Anaheim, Calif. — Roger Kipp, an advocate of industrial education and a leader in the Society of Plastics Engineers' Thermoforming Division, won the President's Cup at SPE's Antec conference.
Scott Owens, SPE's president whose term ended at Antec, presented Kipp with the President's Cup award during an awards banquet in Anaheim on May 7.
Kipp got into the foundry business after graduating from Miami University in Ohio, as he partnered with his father and brother to build the operation. In 1977, he began teaching night classes in manufacturing at the university.
In 1983, Kipp spun off the plastics tooling division from the family's foundry. Four years later, he directed the startup of a vacuum forming and rotomolding plant in Sidney, Ohio.
He joined McClarin Plastics Inc. in Hanover, Pa., as vice president of marketing and engineering. The Thermoforming Division named Kipp the 2010 Thermoformer of the Year.
Kipp, who is retired, joked that plastics was an improvement over the foundry. "It's lighter and less hot," he said.