Peter Gardner To Retire from LS Mtron Injection Molding USA
The 37-year plastics veteran began his career in Chicago in 1988 and will retire as the current president of the South Korean press maker’s U.S. subsidiary.
Peter Gardner, president of LS Mtron Injection Molding Machine USA, Duluth, Georgia, is retiring from the plastics industry after a 37-year career in which he held leadership roles for six different companies. During his last four years at LS Mtron, he greatly expanded the South Korean injection molding machine maker’s North American footprint.
Gardner joined LS Mtron in 2021 as business director, and during his tenure, he helped the company double its sales in the U.S. and reach 10% market share for injection molding machines. Over the next six months, Gardner will continue to work with LS Mtron, facilitating his transition out of the business. Paul Caprio, president of sales for LS Mtron Injection Molding Machine USA, will assume some of Gardner’s duties.
Peter Gardner (right) and Paul Caprio of LS Mtron. Gardner announced his plans to retire from the Korean-based maker of injection molding machines. Source: LS Mtron
Prior to joining LS Mtron, Gardner was the VP and general manager of Daiichi Jitsugyo America’s (DJA) plastic machinery division. In 2017, he identified LS Mtron as a candidate to replace Japan’s Niigata in DJA’s North American lineup. He later led LS Mtron’s buyout of the DJA machinery division, enabling LS Mtron to grow faster in the U.S. by helping build the sales and marketing teams for DJA and LS Mtron USA.
Gardner began his career in 1988 as a sales engineer with Chicago’s Machinery Systems. He earned a bachelor’s in plastics engineering from Illinois State University. Without a declared major after two years at Illinois State, Gardner gravitated toward that school’s plastics program following friends’ suggestions.
“One thing led to another, and pretty soon I had too many credits in the plastics program to turn back,” Gardner says.
He went back to school at DePaul University to get a business degree because of his interest in the business management side of plastics versus the technical side.
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