If your team works with plastic components - material and design decisions directly influence product performance, reliability and cost. Our plastics training programmes are designed to strengthen technical understanding across teams - helping you make better decisions earlier, reduce risk, and avoid costly rework or failure.
Delivered by industry experts with decades of hands-on experience, our courses combine practical theory with real-world examples to support confident application in design, manufacturing and quality environments.
Explore upcoming plastics courses below, or contact us to discuss the most appropriate training approach for your role, team or organisation.
Delivered by industry experts with decades of hands-on experience, our courses combine practical theory with real-world examples to support confident application in design, manufacturing and quality environments.
How our Plastics Training adds value
Our training helps organisations to:- Improve confidence in plastics material selection and specification
- Understand how processing and design choices affect short- and long-term performance
- Reduce the risk of product failure, non-conformance and rework
- Build shared technical understanding across design, quality, procurement and manufacturing teams
- Support faster, more robust decision-making throughout the product lifecycle
Explore upcoming plastics courses below, or contact us to discuss the most appropriate training approach for your role, team or organisation.
Explore our Plastics Training Pathways
| Build a Strong Foundation | ||
| For those new to plastics or needing a broad technical reset | ||
| Introduction to Plastics Technology | A practical overview of plastic materials, properties, processing methods and performance considerations. | Online In-person |
| Processing and Manufacturing Confidence | ||
| For teams responsible for making plastics work on the factory floor | ||
| Plastics Injection Moulding Technology | Understand injection moulding processes, key parameters and common causes of defects. | In-person |
| Exploring Extrusion | Learn the fundamentals of polymer extrusion, process control and troubleshooting techniques. | In-person |
| Materials Performance, Durability and Risk Reduction | ||
| For applications where long-term performance matters | ||
| Understanding Polymer Durability in Critical Applications | Explore how plastics behave under long-term stress, environmental exposure and ageing conditions. | Online In-person |
| Investigating and Prevention of Failure in Plastic Components | Identify root causes of plastics failures and apply strategies to prevent recurrence. | Online In-person |
| Specialist Materials: Polyurethanes | ||
| For deeper expertise in PU systems and applications | ||
| Introduction to Polyurethanes | An accessible introduction to polyurethane materials, chemistries, processing routes and applications. | Online In-person |
| A Practitioner’s Approach to Polyurethanes | Build applied understanding of polyurethane systems, formulation choices and performance trade-offs. | In-person |
| Sustainability and Recycling | ||
| For teams responding to regulatory, customer and environmental pressures | ||
| Recycling Plastics and Managing their Environmental Impact | Develop understanding of recycling technologies, material limitations and sustainable plastics strategies. | Online In-person |
| Waste to Resource: Circular Strategies for Plastics and Rubbers | Practical strategies to support circularity, recycling and more sustainable material choices across plastics and rubbers. | In-person |
Who should attend
Our plastics training is suitable for professionals across the plastics supply chain, including:
- Product designers and development engineers
- Technical, quality and compliance teams
- Manufacturing and process engineers
- Procurement and supply chain professionals
- Anyone involved in specifying, developing or troubleshooting plastic components
No prior plastics knowledge is required for our foundation-level courses.
Prefer training tailored to your business?
Smithers also delivers custom and in-company training designed around your products, materials and processes. Get practical, targeted content delivered online or on-site by the same experts who run our public courses.