Plastic IndustryPlastics engineering encompasses the processing, design, development, and manufacture of plastics products. A plastic is a polymeric material that is in a semi-liquid state, having the property of plasticity and exhibiting flow.In plastics engineering, as in most engineering disciplines, the economics of a product plays an important role. The cost of plastic materials ranges from the cheapest commodity plastics used in mass produced consumer products to the very expensive, so called engineering resins. The cost of a plastic product is measured in different ways, and the absolute cost of a plastic material is difficult to ascertain. Cost is often measured in price per pound of material, or price per unit volume of material. In many cases however, it is important for a product to meet certain specifications, and cost could then be measured in price per unit of a property. Price with respect to processability is often important, as some materials need to be processed at very high temperatures, increasing the amount of cooling time a part needs.