Stephan Braig, former president and CEO of Engel Machinery Inc., has been named the new top executive of Trexel Inc., a Woburn-based company that developed and commercialized the MuCell process of microcellular foaming.
Braig will become Trexel president and CEO effective April 19. His last day at Engel in York, Pa., was March 31, as previously announced.
He will replace David Bernstein, who has led Trexel since its beginning. Bernstein will continue to serve on Trexel's board of directors.
“We have been seeking a strong leader to address the company's accelerated global growth over the coming years and Steve is the perfect individual to take Trexel forward,” Bernstein said in a news release.
The roots of MuCell microcellular foaming of polymers were at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Nam Suh, head of MIT's mechanical engineering department, invented a way to control the microscopic bubbles.
Suh secured venture capital to start a company to commercialize the process in 1995. Bernstein, a former executive of Teradyne Inc., a Boston producer of equipment to test electronics and semiconductors, was brought in to run Trexel.
Braig said he will lead a global expansion at Trexel. “There is no other plastic processing innovation in the last couple of decades which has revolutionized thermoplastic part design as much as the MuCell process.
“We can support the automotive industry's drive to lower vehicle weight and improve fuel economy, among other applications,” he said.
According to Trexel, MuCell's benefits include reduced part weight, material savings, less warpage, greater dimensional stability, improved cycle time and the ability to select lower-cost materials.
Engel Holding GmbH, a Schwertberg, Austria-based injection press maker, was the first machinery maker to license MuCell. Braig joined Engel in 2007, heading the company's North American operations.
Bernstein said Braig understands North American manufacturing, capital equipment and technology, and has international business skills.
“Steve has been a knowledgeable and aggressive proponent of our technology for several years,” Bernstein said.
At Engel Machinery, Mark Sankovitch, a 20-year Engel veteran, is replacing Braig as top executive.
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