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
    • Resin pricing news
    • 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
    • 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
    • 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
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • 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
October 24, 2014 02:00 AM

Plastics Pioneers Association names four new members

PLASTICS NEWS REPORT
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Beaumont

    MCHENRY, ILL. — The Plastics Pioneers Association has elected four new members: John Beaumont, Joseph Bennett, James Johnson and Dennis Meade.

    PPA has about 200 members, who must have at least 25 years of experience in plastics. The organization preserves plastics industry history and promotes its future by awarding scholarships to students seeking a career in the industry and supporting other educational programs.

    The new inductees are:

    • John Beaumont, a pioneer in advancing injection molding technology — and promoting educational opportunities in plastics — for more than 40 years.

    Beaumont earned his bachelor's degree in plastics technology in 1976, and his master's degree in plastics engineering in 1994, both from University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Early in his career, he was involved in research engineering, project engineering, and technical management for companies such as General Tire and Rubber Co., Rowland, Ciba Vision Corp., and Moldflow Corp.

    For 25 years, Beaumont has been professor and program chair for the Penn State Erie plastics program, where he was one of the three founding faculty members. He is also the president of his own company, Beaumont Technologies Inc., which has developed technologies that have helped raise the process of injection molding from art to science.

    Beaumont has been actively involved with the Society of the Plastics Engineers for most of his professional career. He has written five books about injection molding technology, contributed chapters to four other books, and has written dozens of technical articles for trade publications and journals. He is the holder of seven patents, with two more pending.

    Bennett

    • Joseph Bennett, has had a 50-plus year career in tooling, first as a mold maker with Western Electric in 1967, then as a tooling engineer for Decorative Components. In 1970, he co-founded custom injection molder United Southern Industries Inc. in Forest City, N.C. He ultimately became president and CEO of USI, and when the company was sold to Wilbert Plastics in 2011, it had grown to more than $30 million in annual sales and employed more than 200 people.

    Bennett first joined SPE in 1966, and is currently an honored service member emeritus, a distinction he received in 1997. Over his career, he has held various positions for SPE's Injection Molding division, including serving on the group's board of directors for more than 10 years.

    Throughout his career, Bennett has been committed to continuing education. He served as education chair for SPE. In 1988, he accepted a challenge to match a $100,000 donation to establish the Richard Goolsby Foundation for promoting plastics education. Three years later he had raised $200,000. He established a curriculum for plastics programs at Isothermal Community College in Forest City, N.C., and contributed to two local scholarships to help students pursue careers in plastics.

    Johnson

    • James Johnson's plastics career has spanned six decades. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1960, then shortly thereafter joined Rexall Chemical Co. as technical service engineer. After a seven-year stint at Rexall, Johnson began what would become a 46-year-career in the extrusion machinery business. He joined Johnson Plastics Machinery (no relation) in 1968 as vice president of sales and marketing. That same year, he earned his master's in chemical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.

    In 1980, Johnson joined Reifenhauser Van Dorn as vice president of sales. From 1986 through 1994 he was the business manager of sheet products for Davis-Standard. Then in 1994, Johnson moved over to the flat-die side of the business when he joined Extrusion Die Industries as vice president of sales.

    From 2004 to 2014, Johnson was senior vice president of sales for Processing Technologies International LLC, a leading supplier of sheet extrusion systems.

    Johnson has been a long-time member of SPE, and has presented papers at numerous Antecs and regional conferences. In 2007, the Extrusion division of SPE presented him with the Jack Barney Award for his contributions to sheet extrusion. In 1988, he received the President's Award from Crompton & Knowles Corp., which then was the parent company of Davis-Standard.

    Meade

    • Dennis Meade, a color specialist, entered the plastics and chemicals business in 1971. A chemistry major at Kent State University, Meade began his career as operations manager for Lancer Chemical from 1971 through 1977. Thereafter he began to focus more on the color industry: from 1980 to 1988 he was technical director for Leglo Color. Then, after running Ferro Corp.'s Huron, Ohio, plant as general manager in 1989, Meade founded and was president of Phoenix Color and Compounding Inc. in Sandusky, Ohio.

    In 2000, after Accel Corp. bought Phoenix, Meade stayed on as vice president of technology. In 2009, he joined Techmer PM as specialty products manager. Currently, Meade is business development manager for Chroma Corp.

    Meade has been a member of SPE since 1971. He served two terms as president of SPE's Ohio Fireland's section, where he also chaired the education committee. He has also been chair of the education committee for the Detroit section of SPE; served as a board member for 12 years on the SPE Color and Appearance division; and since 1978 has been a member of the Detroit Color Council.

    Throughout his career Meade has been very active in promoting education in plastics and color. He is a founding committee member and current member of the advisory board of Terra State Community College's two-year associate's degree in plastics color-matching.

    He is also a founding committee member of the plastics manufacturing certificate and associate's degree program at Schoolcraft College.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Industry sees Biden bioplastics goal as serious signal
    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
    Biden sets US goal to replace 90% of plastics with biomaterials
    2
    Industry sees Biden bioplastics goal as serious signal
    3
    Report urges treaty to regulate plastics like pharmaceuticals, limit growth
    4
    One injured in explosion at Ineos cumene plant in Texas
    5
    Engineering resin prices close the first quarter with a drop
    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
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • 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
        • 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
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • 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