Mike Knights

New York, NY USA
22 Years Experience

Professional Experience

Technical writer and editor with sixteen years experience in the plastics industry, with a focus on machinery, automation and tooling. Three years experience as a reporter with a daily news paper covering the metals market. I've traveled extensively throughout the U.S, Europe and Asia to attend industry exhibitions and conferences, or to visit individual companies for exclusive stories. Helped select speakers at magazine sponsored events.

Expertise

Reporter 3 YearsTechnical Writer 19 Years

Specialty

Technology 19 YearsOther, Specify 3 Years

Industries

Magazine - Trade magazines/publications (B2B) 19 YearsOther 3 Years

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

  • Plastics Technology magazine (10+)

Technical Skills

Basic knowledge of photo editing (Photoshop, Picassa), video editing (Toshiba)

Foreign Language Skills

Some Spanish, French, Japanese

Unions

AvantGuild member

Computer Skills

Basic knowledge Windows XP, Windows 7. Basic knowledge of Word

Equipment

Desktop, laptop, HD digital video camcorder, Flip digital video recorder, digital audio recorder, Canon G5 digital still photo camera, Photoshop 8 with Premiere Elements

Work Permits & Visas

US citizen

Thermography

Thermography: Taking the Temperature of Mold Productivity
(Plastics Technology magazine 3/1/2011)
Interest in a long-established but under-utilized diagnostic technique for injection molding is being driven by increasing traffic in transfer tooling from molders that have shuttered operations or are unable to successfully produce parts.

Biopolymers

Injection Molding Bioplolymers
(Plastics Technology magazine 4/1/2009)
U.S. injection molders are still pretty green when it comes to processing the new crop of renewably sourced biopolymers. These biologically derived polymers made from PLA, PHA and starch-based resins are attracting growing market interest as materials with no ties to petrochemical-based thermoplastics.

General

Micro-Layers Enter Blow Molding
(Plastics Technology Magazine 12/1/2011)
Taking coextrusion blow molded bottles beyond six layers while maintaining conventional wall thicknesses is at the core of a new micro-layer approach developed by Dow.
Automation & Waste Reduction: Medical Molders Prescription for Efficiency
(Plastics Technology Magazine 8/1/2011)
Vision Technical Molding in Manchester, Conn., doesn't believe in standing still. This custom molder of tight-tolerance diagnostic devices, drug delivery systems, implantables, and other medical devices, achieved double-digit growth in each year from 2006 through 2009, ”never mind the recession," and has generated 25% growth in new sales this year
Processing Biopolymers for Rigid Sheet Thermoforming
(Plastics Technology Magazine 6/1/2011)
News Feature: Newly available cast sheet and thermoforming grades of Mirel biobased polymers open up a new range of applications in containers and other formed parts where renewable content and biodegradability are desired.
Multi-Shot tooling Approaches Eliminate Part Welding
(Plastics Technology Magazine 1/1/2010)
News Feature: tooling Three new multi-shot tooling concepts that involve stationary cavities and indexing cores use injection overmolding to eliminate post-mold welding operations and improve part quality and productivity while reducing scrap.