AVON LAKE, OHIO (Feb. 16, 2 p.m. ET) — Michael Rademacher, who has headed PolyOne Distribution the past 12 years and helped the firm become one of the leading resin distributors in North America, is retiring April 1.
His replacement will be Kurt Schuering, who is currently vice president of key account management for PolyOne Corp.
Distribution provides approximately 35 percent of the $2.6 billion annual sales at the Avon Lake-based custom compounder.
Schuering has been responsible for extending PolyOne’s global reach and working with its largest customers and key original equipment manufacturers.
Under Rademacher, PolyOne Distribution created a dedicated sales staff to concentrate on the healthcare business two years ago — a move that helped dramatically increase sales in that segment. It also opened its first distribution facility outside of North America, a healthcare-focused facility that opened in Shanghai in July.
That center reduced the time it takes for materials to arrive in Shanghai from the United States from the previous 60-90 days to just a few days.
Rademacher also helped PolyOne Distribution ink pacts in the last 2½ years to become the primary distributor in North America for engineered resins supplier DuPont Co., and to be the exclusive distributor of silicone elastomer products made by Dow Corning. Used in numerous medical devices, including electrocardiogram tabs, catheters and angioplasty balloons, the silicone products became the first non-thermoplastic products carried by PolyOne Distribution.
Rademacher was senior vice president of plastics in the Americas for M.A Hanna Co. which was purchased in May 2000 by Geon Co. — which renamed itself PolyOne four months after the merger. Six months later, Rademacher was tapped to head PolyOne Distribution.
Prior to joining Hanna, Rademacher had spent 16 years at Ashland Chemical Co., including a stint with its General Polymers resin distribution unit.
