Industry-first innovator to receive SPE Lifetime Achievement Award

When you follow Suresh Shah's 30-plus-year career in plastics, many of his achievements include the word "first."

Shah, a retired senior technical fellow at Delphi Corp. — formerly General Motors Co.'s automotive components group — worked with teams on the development of the first all-plastics hollow steering wheel, and the first introduced and licensed gas injection molding technology in the United States from Cinpres UK Ltd.

And on Nov. 8, Shah will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers during the SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Gala in Livonia, Mich.

"Suresh is one of the most creative and innovative technical people that I have ever known," said Irvin Poston, an SPE distinguished member and the 2009 recipient of the society's Lifetime Achievement Award, in a news release. "He has so many innovative and first applications that have affected the bottom line of General Motors. It is difficult to list them all on one page."

Throughout his career, Shah, a member of SPE's board of directors and a councilor for the society's automotive division, has been recognized with more than 20 awards. His long list of accolades — in 2009, he was named Scientist of the Year by the Engineering Society of Detroit and also earned a tribute from former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, for example — shows that he's also earned the reputation of a problem solver whose curiosity is unwavering.

"Suresh has proven himself to be one of the best and most prolific inventors I have ever managed," said Barbara Sanders, former director of the advanced development group at Delphi Corp. who has since retired. "He developed many first-to-market applications, whose commercialization significantly impacted the profitability and growth of the company.

"He is — and has been — very visionary, significantly ahead of his time," added Sanders, who received SPE's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

Shah and a team of engineers from Inteva Products LLC — formed in 2008 from the interiors and closures division of then-bankrupt Delphi Corp. — also will be honored with SPE's Hall of Fame Award for development of the thermoplastic polyolefin thermoformable skin for instrument panels.

In 1996, Shah and Norm Kakarala, now a retired senior technical fellow at Inteva and the 2014 recipient of SPE's Lifetime Achievement Award, were the lead engineers at Delphi developing the TPO skin for instrument panels to replace PVC. The two engineers were responsible for launching Delphi's first in-house TPO compound using a twin-screw extrusion process.

"My Ph.D. thesis was on twin-screw extrusion [and] reactive processing, which was an enabler for quick process development for TPO along with Norm's and my polymer chemistry background," Shah told Plastics News in an email.

Shah recalled being quoted in a 1998 Delphi news release, stating that the company's future technology in TPO skin and foam "will bring new breakthroughs to reduce total system cost."

"Given that TPO materials have been the fastest-growing for almost the last two decades, it seems my instincts were correct," Shah said.

The TPO skin was used on the instrument panel for the 2000 Pontiac Bonneville, which earned five North American "firsts" as the first North American OEM TPO skin instrument panel, the first General Motors instrument panel skin alternative to PVC, the first full TPO instrument panel, the first TPO airbag-deployable top pad, and the first TPO "deep draw" instrument panel, enabling the capability to stretch the TPO deep during the thermoforming process.

Since 2000, many other Tier 1 suppliers, resin suppliers and OEMs have advanced the use of TPO skin in interior automotive applications. Inteva Products, for example, has continued its development of TPO skin for instrument panels under the trademark Inteather on vehicles such as the Buick Enclave, Chevy Traverse and GMC Acadia, Shah said.

"TPO skin provides a leather-like feel with scratch and mark resistance, does not fade or degrade," he added. "[There is] no brittle cracking in ultraviolet light and [it is] 100 percent recyclable."

Shah rattled off additional benefits of using TPO skin for instrument panels, including reduced windshield fogging with the reduction of volatile organic compounds and odors without plasticizers and toxic stabilizers, leading to environmental benefits as well as a 10 percent savings in mass compared with PVC.

But the plastics industry supporting the automotive sector "needs to use more sustainable materials," he said, since an end-of-life vehicle still creates plastic scrap that isn't recyclable.

"It is time to reduce the number of plastics grades," Shah said, adding that thermoplastic material usage is preferred due to the nonrecyclability of thermosets.

"The other option is to find innovative ways to break down or depolymerize the thermoset materials to original monomers at a reasonable cost," he said.

In the 1990s, Shah was a part of another industry first: the SuperPlug integrated composite door hardware module, which was jointly developed during a five-year program started by then Delphi Interior & Lighting Systems and GE Plastics, now Sabic.

The module is made from a new grade of glass-reinforced Xenoy, a blend of polycarbonate and polybutylene terephthalate resin developed by GE Plastics for the application.

SuperPlug's innovative design allowed for ease of assembly by simply placing the module inside the door and offers improved ergonomics and quality, Shah said, ultimately saving labor time and costs, and reducing warranty claims.

"The all-plastic door hardware module was a game-changer in many [ways]," Shah said. "It was the first in the industry to replace 40 metal pieces with a single plastic part. … This was the first, most complex part ever commercialized in history by gas injection molding technology in the world.

"So significant was the technology developed for this program that nine key patents were issued between October 1993 and June 1998," he added.

Since 1995, more than 50 million SuperPlug modules have been in production on GM vehicles, including the Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac Transport, Oldsmobile Silhouette, Opel Sinatra, Chevrolet Malibu and Oldsmobile Cutlass.

The module has also won numerous awards, including SPE's Plastics Industrial Product Design Award in 1996 and the Hall of Fame Award in 2011.

When Shah looks back on his career, he's first to acknowledge the teams of "excellent engineers" he's worked alongside as well as support from upper management as keys to his success. But his education and experience in nearly all corners of the plastics industry have given him a unique advantage in "understanding the total system," he explained.

Shah has a total of four degrees — his last college endeavor earning him a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry and plastics engineering from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Mass. — and his education and work history leave no plastic lid unopened when it comes to experience in the industry.

He's knowledgeable on polymeric materials and chemistry, plastics processes, part design, tooling and analysis.

"This helped me a lot to be more creative and allow me to think outside the box," Shah said of his extensive educational background.

When it comes to the problem solvers of the future or next-generation workforce, Shah had some words of advice that included developing your listening skills, communicating with your team, leveraging support from suppliers and not taking on too many projects at once.

"Don't accept things as the way they are and be willing to be different. Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity," Shah said. "Always ask 'Why, who, when, where and how?' … Think of each challenge as an opportunity because, often, that's where the greatest innovation flourishes."

But how did Shah get involved with plastics in the first place? By accident, it turns out.

“My dad was in the textiles business and wanted me to pursue a degree in textiles. After finishing an undergraduate degree in chemistry, when I visited the college to submit the application for textiles, the clerk there suggested he should add plastics as a second choice if I don't get my first choice,” Shah explained. “The rest is history.”