Plastic and Thermoplastic Elastomer Processing and Operations Consultant

Technical Consultant #1043

Plastics manufacturing; plastic processing and business.
Plastics processing machinery.
Polymer materials development and polymer compounding.
Thermoplastic elastomer processing and elastomer product development.
Problem solving related to plastic processing and machinery.
Extrusion and forming of plastic materials: Injection molding, blow molding, compression molding and rotational molding.
Plastic materials testing and analysis.
Plastic and polymer research and development management.
Business development, product development and business commercialization.
Project management.
Organizational development and training.

Independent Consultant, Present

Undisclosed College, 1997 - Present

Undisclosed Company, 1995 - Present

Kerr Group, Lancaster, PA, 1993 - 1995

The West Company, Phoenixville, PA, 1971 - 1993

Borg Warner Corporation, Washington WV, 1967 - 1971

Accomplishments

Research and Development

Provided competitive advantage of a rubber products company, established corporate task force to determine strategic direction and planned, equipped, and staffed completely new research and development unit.
Effort resulted in the development of five new thermoplastic products, enabled company to realize a saving of a $6 million product line from erosion to competition, and was promoted to Division Director.

Product Development and Commercialization

Developed revolutionary new material for producing infant feeding nipples from proprietary materials.
Replaced non-profitable and antiquated rubber nipple product line.
Enabled the manufacture of the product in a more precise and efficient plastics molding process.
Commercialized this new material and process, brought about an annual shared-savings of $1l8 million to company and a higher quality product to consumer.
Received national award for this design innovation.

Pharmaceuticals

For a highly automated mail order pharmaceutical company, developed a clear plastic container from nucleated polypropylene random copolymers utilizing biaxially oriented stretch blow molding processes.
With this clear container, enabled inspection without opening and significantly reduced cost and efficiency.

Strategic Planning

Conceived and implemented a five-year plan for building and staffing a research and development facility, developing new technology materials and constructing a pilot production plant.
Produced, through this research and development program, five patented thermoplastic elastomer materials.
Planned, budgeted, constructed, and operated a continuous production line, with a capacity of one million pounds per year, for compounding plastics and elastomers.

Business Development

Conducted market research and identified medical tubing products made from high performance thermoplastics that could be successfully marketed against high-priced silicone tubing.
Developed three product lines for market segment launch.
Outsourced production to a manufacturing site with sufficient capacity to produce projected product volume.
Commercialized and coordinated market introduction of medical tubing line with sales potential for $5-10 million.

Project Management

For highly competitive non-carbonated beverage market requires low-cost closures, identified and selected European companies to develop and test new high performance materials for newly patented high-speed compression molding processes with output rates of 400-600 per minute.
Enabled projected sales for company of these low cost closures of $5 million per year.

Credentials

Academic and Professional Affiliations

Awards

Publications