16 New Inductees Named to Plastics Hall of Fame

The Plastics Academy has named 16 new inductees to the Plastics Hall of Fame—10 living and six posthumously— with the actual induction to occur during a ceremony at the Plastics Industry Association’s (PLASTICS) annual Fall Meeting, Oct. 7 in Chicago. Jay Gardiner, president of the Plastics Academy, announced the 2021 class, as well as the 2020 posthumous inductees, in a release. The ceremony to formally induct the class will take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Chicago.

2021 Inductees

Yoshiharu Inaba, who joined Japan’s Fanuc Corp. in 1983, is considered a pioneer in all-electric injection molding technology. When Inaba began at Fanuc, the company shifted its focus to electrifying injection presses, applying 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 holds more than 110 design patents, is chairman of Fanuc.

Mayumi Kotani, the fourth woman to be inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame, is president of Kyoto-based robotics leader Yushin Precision Equipment Co. Ltd. Kotani helped start the company in 1973, and Yushin entered the market for take-out robots in 1978. She served as vice president of sales for 12 years before being named president in 2002.

Salvatore Monte is president and co-owner of Kenrich Petrochemicals Inc., holder of numerous patents and has been an active member of numerous plastics industry groups for decades. He is recognized as an expert in the development and commercialization of coupling and compatiblizing agents. Monte holds 31 U.S. patents and has authored numerous technical papers, journal articles and book chapters, as well as a popular reference manual on titanates, zirconates, and aluminates. 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 Austrian injection press maker Engel Holding GmbH through a period of rapid global growth and served as president of Euromap, the European committee of manufacturers of plastic and rubber machinery. Neumann joined Engel in the early 1980s, working as a manager of purchasing, material planning and logistics. The company’s global operations grew rapidly in the 1990s, thanks to several innovations including tiebarless and two-platen machines. With Neumann as CEO, the company’s sales grew from Euro 76 million to Euro 1.36 billion.

Donald Paulson is a veteran educator of plastics processing with nine U.S. and European patents. In 1963, he developed a plastics processing research laboratory at the General Motors Institute. In 1968, using the results of his research, 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., a 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 molding and toolmaker, based in Erie, Pa. He started MoldMaking Technology magazine in 1998, selling it to Plastics Technology publisher Gardner Business Media in 2004. With two partners, he founded Triangle Tool Co. in 1956. The company expanded into molding in 1971 and then 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 1000 graduates. 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 leader for blown film and nonwoven materials. Reifenhäuser has been the chairman of the K show since 2004, has played an active role in the VDMA. He currently serves as his company’s chief sales officer. During his tenure, the company’s sales have grown from Euro 142 million to more than Euro 500 million.

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, a supplier and manufacturer of epoxy resins, hardeners, diluents, and specialty chemicals. Royce is currently Past Chairman of PLASTICS 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 served in numerous roles for the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). The retired General Motors and Inteva engineer 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. 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 represented 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, beginning as a salesman at Conair and working his way up to executive vice president. Witherup has held volunteer leadership positions for PLASTICS, and he served as chairperson of the NPE2000 show, where he was honored as the association’s International Businessperson of the Year. He has been active in the Plastics Pioneers Association for more than 20 years.

The members of the 2020 Posthumous Class are: Howard Irvin (Marbon Chemical), Ronald Saxton (DuPont), Walt Schrenk (Dow Chemical), Dennis Tully (MTD), Charles Sears (Dri-Air Industries) and Bill Stoesser (Stoesser Industries).