The Piedmont Triad provides a highly favorable business climate for companies in the Plastics sector, predominately due to the area's ideal mid-Atlantic location, low energy costs, accessibility to five major interstates, an extensive number of air cargo companies, airports, rail service and ports, and collaborative programs with area community colleges that ensure a well-skilled workforce. With no inventory or intangibles taxes in North Carolina and a generous array of state and local credits and incentives, plastics manufacturers find the Piedmont Triad a region in which their businesses can thrive.

North Carolina's Community College System offers a manufacturing certificate program for Level II Plastics, preparing students for the National Certification in Plastics examination. Davidson County Community College offers a Manufacturing Technology – Plastics Associate degree, covering all aspects of the plastics and polymer processing industry. In addition, North Carolina State A&T University's Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology researches such aspects of the field as surface engineered materials, composite processing and modeling, and polymer engineering.

 More than 100 plastics and rubber manufacturing establishments dot the Piedmont Triad landscape, employing more than 7,000 workers. These operations serve markets such as aviation, medical products, food processing and automotive manufacturing.  Most Piedmont Triad plastics operations are involved in urethane and polystyrene foam products, or plastics packaging and film.