Light shines on plastics innovation

ORLANDO, FLA. — The Society of Plastics Engineers shone a light on the benefits of plastic at NPE with its Plastics for Life competition, with the Grand Prize going to the Ford Motor Co.'s LED molded headlamp lens.

Announcing the results of what was effectively the culmination of awards programs from around the world. Former SPE President Jon Ratzlaff said the organization's Plastics for Life awards were about “recognizing the best of the best.”

“Each of the 20 finalists in the Plastics for Life competition has already won an award somewhere in the world. That is what gets them into these awards,” he said.

“These SPE awards are about recognizing the good that plastics does in everyday life, from protecting, improving, sustaining and enhancing its quality,” Ratzlaff said.

Some 20 judges, including past SPE presidents and industry experts, pored over the entries, which included several parts for the automotive sector, but also covered health and leisure.

While the Grand Prize went to Ford, the Improving Life award went to Richmond Hill, Ontario's W. Amsler Equipment Inc. for its triangular-shaped bottles, made of food-grade PET.

The Sustaining Life prize went to a parking stop from Pinnacle Plastic Products Inc. of Bowling Green, Ohio. The stops are blow molded and foam filled in the one-step FoamCore process.

Profile Plastics Inc. of Lake Bluff, Ill., won the Protecting Life award for a thermoformed Rescue Backboard part.

Nissan's GTR trunk lid walked off with the Quality of Life award, while the People's Choice award — judged by more than 150 members of the public attending NPE — went to a thermoformed bowling pin elevator from Associated Thermoforming Inc. of Berthoud, Colo.