After years of intense price wars, consolidation, and layoffs, the tire and inner tube industry was highly concentrated by the early 2000s. The top three firms controlled roughly two-thirds of the global market; the capital-intensive nature of the industry lends itself to such patterns.
The rubber and plastics footwear industry in the United States was worth slightly less than $1 billion in 2000. The market reeled from a decline in consumer spending on athletic footwear but tried to capitalize on the shift in demand toward outdoor footwear, including rugged shoes for hiking and winter-sports footwear.
More than 200 companies make hoses and belting in the United States. The industry shipped $4.24 billion worth of goods and spent $2.1 billion on materials in 2000.
This category covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing gaskets, gasketing materials, compression packings, mold packings, oil seals, and mechanical seals. It includes gaskets, packing, and sealing devices made of rubber leather, metal, asbestos, and plastics.
Molded, extruded, and lathe-cut goods are used in various types of machinery and equipment. End uses for these products exist in automobiles, oil and gas equipment, appliances, farm equipment, and construction machinery.
This industry includes more than 100 rubber products not classified in other rubber products industries such as toy balloons, rubber brake linings, rubber rafts and pontoons, and many others. The total value of U.S.
The value of shipments in the plastics film and sheet industry in 2000 was $14.1 billion. About 870 establishments operated in the industry, and 62 percent of these establishments had 20 or more employees.
The value of shipments in the plastics profile shapes industry in 2001 was $4.34 billion, down from $4.44 billion in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
This industry confronted the prospect of its own maturation in the late 1990s. Industry shipments fell from $3.19 billion in 1997 to $2.84 billion in 1998 and to $2.77 billion in 1999.
Establishments manufacturing plastics pipe shipped an estimated $5.9 billion worth of product in 2000. Although the industry has grown fairly steadily over the past decade, it has lagged behind the growth of plastics products in general.
Included in this category are establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing plastic bottles.
This industry covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing plastics foam products.
Custom compounding companies purchase plastic resins from plastic manufacturers. They alter and manipulate the resins to form new compounds, which they usually sell to companies making plastic products.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing plastics plumbing fixtures. Establishments primarily engaged in assembling plastics plumbing fixture fittings are classified in SIC 3432: Plumbing Fixture Fittings and Trim.
There are at least 12 major processing techniques used to form plastics goods. A traditional and popular technique is extrusion, which entails melting and compressing plastic granules in a tube.