polycarbonate Medical Devices: transparent medical tools are being manufactured from polycarbonate.

April 29, 2013 by Kendal White

[Infographic] Reasons To Go Green

Top 10 Cleanest Countries

Iceland
Switzerland
Costa Rica
Sweden
Norway
Mauritius
France
Austria
Cuba
Columbia

Types ofMost Recyclable Plastics

PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate)
HDPE (high-density polyethylene)
PVC (polyvinyl chloride)
LDPE (low-density polyethylene)
PP (polypropylene)
PS (polystyrene)
Others

How to Recycle Plastic

Curbside Collection: some communities offer curbside collection of plastics for recycling
Bottle Banks: you can exchange plastic bottles for money in some states
Recycling Centers: take plastic items to be recycled

Recycling reduces the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills, decreases the amount of natural resources used to make plastic, and saves energy.

4 Reasons to Go Green

Endangered Animals: as many as 247 animals are on the critically endangered list as of 2008.
Deforestation: 8% drop in the amount of earth covered by rain forests. Many experts suggest the rain forest will be entirely eliminated by 2050.
Global Warming: an increase in carbon dioxide that has led to global warming.
Growing Landfills: filled with trash that could take millions of years to decompose

Top 10 Polluting Countries

China
United States
Russia
India
Japan
Germany
Canada
United Kingdom
South Korea
Iran

May 11, 2012 by Kendal White

Manufacturing Matters: 5/11 Weekly Wrap Up

The New York Times reports that manufacturing is “one of the few bright spot of the recovery, restoring 489,000 jobs since the beginning of 2010.” The article also describes geographic distinctions in growth, with half of the most manufacturing-specialized metropolitans now located in the Midwest.

Plastics News reports that in California a controversial pro-plastics lesson has been removed from a new statewide curriculum on the environment. After the EPA looked over the proposed curriculum, the section titled “Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags” was replaced with recycling statistics in an 11^th grade textbook.

image from flickr

ICIS News announces that researchers at technology company Siemens have developed an alternative to ABS plastic. The new material—made with 70% renewable content—is the result of a three-year project funded by the German Research Ministry and was successfully used to make a vacuum cleaner cover.

image from icis.com

GreenBiz examines the Sustainability Leadership List, which recognizes environmentally-conscious companies each year. But because some criticize the results, they also discuss plans for the Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings that would develop a standardized method of measuring and ranking sustainability performance.

Plastics Today recognizes Dignity Health, the founding sponsor of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, as one of the first hospital groups in the country to start using pigment-free patient plastics. This California-based healthcare organization is a leader in sustainability efforts to reduce hospitals’ impact on the environment by adopting innovative alternatives.

May 4, 2012 by Kendal White

Manufacturing Matters: 5/4 Weekly Wrap Up

Another great week ripe with industry news. Here are the highlights:

Plastics News reports that the shortage of nylon 12 has led the auto industry to seek alternatives resins to use in fuel lines, connectors, tubes, and other key components. Molders and resin makers have offered a variety of possible alternatives, and automakers have established a system to begin testing.

The Huffington Post addresses the current the job market as US Congressional Candidate Stacey Lawson proposes a plan for creating jobs and rebuilding our middle class. Lawson stresses that we can by reclaim the American dream by “restoring the high-wage jobs that are the foundation of a sustainable economic recovery,” and she lays out 7 priorities to help us get there.

Clean Technica overviews the Department of Energy’s voluntary energy savings specifications designed to help building owners, operators, and manufacturers develop minimum performance requirements. The DOE recently released new specifications for lighting troffers and parking lot lighting, which could reduce energy use by 40%.

image from cleantechnica.com

Industry Intelligence announces a new compostable bioplastic film that extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by up to five days. The new film, developed by Sira-Flex Resolve, creates an ideal atmosphere to better preserve stored food.

image from flickr, courtesy of I-5 Design & Manufacture

And in a free webinar, Design World discusses how Design for Manufacturability (DDM) eliminates many restraints associated with conventional manufacturing. The webinar examines how DDM can create plastic parts, layer-by-layer without machining, molding, or casting.

If you like the Weekly Wrap Up, follow our blog to receive more updates and industry news every Friday.

April 27, 2012 by Kendal White

Manufacturing Matters: 4/23 Weekly Wrap Up

It seems there is always so much exciting industry news, so we welcome you to our first of many weekly wrap ups.

The Economist says we have entered a third industrial revolution. With the advent of additive manufacturing and the refinement ofrobots, we can glimpse the future of factories. As manufacturing goes digital, we see new processes emerging that are vastly different from the 20^thcentury assembly lines.

image from economist.com

MIT discusses whether increasing complexity in engineered systems warrants a new approach to safety and testing. MIT professor Nancy Leveson claims that our modern, ever-evolving systems are more vulnerable to accidents, and she advocates a holistic, sum-of-its-parts approach over traditional safety engineering practices.

available at amazon.com

The Huffington Post poses the question, is Obama getting serious about manufacturing? Huff Post says that if the government acknowledges manufacturing as a stable and productive industry—a “uniquely important sector”—that support can benefit the broader economy and build a stronger country.

GE discusses the “robust renaissance” of manufacturing “fueled by new technologies, software, innovation, and lower energy costs” and posts a great infographic highlighting industry growth and the power of insourcing.

Envision Plastics announces the partnership between Alpha Packaging and Arla Foods, a partnership aiming to eliminate landfill waste with a zero-carbon facility. To launch the sustainability strategy, Alpha Packaging will produce milk bottles with 50% recycled material. Arla Foods recruited Alpha to mold and handle the bottles on site with two goals in mind: consuming the lowest amount of energy possible and creating the most environmentally advanced dairy in the world.

image from envisionplastics.com

Metal Architecture says that reducing factory footprints is not only environmentally friendly, but economically smart as well. Building owners who focus on decreasing carbon emissions and reaching LEED standards enjoy numerous benefits: improved image and marketability, greater employee engagement, higher renter rates, and more incentives.

We hope you enjoyed our first edition! Keep checking in for more industry updates from the top news sources.