Bethel, Conn. — The Society of Plastics Engineers named three people who will win awards at Antec 2017 — including the International Award, to Tadamoto Sakai, an expert on compounding and processing.
SPE will honor the winners at a banquet May 7, the night before Antec starts, in Anaheim, Calif.
Other winners are Mark Wetzel for the Research/Engineering Technology Award, and Ica Manas-Zloczower receiving the Fred Schwab Education Award.
Sakai currently is a visiting professor at his alma mater, Shizuoka University. He also is a consultant in both plastics and rubber technology.
He earned a degree in applied chemistry in 1964 and went to work at Japan Steel Works (JSW), beginning as a machine designer, then becoming a researcher developing polymers and related machinery for fiber-making, injection molding, film making, pelletizing and compounding.
He received a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering in 1983 from Hokkaido University, for his research in twin-screw extrusion. Five years later, JSW named Sakai as head of its Hiroshima Laboratory, where he led developments in several types of processing machinery.
In 1991, Sakai was named director of the board of JSW at the Research/Development Department. He was promoted as an advisory board member of the machinery maker in 1997. He has served as a visiting professor.
He became president of the Japan Society of Polymer Processing in 1998. Later, he played a key role in establishing international meetings.
Sakai has been a member of SPE for more than 30 years. He is an SPE Fellow, the first one from Japan. He won the Heinz Herman Award for Excellence in Twin-Screw Extrusion in 2006 from the SPE Extrusion Division.