National Plastics Conference 2026: Takeaways from Houston

We've compiled a summary of the key takeaways of the National Plastics Conference 2026, capturing the most important themes and what they may mean for industry participants moving forward.

The plastics industry faces a dual challenge: an aging workforce and the rapid arrival of AI-enabled manufacturing. AI will not eliminate the sector’s talent shortage, but it will change the skills manufacturers need and the way experienced employees’ knowledge is captured and applied. The technology is quickly moving beyond pilots into process optimization, visual inspection, simulation, and design validation. Although these tools can improve speed, stability, yield, and uptime, they still require skilled people who can assess outputs, diagnose problems, and decide what good performance looks like.