Star Plastics, Inc., Market Development Manager
- Present — 3 years 5 months
Star Plastics, Inc is a dependable compounder of engineering-grade thermoplastics headquartered in Ravenswood, WV. With an accomplished full-service laboratory to develop, test, and process materials, Star Plastics offers high-quality custom compounding (known for lot-to-lot consistency), and sourcing, supplying, and tolling polymers. The team at Star prides itself on being responsive to customer requirements with a high level of technical aptitude and strong of product knowledge.
Global Reach Plastics, President / Owner
- Present — 3 years 9 months
Greater Chicago Area
Plastic Distribution, Marketing, Engineering, and Consulting
TOSAF ISRAEL, Plastic Industry Expert / Business Development Manager - Flame Retardant Masterbatch
- 9 months
HQ @ MOSHAV TNUVOT, ISRAEL
Recruited to evaluate the US market potential for flame retardant masterbatches manufactured in Israel. After years of trying to build sales in North America from Israel, Tosaf decided to bring in an electrical/electronic plastic expert to assess the market. The initial strategy was to consider its European / Asian platform based on products sold in these countries.
Due to product liability concerns and lack of experience blending masterbatches and resins in-house, it was determined that US manufacturers were unwilling to switch from “fully compounded” UL-approved flame retardant products to save cost.
Completed an in-depth analysis of numerous market segments that included building and construction (expanded polystyrene foam & sheet boards, fire sprinklers, in-wall piping, etc.), electrical/electronic (circuit breakers, connectors, & other numerous flame retardant applications), artificial grass, wire and cable, automotive, lighting, plumbing, packaging, and compounders.
Utilized a detailed understanding of the halogen and halogen-free flame-retardant market, FR additives, and local suppliers.
Evaluated UL and ASTM flame testing requirements, test methods, procedures, and approval processes.
Assessed in-house blending of FR MBs with base resins versus using fully compounded grades with FR powders.
Coordinated with Ravago’s manufacturing plants to access where the lowest-cost compounding location for FR MBs and fully compounded grades. (Determined USA production using locally supplied FR additive powders was the most economical).
LATI INDUSTRIA TERMOPLASTICI S.P.A, North American Business Development Manager
- 4 years 4 months
Greater Chicago Area (HQ @ VEDANO OLONA, ITALY)
In charge of the total profit and loss accountability for the North America business
Responsible for managing the toll compounding of LATI materials at Omni Plastics (Celanese – after the buyout).
Handled the procurement of raw materials through Omni / Celanese and the importation from Italy through LATI.
Presided over customer orders, shipments, invoicing, stock levels, quality, customer, and toll compounding price negotiations.
Performed part design reviews, material selection, and prototyping assistance also managed distributors and distribution of LATI materials
Recognized for increasing sales from virtually zero to over $8MM, annually.
ALBIS PLASTICS, Electrical / Electronic Business Development Manager
- 3 years 8 months
Chicago, IL (HQ @ HAMBURG, GERMANY)
Accepted the E/E position to forge a partnership between LATI and Albis, both having their own strengths and weakness, compared to the established resin producers/compounders in NA.
Selected to train the sales team on LATI’s extensive flame retardant and specialty grades
In charge of material selection, engineering support, mold trails, and CAD/CAM assistance through LATI Italy
Increased annual sales by $6MM.
POLYONE CORPORATION, Global Strategic Account Manager
- 3 years 8 months
Chicago (HQ @ AVON LAKE, OH)
Successful moved the company’s largest most important customers under one corporate group responsible for setting the strategic direction and providing a central point of contact.
Managed ITW, Emerson Electric, Kraft Foods, and Motorola with combined annual sales of $25MM.
Developed global strategies as complex as ITW with its 850+ companies in 55 countries to significantly increase the efficiency of the five (5) business organizations competing in these highly competitive markets.
Created $3MM in target opportunities through a comprehensive analysis of existing business, sales translation programs, global team calls concentrating on core competencies, and corporate partnerships at active/new locations.
Led a cross-functional team on a four (4) year / $6MM development food and beverage R&D project that required approval through the Chinese Ministry of Health, FDA as well as the European Union Regulatory & European Food Safety Authority.
Partnered with multi-national customer engineering teams to define material requirements, product testing, and pricing.
TICONA / CELANESE, Market Development Specialist
- 2 years 4 months
(HQ @ FLORENCE KY)
Led and oversaw a team of six (6) application development engineers, market development, and sales account managers working with the major automotive companies, and their tier suppliers.
Increased annual sales by $5MM within a $20MM potential market over two(2) years by leading the North American Automotive Interior Celstran® long fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFRT) business team charged with developing door panels and dashboard components.
Segmented the Electrical / Electronics industry into target niche markets, which offered the highest returns and greatest growth potentials for Ticona’s materials.
LATI USA, Electrical / Electronics Market Manager
- 8 years 9 months
Chicago (HQ @ VEDANO OLONA, ITALY)
Newly formed LATI USA venture requiring an industry expert to develop and implement an Electrical / Electronic business plan.
Recognized as highest rank sales contributor responsible for generating 58% of LATI’s sales in the USA.
Negotiated multi-year, $20M global contract with Schneider Electric to supply flame-retardant and glass-filled compounds also negotiated multi-year, $10MM global contract with Emerson Electric to supply glass, lubricated, and alloyed grades.
EASTMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY, Senior Account Development Leader
- 6 years 5 months
Chicago (HQ @ KINGSPORT, TN)
Accepted newly created position responsible for the sale of a new high-temperature Polyester ‘PCT’ polymer. Charged with developing market and product strategies, product literature, and sales presentations, while determining which niche segments offered the highest returns at the lowest barriers of entry. Key customers included Molex, Lake Center Industries, Cinch Connectors, Grayhill, Thomas & Betts, Methode Electronics, 3M, Seagate, Augat, Mallory, Motorola, and Robinson Nugent.
Averaged 125% annual sales growth after the first year.
Managed complex projects that required multi-location sales and service at all customer levels.
Increased annual sales to $8MM after four years in a highly competitive market.
Constructed a satellite office in Lake St Louis, MO, to work directly with Emerson Electric’s design and manufacturing engineers on the development of plastic components used in a wide array of Emerson products.
TEXAS INSTRUMENT, Military R&D Plastics Engineer / Mil-Spec Procurement Leader
- 4 years 6 months
Dallas/Fort Worth Area (HQ @ DALLAS, TX)
Developed various types of compression molded radomes to protect leading-edge radar systems located on jet fighter wings (required a secret clearance). Created and updated military specifications for TI’s military defense division suppliers.
SPE Positions Held
No Positions Held
Education
University of South Florida
B.S.Chemical Engineering
-
Southern Methodist University
M.S.Mechanical Engineering
-
Southern Methodist University
Mechanical Engineering
Professional/Personal Development
Managing Forwarders, Brokers & Carriers, International Supply Chain Training
Six Sigma, Two-week in-depth training class
Business Management, Eastman Chemical, Kingsport, TN, 1997
(Internal Business Management & Global Economics program consisting of thirteen classes (one week @ class))
Tony Robbins Seminar, Unleash the Power Within
Myers-Briggs Seminar, Understanding Personality Traits and People
Summary
Held numerous North America and Global leadership roles both in Sales/Marketing and Technical at various plastics companies around the world.
Provided consulting services for years
Engineering degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, focusing on plastics.
Additional Information
Have been a tutor in both chemistry and math since my first year in college. Working with students to help them understand these subjects better.
My strengths lie in being able to work with all types of personalities and ages. This is shown over the years based on my individual and leadership roles in technical, sales and marketing.
Hobbies and Activities — Scuba Diving, Water Skiing, Motorcycle Riding, Gym, Tutoring/Volunteering.
Tim Osswald is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Polymer Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Cúcuta, Colombia, he received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the field of Polymer Processing. He spent two and one half years at the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Aachen, Germany, as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow. He received the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award, as well as the 2001 VDI-K Dr--Richard-Escales-Preis. In 2006 he was named an Honorary Professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany and in 2011 he was named Honorary Professor at the National University of Colombia. Professor Osswald teaches polymer and polymer composites processing and designing with polymers and polymer composites and researches in the same areas, in particular in the area of fiber orientation, fiber density and fiber length distributions. Professor Osswald has published over 300 papers, the books Materials Science of Polymers for Engineers (Hanser, 1996, 2003, 2012), Polymer Processing Fundamentals (Hanser 1998), Injection Molding Handbook (Hanser, 2001, 2007) Compression Molding (Hanser, 2003), Polymer Processing Modeling and Simulation (Hanser 2006), International Plastics Handbook (Hanser 2006), Plastics Testing and Characterization (Hanser, 2008), Understanding Polymer Processing (2010, 2017), Polymer Rheology (Hanser 2015) and Discontinuous Fiber Reinforced Composites (2020). His books have been translated into Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Russian. Professor Osswald is also the series editor of Plastics Pocket Power (Hanser, 2001), which currently includes 6 books, is the Editor of Polymer Composites, Editor for the Americas of the Journal of Polymer Engineering and the English language Editor for the Journal of Plastics Technology. Professor Osswald serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of several industries, is one of the co-founders of The Madison Group, and is part of a Commission to create a Science Ministry in Colombia.
Lynzie Nebel is an Upstream Quote Engineer for Cytiva, managing the product costing for custom upstream hardware equipment for bio processing. Throughout her career, Lynzie has gained experience in the automotive, appliance, medical, pet, and micro injection molding industries.
Lynzie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Behrend in 2008. She has been a member of SPE since 2004 and has been involved in her local section, holding many positions including past President. Lynzie also sits on the Injection Molding Division and is the former secretary for the SPE Foundation board. She is currently the Vice President of Member Engagement on the Executive Board for SPE. In 2015, Lynzie was part of Plastics News' inaugural class of "Women Breaking the Mold," and was named one of the group's "Rising Stars" in 2018. She is also on the Industrial Advisory Board for Penn State's Plastics Department.
Lynzie Nebel is an Upstream Quote Engineer for Cytiva, managing the product costing for custom upstream hardware equipment for bio processing. Throughout her career, Lynzie has gained experience in the automotive, appliance, medical, pet, and micro injection molding industries.
Lynzie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Behrend in 2008. She has been a member of SPE since 2004 and has been involved in her local section, holding many positions including past President. Lynzie also sits on the Injection Molding Division and is the former secretary for the SPE Foundation board. She is currently the Vice President of Member Engagement on the Executive Board for SPE. In 2015, Lynzie was part of Plastics News' inaugural class of "Women Breaking the Mold," and was named one of the group's "Rising Stars" in 2018. She is also on the Industrial Advisory Board for Penn State's Plastics Department.
Lynzie Nebel is an Upstream Quote Engineer for Cytiva, managing the product costing for custom upstream hardware equipment for bio processing. Throughout her career, Lynzie has gained experience in the automotive, appliance, medical, pet, and micro injection molding industries.
Lynzie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Behrend in 2008. She has been a member of SPE since 2004 and has been involved in her local section, holding many positions including past President. Lynzie also sits on the Injection Molding Division and is the former secretary for the SPE Foundation board. She is currently the Vice President of Member Engagement on the Executive Board for SPE. In 2015, Lynzie was part of Plastics News' inaugural class of "Women Breaking the Mold," and was named one of the group's "Rising Stars" in 2018. She is also on the Industrial Advisory Board for Penn State's Plastics Department.
Lynzie Nebel is an Upstream Quote Engineer for Cytiva, managing the product costing for custom upstream hardware equipment for bio processing. Throughout her career, Lynzie has gained experience in the automotive, appliance, medical, pet, and micro injection molding industries.
Lynzie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Behrend in 2008. She has been a member of SPE since 2004 and has been involved in her local section, holding many positions including past President. Lynzie also sits on the Injection Molding Division and is the former secretary for the SPE Foundation board. She is currently the Vice President of Member Engagement on the Executive Board for SPE. In 2015, Lynzie was part of Plastics News' inaugural class of "Women Breaking the Mold," and was named one of the group's "Rising Stars" in 2018. She is also on the Industrial Advisory Board for Penn State's Plastics Department.
Lynzie Nebel is an Upstream Quote Engineer for Cytiva, managing the product costing for custom upstream hardware equipment for bio processing. Throughout her career, Lynzie has gained experience in the automotive, appliance, medical, pet, and micro injection molding industries.
Lynzie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Behrend in 2008. She has been a member of SPE since 2004 and has been involved in her local section, holding many positions including past President. Lynzie also sits on the Injection Molding Division and is the former secretary for the SPE Foundation board. She is currently the Vice President of Member Engagement on the Executive Board for SPE. In 2015, Lynzie was part of Plastics News' inaugural class of "Women Breaking the Mold," and was named one of the group's "Rising Stars" in 2018. She is also on the Industrial Advisory Board for Penn State's Plastics Department.
Lynzie Nebel is an Upstream Quote Engineer for Cytiva, managing the product costing for custom upstream hardware equipment for bio processing. Throughout her career, Lynzie has gained experience in the automotive, appliance, medical, pet, and micro injection molding industries.
Lynzie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Behrend in 2008. She has been a member of SPE since 2004 and has been involved in her local section, holding many positions including past President. Lynzie also sits on the Injection Molding Division and is the former secretary for the SPE Foundation board. She is currently the Vice President of Member Engagement on the Executive Board for SPE. In 2015, Lynzie was part of Plastics News' inaugural class of "Women Breaking the Mold," and was named one of the group's "Rising Stars" in 2018. She is also on the Industrial Advisory Board for Penn State's Plastics Department.
Amanda Nicholson Senior Project Engineer, CAE/Simulation The Madison Group
Effect of Overflow Tab on Modulus of Weld Line in Glass Fiber Filled Parts
Amanda Nicholson received her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron. She is experienced in educating both industry professionals as well as students on injection molding processing thanks to her work at the Polymers Center of Excellence in Charlotte, NC. It was there that she was able to apply her training from the AIM Institute, Paulson and RJG in the processing of a wide variety of experimental thermoplastic resins. In addition to hands-on injection molding experience, Amanda has the expertise needed to perform accurate molding simulations to support customers in the development of a tool or optimizing processing conditions. These types of simulations are critical to a cost and time effective product launch. Amanda is currently a Senior Project Engineer, CAE/Simulation with The Madison Group where she uses MoldFlow to help customers turn their design vision into a manufacturable product.
Brad Johnson has been teaching at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College's plastics engineering technology program since 1994. Prior to joining Penn State, he accumulated over ten years of industrial experience and served in various roles in the plastics industry: manufacturing engineer, manufacturing supervisor, design engineer, and program manager. His primary expertise is in injection molding and process optimization. Along with developing some of the processing classes, he has also taught plastic materials, mold design, rheology, and quality control classes. Brad also directs the Plastics Training Academy (PTA) at Penn State, which offers short non-credit classes on plastics-related topics. He has taught many short classes on injection molding for the PTA, both at Penn State and on-site. He also organizes and chairs the Innovation and Emerging Plastic Technologies conferences that are held in Erie. Brad holds bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering from Virginia Tech. He is also an active member and a past chair of SPE’s Injection Molding Division.
Jennifer Schmidt is the Senior Moldflow Instructor at the American Injection Molding (AIM) Institute, with over twenty years of plastics industry experience: more than ten years of hot runner experience and fifteen plus years of Moldflow® experience. She is a Moldflow® Certified Expert and GM Approved Moldflow® Analyst.
She has spent more than two thirds of her career as a Moldflow consultant, helping companies solve complex problems and improve their parts and processes. She previously worked as a Design Engineer for Beaumont Technologies performing simulation projects. Prior to Beaumont, Jennifer worked in the Hot Runner industry as an Application Engineer, and later a Flow Simulation Specialist using both Moldflow® and SigmaSoft® software.
Jennifer earned a Bachelor's degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Erie. She also holds a position on the Board of Directors for the NWPA chapter of Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), acting as their Treasurer.
Companies are facing ever mounting pressures from customers, employees, investors and legislation to become more sustainable. However, the path to adopting sustainable practices can be costly and difficult for organizations, but it does not have to be this way. In this presentation, we will review how companies today are using simulation workflows to not only meet sustainability goals, such as carbon footprint reduction, energy and waste minimization, but are also saving money and time by incorporating sustainable decisions throughout their product development and manufacturing processes.
About the Speaker
Matt Jaworski is a Senior Subject Matter Expert for Autodesk’s Moldflow Simulation Team. He has over 25 years’ experience in the injection molding CAE simulation field working for such companies as Hewlett Packard, Rubbermaid and Moldflow/Autodesk. He has dual BS degrees in Mechanical and Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State, and MS, PhD degrees in Plastics Engineering from UMass Lowell. He is a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education. Matt is also active in education and has taught at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Penn State Erie as an adjunct professor.
Davide Masato, Ph.D. Assistant Professor UMass Lowell
Introduction to Injection Molding Simulation and Its Applications
Davide Masato received BS Mechanical Engineering (2011), MS Mechanical Engineering (2014), and Ph.D. (2018) from the University of Padova in Italy. In 2016 he was a visiting researcher at the University of Bradford (UK), where he worked at the Centre for Polymer Micro and Nano Technology (Polymer MNT). Before joining the faculty at UMass Lowell, he was a post-doc researcher at the University of Padova, where he worked at the Te.Si. Laboratory for Precision Engineering and Manufacturing. Since 2018, Dr. Masato has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plastics Engineering at UMass Lowell. His research focuses on plastic product design, polymer processing technologies, sustainable manufacturing, and computer-aided engineering. His research is funded by NASA, US ARMY, REMADE (Department of Energy), and private companies. Dr. Masato teaches undergraduate and graduate engineering design, injection mold design, and computer-aided engineering classes. Dr. Masato's research work resulted in 30+ journal publications, 40+ conference presentations, 1 book chapter, and 3 patents.
Vikram Bhargava Director of Mechanical Engineering Services Motorola Solutions (Retired)
How Poor Design Can Severely Limit Materials, Tooling and Processing Capabilities
The designer is like the quarterback in American Football.
The quarterback is…
Responsible for the outcome of each individual play
Ultimate outcome of the game
Even the strongest offence and defense team members cannot make up for the deficiency in the initial play such as throwing an interception.
Similarly, the designer…
Controls the ultimate performance of her/his product
The rest of the members of her/his team - resin supplier, tool maker and molder cannot make up for the deficiencies in the design that severely impact the physical properties of the material, tooling choices, and processing capabilities.
Basic design related failures are often misclassified as material, tooling, processing or even customer abuse issues.
Several real examples will be shown to demonstrate the above.
About the Speaker
Vikram Bhargava is a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers and Past Chairman of its Product Design and Development Division. He retired as the Director of Mechanical Engineering Services at Motorola Solutions in Holtsville, NY heading an international group of professionals. He has over 40 years of experience in product design, development, manufacturing, and management, especially in plastics.
He continues to be an active consultant and trainer in his retirement.
He is a sought-after trainer and has trained thousands of engineers and suppliers in the proper design and manufacturing of plastic parts and assemblies in the US, China, Canada, Taiwan, and India including companies like Google, Nvidia, Motorola and Foxconn.
He is the author of a book on Holistic Product Design published recently by Hanser Publishers, Germany.
He holds 21 US and International patents.
He has successfully led many Six Sigma projects and is a certified Motorola Six Sigma Black Belt and trainer.
Vikram has successfully led various cross functional teams in the US and international supplier selection, continuous improvement, and training.
He has a BSME from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India.
Chris Myers, Applications Engineer with Beaumont, has almost 30 years of experience in the plastics injection molding industry. He graduated from the Plastics Engineering program at Penn State Behrend in 1994 from which he started his career as a Product Engineer with Little Tikes. From there he has held various roles in part design, mold design and processing in not only injection molding but also rotomolding.
Once thought of as a good way to help reduce part cost, plastics are now being utilized in performance-critical applications. Often times in these applications designers and molders will turn to fiber reinforced thermoplastics to help them achieve the desire performance of their end product. However, because of a lack of knowledge of the importance of manufacturing in achieving these properties designers and OEM’s find it difficult to realize the potential of these materials. This uncertainty leads to over designed parts, or the purchase of more expensive resins that allow the manufacturing oversights to be overcome.
About the Speaker
Erik Foltz is a Senior Managing Engineer at The Madison Group, an independent plastics consulting firm located in Madison, WI. At The Madison Group, Erik assists designers, engineers, and molders with optimizing their plastic part design for manufacturability and performance. Taking a holistic approach, Foltz helps his customers understand where the practical limitations of their material, design, or manufacturing method exist. Using both simulation and functional prototypes, he has helped customers during all the phases of product development and performance validation. Foltz, is an active member for both the Product Design and Development Division (PD3) and Injection Molding Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers.
This educational program is provided as a service of SPE. The views and opinions expressed on this or any SPE educational program are those of the Speaker(s) and/or the persons appearing with the Speaker(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc. (SPE) or its officials, employees or designees. To comment or to present an opposing or supporting opinion, please contact us at info@4SPE.org.
Copyright & Permission to Use
SPE may take photographs and audio/video recordings during the conference, pre-conference meetings and receptions that may include attendees within sessions, networking areas, exhibition areas, and other areas associated with the conference both inside and outside of the venue. By registering for this event, all attendees are providing permission for SPE to use this material at its discretion on SPE's websites, marketing materials, and publications. SPE retains ownership of copyright to all photographs and audio/video recording obtained at this event and attendees may request copies of any material in which they are included.
Anti-Trust Statement
No discussion among members, volunteers, or staff, which attempts to arrive at any agreement
regarding prices, terms or conditions of sale, distribution, volume, territories, or
customers;
No activity or communication which might be construed as an attempt to
prevent any person or business entity from gaining access to any market or
customer for goods or services or any business entity from obtaining services
or a supply of goods;
No activity or communication which might be construed as an agreement to refrain from purchasing
or using any materials, equipment, services or
supplies of or from any supplier; or
No other activity which violates anti-trust or applicable laws aimed at
preventing unfair competition.