Cleveland — The Society of Plastics Engineers' Thermoset TopCon drew about 155 attendees to Cleveland April 19-20 — marking the first time the Thermoset Division has ever been to the city, even though northeastern Ohio is a center of the industry.
The region is home to landmark thermoset companies like Premix Inc. in North Kingsville, Ohio, and Molded Fiber Glass, in Ashtabula, Ohio.
“It's really the cradle of the industry,” said Marc Imbrogno, chairman of the Thermoset Division. He is director of materials engineering at another northeastern Ohio thermoset company — Mar-Bal Inc., a molder and compounder in Chagrin Falls.
Inbrogno, a Cleveland native, is, by definition, a frustrated sports fan. In his remarks opening the Thermoset TopCon, he talked about — and projected big slides showing — everything from the burning Cuyahoga River in 1969, to the Indians trading Rocky Colavito, to The Shot by Michael Jordan over Craig Ehlo, to the infamous Browns defeats like Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble.
In Cleveland, they remember the cruel moments in sports.
But Imbrogno said “there's a transformation going on” on the shores of Lake Erie. The Republican National Convention is coming to town July 18-19 — and all eyes will be on Cleveland.
Imbrogno said the thermoset composites industry is changing, too. He cited lightweighting, renewable energy like wind and solar and rapid technological advances.