Welcome to the world of plastics, an industry that makes us who we are today.

This is something you might not notice without experience in the industry, but after a little bit of time it is something that you simply cannot ignore. Upon starting my internship here at API plastics, I had little to no knowledge about the plastic industry, let alone the manufacturing sector. My first day walking around in the office and taking a tour of the plant side, I was feeling a sense of being overwhelmed. The terminology and basic understanding of how these machines operate, was a foreign language to me. There was an abundance of activity going on in both sides of the business. I questioned how I can fit into this environment and be a productive member to the API team. First thing first, I knew I had to ask the right questions to the right personnel. I was tasked with trying to bring in new business to the injection molding side of the plant. So, for that first week, I bombarded the two head injection molders at API. Questions that I asked were, “What does this machine do?” “What resin is this?” “Why does this have to be shot in this machine?” You can imagine how many questions I came up with, being a completely uneducated intern. As this continued for the next few weeks, I tried to soak up as much knowledge as I possibly could before I started trying to bring in business. Then, the week of the Design-2-Part trade show came. Two colleagues and I set our booth up, and the show was on. Having this experience at this tradeshow really broadened my perspective and helped me understand the process of what customers are looking for when it comes to designing, engineering, and producing their product.

Over time, with the help of the members of the office and plant side and going through the trials of talking to potential clients, I have become well versed in the world of plastics manufacturing. Over the past six weeks, I went from an ignorant college intern to a well-versed salesman working on bringing in multiple projects. This would not have been possible without the outstanding team API has.