A review in 4 sections comprising synthetic methods and prodn. processes of plastics (section I), apparatuses for prodn., processing, and making of plastics (section II), manufg. processes for the most important plastics (section III), and processing of thermoplastic masses and polyurethane raw materials (section IV). In section I, the following methods and processes are considered: polymn., polycondensation, polyaddn., modification of macromols., chem. reactions on macromols., and blending as well as polyreactions in bulk, soln., dispersion, suspension, or emulsion. In section II, the machinery of plastics manuf. (e.g., reactors, mixers, compounders, heat exchangers, conveyors, pumps, degassing extruders, centrifuges, filtration units, and dryers) is described. In section III, the following plastics are discussed: polyolefins (polyethylene, polypropylene, polybutylene), styrene polymers (polystyrene, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, and styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer), poly(vinyl chloride), polyoxymethylene, fluoro- and perfluoropolymers, poly(Me methacrylate), polycarbonates, polyamides, polyester, poly(phenylene oxide)s, poly(phenylene sulfide), polysulfones, cellulosic materials, polyurethanes, phenol-HCHO-melamine resins, cycloolefin copolymers, and liq. cryst. polymers. In section IV, the following techniques are discussed: material pretreatment, mixing, granulizing, cutting, drying, conveying, molding and re-molding, and joining.