New National Plastics Center and Museum President David Hahn has a message for the plastics industry: You'll be hearing from him.
``If there's one message for the industry, it's that the plastics center needs the support of the plastics industry. It's almost a moral obligation,'' Hahn said in a March 13 interview in Leominster.
NPC&M must expand its endowment and membership, said Hahn, adding that he believes the industry will respond as ``part of the family.''
Hahn, who has worked in the industry 35 years, also wants to emphasize that an interactive museum is a place where people can learn about the past of the industry, while the center's education and outreach program can teach and draw future generations into the industry.
``The challenge is very simple, and that's to build on the hard work of my predecessors-Valerie Wilcox and the board who founded the National Plastics Center and Museum,'' said Hahn, who assumed the NPC&M helm Jan. 20 from the recently retired Wilcox.
``My challenge is to take the foundation that has been laid - the historical aspect of Leominster and the part it played in plastics; it is the birthplace of plastics - then, build on it and bring it to the national level in visibility and prominence.''
Hahn, a former chairman of the NPE trade show, said the museum is working with companies and organizations nationwide to tell the story of plastics. The educational program also is evolving: The latest endeavor, titled ``Plastics is my bag,'' is designed to introduce students to engineering.
