Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
      Machine builders meet pressing needs for plastic in 2020
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Watching, and hoping, for progress in 2021
      COVID-19 stories dominate 2020 headlines
      Plastic Globes ask: Was there a lighter side in 2020?
      Compounders write a business survival story in 2020
    • Kickstart: Recycling is complicated, even when you want to do it
      Kickstart: Unilever calls for 'living wage' pay in supply base
      Kickstart: Electric cars, recycling and warm mittens
      Kickstart: Welcome to the VUCA economy
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • Covestro volunteers build ramp for Ohio veteran
      Chase expands giving campaign in 2020
      McDivitt will showcase Ascend's COVID-19 work on CNBC's Mad Money
      Move over, Plastic Man: Here comes Plastic Woman
    • There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
      ACC, NAM eye economic priorities in Biden presidency
    • Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
      Changing names for compounders embracing corporate branding
      Diversity the key to outperforming the market
      A timeline of the industry's COVID response
    • There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      Watching, and hoping, for progress in 2021
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Compounders write a business survival story in 2020
    • Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
      Perspective: ‘Fake news' of a different sort?
      Perspective: Making products in the USA is good for the planet
    • Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
      Mailbag: Oil-plastics connection is overstated
      Mailbag: Plastics recycling not cost-effective
      Mailbag: Price increases hurting North American PE buyers
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
      Video: Structural foam molding
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      College training, programs
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
      Polymer Points Live - October 2020
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • White Papers
    • Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
      Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Sponsored Content By Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Canon Virginia Inc. brings collaboration to the table
      Sponsored By CDS MACHINES
      Facing medical equipment shortages during COVID-19 outbreak?
      Sponsored Content By Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Transform your molding capabilities with the Canon Shuttle Mold System
    • Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
December 21, 2020 07:57 AM

Plastics Hall of Fame names 10 new members

Don Loepp
Plastics News Editor
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    From upper left: Yoshiharu Inaba, Mayumi Kotani, Salvatore Monte, Peter Neumann, Donald Paulson, Joseph Prischak, Ulrich Reifenhauser, Wylie Royce, Suresh Shah, Vince Witherup

    Leaders from the global plastics machinery, training, packaging, materials and trade association sectors will join the Plastics Hall of Fame at an awards dinner at NPE2021.

    The Plastics Academy announced the 10 new members Dec. 18 and will induct them May 16 at NPE in Orlando, Fla.

    "We are proud of the 2021 class of the Plastics Hall of Fame. The winners come from all across the globe and represent many different disciplines," Plastics Academy President Jay Gardiner said.

    "In this difficult year, we look to these individuals as a reaffirmation of the vitality and strength of the plastics industry."

    The Plastics Academy inducts living members into the Hall of Fame during NPE years. Here are the new members:

    Yoshiharu Inaba is a pioneer in all-electric injection molding technology. Inaba joined Japan's Fanuc Corp. in 1983. That same year, the company decided to focus on electrifying injection presses to make them more efficient and precise, using Fanuc's computer numerical control expertise.

    Fanuc introduced the first worldwide mass production-type all-electrical injection machine, the Autoshot, in 1985. Today the company estimates there are more than 200,000 all-electric machines in the world.

    Inaba, who has more than 110 design patents, is chairman of Fanuc.

    Mayumi Kotani is president of Kyoto, Japan-based Yushin Precision Equipment Co. Ltd., a leading maker of take-out robots for injection molded products.

    Kotani helped start the company in 1973, and Yushin entered the market for takeout robots in 1978. She served as vice president of sales for 12 years before being named president in 2002. Under her guidance, the company rapidly expanded overseas and has received multiple awards for its optimally designed robots.

    Kotani is the fourth woman to join the Plastics Hall of Fame.

    Salvatore Monte is president and co-owner of Kenrich Petrochemicals Inc., holder of numerous patents and an active member for decades of numerous plastics industry groups.

    Monte holds 31 U.S. patents, has authored numerous technical papers, journal articles and book chapters, and authored a popular reference manual on titanates, zirconates and aluminates. His first commercial titanate was hailed as a new coupling agent for filled polyethylene in 1974.

    He is a member, fellow and honorary service member in the Society of Plastics Engineers and a longtime leader of the Plastics Pioneers Association.

    Peter Neumann led injection press maker Engel Holding GmbH through a period of rapid global growth and also served as president of Euromap, the European committee of manufacturers of plastic and rubber machinery.

    When Neumann joined Engel in the early 1980s, the company had 783 employees. As manager of purchasing, material planning and logistics, Engel was the first press maker to make machine platens from steel instead of cast iron. The company's global operations grew rapidly in the 1990s, thanks to more innovations including tire-barless and two-platen machines.

    With Neumann as CEO, Engel's sales grew from 76 million euros to 1.36 billion euros.

    Donald Paulson is a veteran educator of plastics processing with nine U.S. and European patents. He launched his career in 1963 when he developed a plastics processing research laboratory at General Motors Institute.

    Using the results of his research, in 1968 he started Control Process Inc. the first company to use cavity pressure to control machine injection pressure. The company was sold in 1980 and he started Paulson Training Programs Inc., now a leading provider of online interactive and seminar plastics technical training. In 1998, he was named one of the six most important inventors in the plastics industry.

    Paulson received the SPE Lifetime Engineering and Technical Achievement Award in 2006.

    Joseph Prischak is the founder of Plastek Group, a major global injection molder and toolmaker based in Erie, Pa. He's also a supporter of plastics industry training and a noted philanthropist.

    With two partners, he founded Triangle Tool Co., a leader in mold design and manufacturing, in 1956. They moved into plastics molding in 1971 and expanded to Europe, Brazil and Mexico.

    He is considered the father of the Plastics Engineering Technology program at Penn State Erie, which has produced more than 1,000 graduates and is the largest undergraduate plastics program in the country.

    Prischak also is the founder of African 6000 International, a nonprofit that drills deep freshwater wells across the African continent.

    Ulrich Reifenhäuser joined German extrusion machinery group Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. in 1983 and with his brothers Klaus and Bernd built the family company into a global firm with leading technology for high-performance blown film and nonwoven materials.

    Reifenhäuser has been the chairman of the K show since 2004 and has played an active role in VDMA and frequently acts as spokesman for the German plastics machinery community.

    He currently serves as his company's chief sales officer. During his tenure, the firm's sales have grown from 142 million euros to more than 500 million euros.

    Wylie Royce is a plastics materials supplier executive who is also well known for his trade association leadership.

    Royce is executive vice president of colorant and specialty chemicals company Royce Global and a partner and director of Royce International. Royce International is a supplier and manufacturer of epoxy resins, hardeners, diluents and specialty chemicals used in the coatings, construction, electronics and aerospace industries.

    Royce is chairman of the Plastics Industry Association and treasurer of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Packaging Materials committee. He is a board member of the Foodservice Packaging Institute, as well as a member of Health Beauty America's Technical Advisory Board.

    He holds a U.S. patent in a proprietary method utilizing electron beam modification of resin to create marbleized colorant effects for injection molded products.

    Suresh Shah developed and commercialized important automotive plastics innovations and also served in numerous roles for the Society of Plastics Engineers.

    The retired General Motors and Delphi Corp. senior technical fellow was the first to invent and introduce the plastics module concept 27 years ago, leading a team that designed and developed the all-plastic door inner module dubbed the SuperPlug. The component, which replaced 50 metal pieces, was the first and most complex part commercialized using gas injection molding technology.

    Shah and a team of engineers from Inteva Products LLC also developed thermoplastic polyolefin thermoformable skin for instrument panels.

    He has served in numerous volunteer roles with SPE, including as a board member and chairman of the automotive division. In 2017, he received the division's Lifetime Achievement Award.

    Vince Witherup carried the torch for the U.S. plastics industry around the world, as an executive at Franklin, Pa.-based auxiliary equipment maker Conair Group Inc. and as an ambassador for the NPE trade show.

    He has been involved in plastics for more than 50 years, starting as a salesman at Conair. He worked his way up to executive vice president.

    Witherup held volunteer leadership positions for the Society of Plastics Industry Inc., now the Plastics Industry Association. He served as chairperson of the 2000 NPE show, where he was honored as SPI's International Business Person of the Year. He has been active in the Plastics Pioneers Association for more than 20 years.

    The Plastics Hall of Fame was founded in 1972. Criteria for membership includes:

    • Significant invention or breakthrough.

    • Development of outstanding product, market or business endeavor.

    • Long and valuable service to the industry.

    • Record of constructive collaboration with government, regulatory, academic, trade or other industry groups.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • Processor of the Year submissions
      • White Papers