The Institute for Plastics Innovation advances the state of current plastics manufacturing technology by performing research programs that focus on the key issues facing the plastics industry today. The institute pools the resources of multi-disciplinary U.S. university and industry experts, where necessary collaborative research is utilized to solve current challenges impeding the advancement of plastics manufacturing technology. New manufacturing technologies are developed with many of these new technologies being a direct result of multi-disciplinary interactions between university and industry personnel. The results of the research are used directly by participating companies, thus ensuring that laboratory research is adaptable to the true manufacturing setting.