Plastics veteran reflects on 30-plus years in industry

Industry veteran Peter Herrmann has self-published a tell-all book about the evolutionary use of plastics in the auto industry.

"Plastics Exposed: The Incredible Story of How Plastics Came to Dominate the American Automobile," is peppered with personal anecdotes about a new life in America.

Herrmann was born in pre-World War II Wuppertal, Germany, in 1936. In 1950, he entered a multiyear apprenticeship program in as a machine fitter in Sonneberg, Germany.

In 1957, Herrmann received his engineering degree and married his now-wife, Ursula. That same year, they moved to Montreal, followed by a move in 1958 to Sarnia, Ontario, where Herrmann was hired to work on machinery at a paper converting factory.

He joined Detroit Plastic Molding subsidiary and automotive plastic parts supplier North American Plastic in 1965, where he learned about injection molding and decorating plastic parts. At this time, the average American vehicle included just 20 to 25 pounds of plastic.

"I remember the plastic smell when I arrived at the 10 Mile Road plant for the first time, and I remember the sight of the enormous molding machines," Herrmann writes. There were 23 presses in the molding room, ranging from 45-1,200 tons of clamping force.

At this time, DPM was making plastic parts for Ford Motor Co. for its Comet, Falcon and Mustang models; General Motors for its Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick brands; and Chrysler for its Barracuda and sedan vehicles.

"From that very first day," he writes, "I was hooked."

The book covers a number of plastics developments that led to modern automobiles.

In the 1960s, there were problems with some new plastic parts that were replacing metal, and there were no specifications for guidance. For example, Herrmann said some plastic parts would warp when the temperature inside cars could reach 130° F.

Color matching was another issue, since suppliers of raw plastic materials used different methods for coloring.

Weight reduction in automobiles was a constant issue, both technically and financially. The main material choices, Herrmann writes, were ABS, which was for harder structural parts, and polypropylene, which was for parts requiring a softer, warmer feel. Automobile consoles were made with "extremely big pieces" of ABS, the largest piece of plastic in a car at that time and "a first for us in the industry," Herrmann writes.

The glove box portion of the console is also mentioned, which was molded from PP with an integrated hinge to replace the metal hinge, another innovation for Detroit Plastic Molding in the late 1960s.

Gas-assist molding was patented by an American living in England, Jim Hendry, who licensed the technology to Cinpres Gas Injection Ltd. Michael Ladney, founder of DPM and Gain Technologies Inc., had met Hendry in England in the 1970s, and Ladney persuaded Hendry to sell him the patent rights.

DPM molded prototype door panels for General Motors using the patented gas-assist system, which resulted in strong but lighter parts. Herrmann said the 17 pound part was molded with a 3.5-minute cycle time.

In the 1970s, DPM also had become involved with the development of plastic bumper system and therefore involved with the safety issues of automobiles.

"Our engineers … had approached the safety issue by backfilling the glass-filled polypropylene injection molded [bumper shell] with a closed-cell polyurethane foam to absorb the energy released in a front- or rear-impact … crash," Herrmann writes.

Herrmann said a 12-pound plastic bumper could outperform a 70-pound steel bumper.

Throughout the book, Herrmann also discusses other innovations that changed the automobile landscape: a cost-saving flax-PP mixture called Empeflex that replaced a woodchip-polyester material; a resin-filled wood fiber for door and quarter panels; chrome-plating on plastic; and modular capabilities.

In the span of roughly 30 years, he said, the amount of plastic in automobiles grew from 25 pounds to 500 pounds.

Acquisitions, joint ventures and bankruptcies of plastics part suppliers and various other companies are sprinkled throughout the book, which is available for purchase on Amazon.

DPM's first joint venture was with VDO in 1965, followed by Peguform GmbH in 1972 and Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG. At DPM, Herrmann was "deeply involved" with the European joint venture partners, licensees and their respective customers.

In 1986, Herrmann became marketing director at Voplex Corp., which had its headquarters in Rochester, N.Y., and its sales office in Troy, Mich. Don Smart, then-vice president of sales, confided in Herrmann that Voplex was supposed to sign a joint venture with Happich GmbH to build an extrusion plant in Canada. Happich is located in Wuppertal, Herrmann's hometown.

The joint venture, Voplex-Happich Corp., was to produce extruded vinyl body side moldings for North American vehicles, Herrmann writes, and the factory would be in Woodstock, Ontario. Voplex would act as the operating arm of the joint venture, while Happich would supply the technical experience and purchase all required equipment.

"Whatever can go wrong must and will go wrong, at the most inopportune times," Herrmann writes, adding that the colors and twin screws weren't right.

In 1992, Voplex declared bankruptcy, and in 1993, Richard Crawford took over the 50 percent Voplex portion of the VHC joint venture. Crawford purchased Universal Plastics in 1986, Nortec in 1988 and Wolf Engineering in 1990, which all formed Cambridge Industries Inc.

In September 2001, on his 65th birthday, Herrmann had a heart attack, which caused him to start thinking about retirement. He officially retired in 2007. To keep his mind occupied, he wrote "Plastics Exposed," which took about three years.

For all the technical manufacturing stories, Herrmann adds in behind-the-scenes tales about his family and work travels. These days he still travels, but just for fun.

"Every once in a while, I miss the thrill that I felt being part of the plastics revolution — introducing a new application for a plastic part or product to the automotive community," he writes. "And, as silly as it sounds, I still miss the smell associated with plastic pellets being melted and formed into an automotive part."