Sticking to his strategy to further unite the plastics industry, William Carteaux, president and chief executive officer of the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc., said SPI will bring the National Plastics Center under its wing, taking over management responsibility for both its educational programs and day-to-day operations, starting July 1.
Carteaux made the announcement June 21 at NPE, two days after saying that he was talking to more than a dozen groups about strategic alliances. Leominster, Mass.-based NPC - with a mission to educate people about the importance of plastics - had been operating without a president since the retirement of David Hahn on April 1.
Preserving education
``This allows us to promote their education programs as our own and helps us from an advocacy standpoint in terms of sustainability,'' Carteaux said. NPC has focused heavily on educational programs for students in K-12, emphasizing the role of plastics in society - particularly relative to its value to society - and teaching students the need to recycle and not litter. Its national outreach program dispatches PlastiVans throughout the country.
``Our members fully support that mission,'' he said. ``It falls in line with our aim of creating one vision, one voice for the industry,'' he said. Carteaux said NPC will retain its current staff and location.
SPI executive vice president and chief operating officer Catherine Randazzo and NPC directors Jay Gardiner of thermoplastics resin supplier Gardiner Plastics Inc. of Port Jefferson, N.Y., and Richard Flannagan, president of mold maker Stan-Cast Inc. of Leominster, Mass., will help lead the transition, according to NPC director John Kretzschmar, who is also chairman of the Plastics Academy in Leominster.
``Hopefully, the alliance with SPI will enable us to expand our educational efforts,'' by increasing the involvement of the different sectors of SPI, Kretzschmar said.
``The core programs of NPC are complementary to the current SPI programs,'' said G. Watts Humphrey Jr., chairman of NPC and chairman and CEO of plastics auxiliary equipment manufacturer Conair Group Inc. in Pittsburgh.
As part of the agreement, the PlastiVan program will be marketed to all SPI members and to the association's 12 end-market business units. SPI said it would continue the close collaboration NPC currently has with allied organizations, in particular the Society of Plastics Engineers.