LOUISVILLE KY. - An interim board of four Louisville-area plastics processors forms the core of the newly organized Kentucky Alliance of Plastics Industries. The group was formed to serve as a voice for the more than 260 plastics-related businesses in the state.
Pending formal elections in the fall, the new group has named the following officers:
President - Wayne Sweasy, purchasing director of custom injection molder DJ Inc.
Vice president - Bob Steele, president of injection molder Futura Plastics and Engineering.
Secretary - Mark Stowers, environmental manager for Jones Plastic and Engineering Corp., an injection molder.
Treasurer - Chuck Fischer, process engineer for injection and stretch blow molded closure maker Thoroughbred Plastics.
The initial focus of KAPI is worker education. Steele said the program's inspiration is the Louisville Plastics Industry Network, formed to enhance and improve plastics industry training through local technical schools.
That group's major piece of equipment is a 120-ton clamping force Toshiba injection molding machine, which Sweasy said is regularly updated with state-of-the art controls by the manufacturer. The press is located at Pleasure Ridge Park High School in south Louisville.
Connie Fowler, a plastics industry facilitator with the Louis-ville/Jefferson County Office for Economic Development, said one goal of the new association is achieving a 10-20 percent discount in workers' compensation insurance premiums for members.
Fowler said Kentucky's injection molders employ nearly 9,000 workers; plastics foam processors another 2,900; and resin manufacturers 2,700.