Honoring the industry's best at the Plastics Hall of Fame

ORLANDO, FLA. — The plastics industry honored the nine new members of the Plastics Hall of Fame just before the start of NPE 2015 at the Chapin Theater at Orange County Convention Center.

As an orchestra played, the nine new members accepted their medallions and gave short speeches. New Plastics Hall of Fame members are: John Beaumont, Terence Browitt, Bill Carteaux, Robert DeLong, Eugen Hehl, Ed Hunerberg, Manfred Lupke, Donald Norwood and Maureen Steinwall.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson gave a keynote speech. The Wisconsin Republican formerly owned sheet extruder Pacur LLC.

The master of ceremonies was Jay Gardiner, president of the Plastics Academy, which administers the Plastics Hall of Fame. Also speaking were the winners of major awards from the Society of Plastics Engineers, including Richard Spontak, who received SPE's top honor, the International Award.

Orlando Mayor Teresa Jacobs welcomed the plastics industry to her city, for NPE 2015. “We are thrilled to be a part of this important ceremony,” she said.

Jacobs, who also has attended the K show in Germany, said she is impressed with the plastics industry. “You are helping to grow the future of your industry,” she said.

Two of the Plastics Hall of Fame members did not make the trip to Orlando. Hehl's induction was accepted on his behalf by Helmut Heinson, managing director of sales at Arburg GmbH & Co. KG. Hehl's comments came in a video from Lossburg, Germany.

Norwood also did not make the trip. His granddaughter Rachael Wyatt accepted the award on his behalf and read a speech that he wrote.

SPE International Award winner Spontak is distinguished professor at North Carolina State University in chemical, biomolecular engineering and materials science engineering.

Spontak accepted the award on behalf of his students. The professor said his undergraduate students, in particular, inspired him with their passion and never giving up.

“Over the years, we try never to give up in breaking down boundaries, learning new things and realizing that maybe we don't know everything we think we know,” he said.

Charles A. Sholtis, CEO of custom injection molder Plastic Molding Technology Inc. in El Paso, Texas, won SPE's Business Management Award. “This award is much bigger than me. It's about the people in my factory that work hard every day. It's also about more — the American dream,” he said.

He credited his father, Charles E. Sholtis, who founded the business in 1973.

“As Walt Disney said, if you can dream it, you can do it,” Sholtis said.

The SPE Education Award went to Sarah Morgan, a professor in the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at the University of Southern Mississippi. She thanked her students, many of whom present research at Antec conferences.

Suresh Shah earned the Research/Engineering Technology Award. A 30-year automotive industry veteran, he developed key plastic components at General Motors Co. and Delphi Automotive plc.

Shah said he worked in the same department for his entire career, and the consistency helped him do a good job and be creative, even as GM spun off Delphi into new ownership. He credited “out-of-the-box thinking and a risk-taking approach.”

Find links to videos with eight of the new Hall of Fame members here.