Ten years from now, thermoformers won’t bat an eyelash when asked to make a structural part with a seven-layer sheet or reinforced composite material. Nor will they raise an eyebrow at twin-sheet forming of beverage bottles or micro-forming of high-tech medical or electronic components. Forming preprinted sheet or in-mold labeling will also be commonplace. Technologically adventurous processors will be running their plants in a fully automated “lights-out” environment, relying on computer process simulation and CNC-controlled machines to minimize human intervention in the process.

Currently available technology provides only a glimpse of these coming advancements in materials, machinery, and markets. But given the pace at which thermoforming is evolving today, these visions of the future could be concrete reality by 2010, says a group of industry experts consulted by PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY. To find out what further strides the process will make in the coming decade, we sought out the opinions of these acknowledged thermoforming “gurus” and other industry figures with no apparent axe to grind.