Resin distributor M. Holland Co. has made a number of personnel moves aimed at helping the firm handle recent growth.
“We're looking forward to where the plastic world is going,” President Ed Holland said in a recent phone interview. “Not where it is or where we've been.”
Auto supply-chain veteran Chip Pollard joined the firm in November as vice president of operations. He has more than 20 years of operations experience, including time spent in customer service, warehousing and logistics, information technology, and managing ISO programs.
M. Holland veterans Russ Welton and Marc Fern also have new roles with the firm. Welton has taken a new position as vice president of sourcing. He's been with M. Holland for 15 years, most recently serving as vice president of sales and marketing. Welton worked with a number of resin makers for more than 20 years before joining M. Holland.
Fern held several sales positions at M. Holland for 13 years and now is vice president of sales and marketing. Prior to joining Holland, Fern worked in color compounding for five years.
M. Holland also has created the new position of film application development engineer and has installed Francois LaRocque in that role. The position will provide value-added services for customers and suppliers.
LaRocque also will work to develop new and/or improved finished products for the marketplace, officials said.
LaRocque has worked in sales for M. Holland Canada for five years. His prior experience includes five years in technical service for Nova Chemicals.
Northbrook, Ill.-based M. Holland will wrap up its 60th year of business Sept. 30. The firm does not release sales totals, but ranks among North America's five largest resin distributors, according to industry estimates. M. Holland distributes a variety of commodity and engineering resins from more than 70 warehouses, as well as from packaging and bulk terminals.
M. Holland's actions since late 2007 have included:
* Expanding its product lineup by adding rotomolding-grade polyethylene resins from Nova, nylon 6 and 6/6 resins from Rhodia SA and ABS and styrenic block copolymer resins from BASF Corp.
The BASF deal, announced in early 2009, became more significant later that year when BASF ended its partnership with Ashland Distribution, another major North American resin distributor. That split occurred shortly after Ashland inked a deal with BASF rival Sabic Innovative Plastics US LLC. BASF also supplies those materials through two other North American distributors.
* Adding staff to its credit department.
* Adding Makrolon-brand polycarbonate and related resins from Bayer Corp. Bayer later ended its partnership with Ashland Distribution in much the same manner that BASF did. Bayer also distributes its PC materials through three other distributors in North America.
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