Book excerpt: This book provides a simplified, practical, and innovative approach to understanding the design and manufacture of plastic products in the World of Plastics. The concise and comprehensive information defines and focuses on past, current, and future technical trends. The handbook reviews over 20,000 different subjects; and contains over 1,000 figures and more than 400 tables. Various plastic materials and their behavior patterns are reviewed. Examples are provided of different plastic products and relating to them critical factors that range from meeting performance requirements in different environments to reducing costs and targeting for zero defects. This book provides the reader with useful pertinent information readily available as summarized in the Table of Contents, List of References and the Index.