Paulson pursued plastics from the Navy to the classroom

Don Paulson took some of his strategy in business from the U.S. Navy.

When the captain says to be ready to leave at 0800 hours, and a machine is in need of repair, then that machine needs to be in tip-top shape and ready to go at that time, Paulson joked over a recent Zoom call.

"There's no point in telling him the machine is broken down," he said. "So that better be ready."

"That's a good experience, in business sometimes you just do what you have to do to get something done."

Paulson, founder of Paulson Training Programs Inc., is one of the 2021 Plastics Hall of Fame inductees. He's being honored for his contributions to the industry. which include creating training processes for plastics.

"It's quite an honor and I do appreciate it," he said.

Troy Nix, executive director of the Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors, penned a letter in 2017 in support of Don's nomination into the Hall of Fame.

"When I think of Don Paulson, one of the first descriptive words that comes to my mind is pioneer, or a person, who by definition, 'is among those who first enter or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise or progress,'" Nix wrote. "Don Paulson led the revolution to turn the plastics industry from that of a black art to that of science; in that light, Don Paulson is a true pioneer."

A self-proclaimed adventurous spirit, the small-town Minnesotan said he had an average childhood, camping outdoors, reading books and building model airplanes. For two summers in his teens, he hopped freight trains. Many people were riding freight after World War II — often veterans unable to settle down.

"I met interesting people, whereas my parents thought it would be dangerous, but we didn't have any trouble at all," he said.

He then enrolled in the University of Minnesota to pursue a degree in engineering, which at the time was a five-year program.

"I was having a real hard time because my parents couldn't afford to send me and I was having to work, study and travel back and forth living at home," he said.

What saved his studies was a scholarship with the U.S. Navy, which paid for most of his tuition and books. After graduation in 1955, he was commissioned to duty at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Don married Kathy and he set off for Hawaii, and later a six-month tour to the Far East.

"It was a fine experience — I learned a lot in the Navy, I consider it one of the important parts of my life," he said. "The fact that I had a lot of responsibility, it was hard work and you have to do the job."

At one point, Paulson took an assignment to teach Navy ROTC students at Villanova University. That assignment sparked an interest in plastic parts.

"I was fascinated by them and how they were made," he said.

He had several job offers, all in plastics. He took one that wasn't the highest paying, at Dow Chemical Co. Paulson went through the company's nine-month training program, then he stayed for about two years.

In 1962, he applied for a job at General Motors Institute, now Kettering University, that was aimed at setting up a plastics training program for engineering. GM had developed training programs, but had no one to teach them.

"Here I was with my nine months of training in plastics, plus, having read all of the Modern Plastics magazines for the past 10-15 years, so I was fully qualified for a job like that," he joked. "Of course I wasn't, but they needed someone badly."

He interviewed and got the job.

"It was the best job I've ever had," he said. "I was like 'Oh, I got this, I love teaching.'"

With the unknowns in injection molding, Paulson taught the junior engineers from a science basis. There was so much to learn with plastics.

"[GM engineers] were in the beginning stages of using plastic parts in cars," he said. "And they were having some problems — parts were breaking or they'd be the wrong dimensions. They badly needed some trained engineers."

In order to train engineers, he needed to know more. So he read the standard six books in plastics processing and asked the school for a teaching lab. He ordered injection molders, extruders, thermoformers and other equipment.

He used a pen recorder to track what was going on with the machines throughout the years — thousands of recordings. This was in the 1960s, and injection molding technology was still new.

"If there was a problem with a machine, you had to determine which machine control to adjust," he explained. "Say that parts are cracking, they aren't supposed to crack, some molders might say to reduce fill time, make the plastic flow slower. Or another might say to increase the temperature."

That was the process — change a machine control, measure the part properties — rinse and repeat. Changing one control might cause another issue and so on.

"This is where the confusion was," he said. "It was almost impossible to train molding experts because the solution to the problem could have been a variety of different machine settings."

During one "life-changing" conversation during a visit to the lab by a leader from GM, he discussed 16 machine controls to manipulate outcomes.

"I remember him shaking his head and saying, 'you know, I've never seen a process with more than four independent variables,'" he remembered. "Hmm... What does that mean? It means that measuring machine controls isn't the solution to the problem."

Paulson went back to the drawing board and back to the physical laws of science, narrowing the process to learn down into four laws of plastics making: Heat, flow, pressure and cooling.

"That was the secret then, to make injection molding a science-based process rather than an art that might take 10 years to learn on the production floor."

In 1968, Paulson left GM and started his own business with Rod Groleau, Controlled Process Inc. The company put transducers in a mold to control part dimensions. They solved part problems for GM and other companies, including Polaroid.

In 1980 he left to found Paulson Training Programs.

After 41 years, that company has continued to do training based on the four plastic variables, it can be applied to molding, extrusion or thermoforming.

"One of my favorite sayings, from when I used to teach, is that the plastic doesn't know what kind of machine its in," Paulson said. "It doesn't know what the temperature of the barrel is, it doesn't know what time it is."

"The plastic doesn't know what the machine control is. It only knows one of those four variables."

This realization was the foundation for education with Paulson Training — making plastics processing a science-based process.

The new scientific approach is also benefited by technology. Computers are helping to simulate the machines and the novice workers can experiment with the variables without wrecking the molding machine.

"You want to practice molding, go ahead and make a mistake," he said. "That sort of thing takes years when you're running an actual machine."

Paulson said the key to his business ventures and success was in part because of his wife, Kathy.

"You know, you don't start a couple companies," he said. "It's hard work; it's a lot of time away. And I couldn't ask for a better wife and friend than Kathy."

The couple had five children — Charles, Debbie, Craig, Scott and Karen — all of whom have had some part in the company. His youngest daughter, Karen, is the current president, while Craig and Scott have also served as presidents. Since it was his own business, Don Paulson turned to his kids in various capacities ranging from graphics to engineering.

"He always used to say, 'If it was easy, everyone would be doing it,'" Karen said. "Dad always pushed us and taught us to never give up."

After years of hard work and a desire for owning his own business, Don Paulson said the Hall of Fame induction is a real honor for him. With a little over 200 people in the hall, he feels as though it's "quite an honor."

"I've been waiting about 50 years, but I'm so honored and appreciate it," he said.

"I'm really proud of him. I'm so happy that he's getting in. He just he deserves it so much. And I'm just so happy that he's being recognized for it," Karen Paulson said.