Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
September 09, 2002 02:00 AM

Engineer Sweig nabs SPE thermoformer award

Joseph Pryweller
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    It did not seem like a match destined to survive more than a few years.

    Stephen Sweig, a young mechanical engineer, had started his professional career during the height of the Vietnam War. He had conducted tests of classified weaponry at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque and had worked closely with the Atomic Energy Commission.

    But a few years after gaining a master's degree in fluid mechanics while in New Mexico and then joining a growing film division of Exxon Chemical Co. in Lake Zurich, Ill., Sweig changed careers. In 1976, he entered heavy-gauge industrial thermoforming.

    He found the field to be nowhere near the sophisticated, precision science of Sandia Labs or as highly developed as thermoforming has become today.

    ``It was an industry developed by small entrepreneurs, some of them literally doing it in their kitchens or garages,'' Sweig said in an Aug. 22 interview at Profile Plastics Corp. in Lake Bluff. ``It was built by individuals running the companies and the factory floor. But, very simply, I saw that it was an industry with a lot of promise.''

    Sweig's involvement in that sea change in thermoforming during the past two decades has earned recognition from the Society of Plastics Engineers Thermoforming Division. The group has named Sweig its 2002 Thermoformer of the Year and will bestow the award Sept. 15 during its 2002 conference in Nashville, Tenn.

    Sweig's honor breaks from tradition. Most previous winners have been company owners or industry founders. Sweig has remained an engineer, spending his time on the plant floor instead of in a paper-cluttered office.

    But Sweig's contributions mirror the many shifts in thermoforming over the past 10-15 years, said Joe Peters, president of thermoformer Universal Plastics Corp. of Chicopee, Mass., and chairman of SPE's Thermoforming Division.

    ``In Stephen's long career, he's been able to touch a lot of aspects of thermoforming,'' Peters said. ``He was able to spread his wealth of information around to machine manufacturers, materials companies and others. A lot of what he worked on became standard operating procedure in the industry.''

    Since 1987, Sweig has worked for thermoformer Profile Plastics. He came to Profile with 11 years of thermoforming experience, most of that with another Chicago-area company, Arrem Plastics Inc. of Addison, Ill.

    Profile and Arrem were among the innovative companies that worked to upgrade processing in what once was a more-primitive portion of the plastics industry, said Paul Alongi, chief executive officer of Maac Machinery Corp. of Carol Stream, Ill.

    Sometimes, Sweig's dogged determination when buying a new machine challenged the equipment-making establishment, Alongi said. While some thermoformers would buy from a machinery catalog, Sweig always wanted a custom machine updated with process controls and other options. Without the urging of Sweig and others, some of those innovations would not have been as quickly accepted by the market, Alongi said.

    ``At some other companies, it was like pulling teeth to get engineering meetings [before selling a machine],'' Alongi said. ``With Stephen, the first call to me always is `When do you want to meet, Paul?' And I know to expect a four- to six-hour meeting just to come up with specifications.''

    When Profile hired Sweig to head engineering, the company wanted to inject a degree of innovation into what had been a sleepier industry, said Profile President Stephen Murrill. Murrill bought Profile, founded in 1960, a year before Sweig arrived.

    ``We took a bit of a risk by pushing the envelope,'' Murrill said.

    Sweig almost left thermoforming before joining Profile. He departed from Arrem in late1986 to join thermoformer Concord Industries of Franklin Park, Ill. But after that company was purchased by Rock-Tenn Co., the new owners decided to downsize. Sweig was out of a job, and his old position at Arrem had been filled.

    But Murrill was looking for an engineering manager to modernize his company, and Sweig wanted to stay in his native Chicago. Today, Sweig is semi-retired in Scottsdale, Ariz., but still spends one week a month at Profile's facility in northwest Chicago.

    When Sweig started in the industry, thermoforming was largely a manual profession, with workers hand-trimming parts, he said.

    And while individual products were well-made, that process often lacked reliability and consistency from part to part, he said. That problem often handcuffed thermoformers from accepting large-volume jobs or more complex parts.

    Yet, Sweig and Murrill saw the promise. Sweig's role was to make both tooling and processing more sophisticated, he said.

    For safety alone, Sweig said that equipment has to be run by computer, instead of allowing workers to risk injury by hand-cutting sheets of plastic.

    Automation has been the keystone for a thermoformer attempting to compete for new jobs, Peters said.

    ``We used to work `by guess and by golly' when forming a part,'' Peters said. ``Now, process controls help us work with the precision we need. [Sweig] was instrumental in getting those kind of controls onto machines.''

    Murrill's shop is an example of automation. While he said that sales have grown dramatically since he purchased Profile in 1986, the company still has about the same number of employees, 75.

    Some of the innovations that Sweig helped push forward include flexible, computerized machine controls and general-purpose machine designs; the use of five-axis computer numerically controlled trimming to allow the automated forming of more-complex parts; pressure-forming tool design; and movable mold components.

    Sweig might have played his largest role in the evolution of automated machinery and reduced cycle times, Alongi said. In production, he helped develop thermocouples on tool surfaces that can target temperature ranges and equipment that can better monitor the heat in a forming oven, Alongi said.

    ``The equipment specs he pushed helped set the pace for minimum cycle times for all the rest of the industry to try to match,'' Alongi said.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Hoenig named Plastics Pioneers Association president
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Treaty talks stumble on debate over resin production cap
    2
    GM, Stellantis give $15M lifeline to insolvent supplier
    3
    Tekni-Plex starts $8.5M medical expansion in Costa Rica
    4
    Plastics additives one focus in Paris treaty talks
    5
    Resin Prices
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified