Compounders rely heavily on strand pelletizers, yet they often don’t keep the right spare parts on hand — or even know which spare parts are critical to keep machines running.
The shortage of experienced maintenance staff only adds to this challenge. As an industry, we don’t have strong formal training programs for technicians coming out of school. Most knowledge is gained hands-on, either through trial and error, or by learning from someone who has been doing this work for many years.