Kickstart: The Ghost Army floats out of the shadows

When the U.S. Army needed to distract German troops during World War II, it turned to the Ghost Army. And the Ghost Army, in part, turned to plastics and rubber to fabricate inflatable tanks and trucks that could fool enemy troops into thinking an attack was on its way when it wasn't.

On March 21, the Ghost Army received one of the top military awards in the U.S., the Congressional Gold Medal, for its role in the war in Europe. The work done by about 1,100 soldiers not only saved lives — estimates range from 15,000 to 30,000 — it was so secretive information on the unit was classified until 1996.

Officially called the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, the army was "the first mobile, multimedia, tactical deception unit in U.S. Army history," the National World War II Museum notes.

It was able to simulate two whole divisions — about 30,000 men — using items such as fake patches, sound design and faux artillery.

The Ghost Army was used to make it look like the D-Day landings would be in Calais, France, rather than Normandy.

Its biggest mission, in March 1945, drew German units away from the site where the actual 9th Army was crossing the Rhine River, the Associated Press writes.

Many of the Ghost Army veterans went on to work in the arts and industrial design. Helmut Georg Tietje built a career with plastics, working for medical suppliers Becton-Dickinson & Co. and Health Advancement Inc. He was a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers and held five patents. Tietje died in 1988.

There's a lot of personnel changes recently in the plastics industry.

Within the past few days, we've seen announcements from Emerald Packaging, a California-based bag maker, about Jim Kelly stepping down as vice president after 41 years with the family business.

At Arburg, three top executives have all recently retired or announced their retirement: Gerhard Böhm, Renate Keinath and Jürgen Boll.

Mack Molding in Vermont, just named the winner of a PN Sustained Excellence award, saw one of its key leaders — Marc Colety, vice president of procurement — retire at the end of 2023, while another two top executives, President Jeff Somple and Joan Magrath, vice president of sales and engineering, plan to retire later this year.

Obviously, a lot of those executive changes are generational. Some, unfortunately, are not. But they all make clear the importance of succession planning and being ready for new ideas.

"I feel like I have great ideas, and I've done most of them, so I'm really excited about the right person coming in because this is the most amazing opportunity," Somple said.

German auto supplier Webasto AG may be cutting some 1,600 jobs from its global workforce as it works to gain traction in a changing industry.

About 27 percent of Webasto's operations are in North America, and it's been a finalist for SPE Automotive Innovation awards for its work in charging systems. But in 2023, it posted only "slightly positive" earnings of $21 million on sales of more than $4.5 billion. As a result, it is reviewing capacities and structures in all regions, our sister paper Automotive News writes.