Kickstart: 'Have an adventure in life'

Bruce Meyers said he didn't know the "rules" when he made what would become the iconic dune buggy of the 1960s. Instead, he took lessons learned from making fiberglass boats to create the original Meyers Manx, a red fiberglass open-top car that could carry a surfboard across the top rails, with an engine and other key parts sourced from a Volkswagen Beetle.

"If I'd known a lot about car design, there wouldn't be a dune buggy because I broke the rules. You have to have freedom to break rules," Meyers told the Orange County Register in 2014.

Growing up, even if you didn't live near a beach or a sand dune, you probably recognized the shape of a dune buggy from Saturday morning TV. A Meyers Manx has a body looking like it could have rolled right out of a cartoon.

Meyers died Feb. 19 at the age of 94. While the original B.V. Meyers & Co. shut down in 1971 with about 7,000 dune buggies sold, the Historic Vehicle Association says the car inspired more than 250,000 copycats, Volkswagen wrote in a memorial on its website.

In 2014, the National Historic Vehicle Register, a record of significant American vehicles maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior, added the Meyers Manx to its list.

"My life has been full of adventures," Meyers told Volkswagen in 2017. "I want people to have an adventure in life."

North American producers still do not fully know the impact of shutdowns at U.S. Gulf Coast resin plants due to extreme cold weather and power outages in the region.

As Frank Esposito notes, as of Feb. 25, many commodity resin makers on the coast still were assessing their ability to restart production. Plants that shut down ahead of the winter storm still may experience problems with pipes damaged by the cold.

"Some of those plants will have suffered equipment damage from the hard crash," Albert Chao, president and CEO of Houston-based resins maker Westlake Chemical Corp., said in a call with analysts. "And so, you only know more about it when you restart a plant to find out some things are not working properly. That's the risk of unknowns out there."

PN staffers will be continuing to cover this story, including the impact on molders both in terms of accessing resin and paying increased prices for material. If you'd like to pass along a news tip on what you're experiencing, you can drop me an email at [email protected]

Robotics company Fanuc America is joining Rockwell Automation in a coalition for work and apprenticeship programs geared at preparing future employees in advanced manufacturing and robotics.

The apprenticeship and training program is designed to "help create a pipeline of skilled workers," the companies said in a news release.

The apprenticeship programs offer people opportunities to gain credentials that include fundamental robotics and automation as well as advanced training that will allow workers to operate and troubleshoot issues.

"As industry adopts new technologies, it is vital to be able to quickly adapt with a well-trained workforce," Michael Cook, director of global academic organization for Rockwell Automation, said.