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SKP: The Plastic Every Designer Should Know

Better than ABS, PET, polypropylene, etc.

By Rain Noe - January 13

I just read this hilarious anecdote from Rhoda Miel, veteran reporter and editor over at Plastics News. Miel has been covering the plastics sector for two decades, and shared her "favorite story from the Detroit Auto Show" (which has sadly been canceled this year), where she encountered some car designers.

"It was 2001 and Honda had just introduced a concept car that would become its Element small SUV.

"The designers who worked on the project bragged that it was designed for harsh treatment, saying that a wet dog could shake itself dry inside and not damage anything.

"Since the show is one of the few times I get a chance to talk to designers, I asked them for details.

"'The wet dog test makes it sound like you're planning on a lot of plastic for the interior,' I said. 'What kind of material are you planning on?'

"'SKP,' one of them answered.

"SKP? I puzzled. I know PVC and ABS and even PET. Finally I asked.

"'What's SKP?'

"'Some kind of plastic,' the designer replied. 'We'll give it to the engineers and let them decide.'

Miel reports that the engineers went with thermoplastic polyolefin.

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SKP: The Plastic Every Designer Should Know

Wal Grop

7 hours ago

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Am I the only one that doesn't get the point of this article? If there's "A PLASTIC EVERY DESIGNER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT" called SKP, I'd be interested in reading what it is, but for the life of me I couldn't find any meaningful discussion about it in the writing above or the linked article...

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Anthony Towers

2 days ago

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As an engineer who needs to decide what material to use, this kind of comment really pisses me off.
yeah, just throw it over the fence and let the dirty engineers sort it out.
As a design engineer I need to not only satisfy the whims of the design studio, but also manufacturing, purchasing, quality, occupant safety, HMI, (the list is endless) I get the concept from design and try my absolute hardest to meet the aesthetic of the design, but there are always compromises to be made. How about we lose the attitude and work together.

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Rain Noe

I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.