Blow molding. You hear us say it over-and-over again when we talk about our products. But, what does that really mean? In case you don't know, today I'll give you a quick explanation and show you a few photos to, hopefully, help you understand the process of blow molding a little better.
Every plastic product that Lifetime makes starts as white plastic pellets, like in this picture. These pellets are hauled in on train cars to our factory. We use nearly 400 train cars of pellets per year! The plastic pellets are then pumped to our outdoor silos and then to the building silos. (If you live near our factory in Utah, you may have noticed a new Lifetime logo towering in the skies. The logo is on our newest silo that stores these plastic pellets.)
The plastic pellets are then heated by pressure and colored pellets are added at this stage to speckle or completely color the plastic. Next, the melted plastic pours down the distributor head to the mold. The mold then closes and clamps the plastic, and a puff of air is blown down the middle (hence the name "blow molding") to push the plastic into the sides of the mold. This blow-molding process creates a single piece of product with a sturdy, one-piece, double-wall design. 
The excess plastic is then cut-away after the product comes out of the mold. (Similar to how you trim excess dough away from a cookie cutter.) The excess plastic scraps are then recycled and ground back down to pellets to be reused in another product.
So, now you know what blow molding is… at least the quick-and-simple explanation. Want to know one more fun fact about blow molding? Lifetime has one of the largest blow-molding facilities in North America! Cool, huh?
