The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), the Plastics Innovation & Resource Center (PIRC) of Pennsylvania College of Technology, and Paulson Training Programs, Inc. have entered into an alliance to offer plastics professionals and companies a resource for educational information, training programs, and certifications.

Drawing on its wide reach within the plastics industry, SPE will market this training and certification alliance within the community and will also initiate outreach programs to attract new members with their first year of premium membership as part of their training and certification packages. Paulson will provide discounts for existing SPE members who attend seminars through their Plastics Academy or onsite training.

And Penn College brings exclusive North American rights to the premiere Global Standards for Plastics Certification (GSPC) program. GSPC is the only recognized method of apprenticeship certification in the world for the plastics industry. It provides universal recognition of a plastics worker’s knowledge and capabilities, as well as demonstrated economic benefits to companies.

“As a combination of a robust industry association, a technical college, and a world-class professional training company, this new alliance offers individuals and companies everything they need to know to make the most of their career and business opportunities in the plastics industry,” says Russell Broome, managing director of SPE. “Existing and new members of SPE and the plastics community at large will benefit by having immediate access to the outstanding range of resources this new alliance brings.”

The alliance partners have already identified the shortages of skilled workers and of new employees as critical industry challenges that they can help to address. Most plastics processors have ranked “lack of enough skilled employees” as their number one problem. 

“Our alliance with Penn College and SPE is aimed squarely at these issues by providing technical training and by working to get the next generation of workers interested in plastics as a very lucrative and exciting career opportunity,” says Craig Paulson, president of Paulson Training. “Our company, for example, has been giving seminars and marketing in-plant training solutions to the plastics industry for over 35 years.” 

Paulson will be supplying training in several formats, including online, CD-based, and seminars through the Paulson Plastics Academy and ProMolder Certification.

The academic and certification aspect of the alliance will be the specialization of Penn College, which, along with Paulson and SPE, will be offering GSPC certification to all plastics processors throughout North America. Hank White, director of Penn College’s PIRC, is looking forward to working in this partnership to maximize the number of companies benefitting from a truly complete program and dramatically increasing the number of industry personnel who have a known global certification.

“For companies, the GSPC program is designed to give employers the ability to know that their employees have met exemplary standards in knowledge and skills,” says White. “The program is truly comprehensive, combining audits of company processes and procedures with industry-leading computer-based training from Paulson, development of on-site personnel for sustained competency improvement, and a globally recognized, independent certification process. On the employee side, having GSPC certification is a big plus on any resume.”

The alignment of the three entities couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, according to Broome. “The economy is showing promising growth, especially in the domestic manufacturing sectors, causing more and more companies looking to obtain key industry information and to find qualified skilled people.”

Those interested in learning more about how to get started and sign up for new membership, or to sign up for individual or company training, can contact SPE headquarters (U.S. 203-775-0471) for details.

For more information about SPE, visit www.4spe.org; about Paulson Training Programs, visit www.PaulsonTraining.com; and about GSPC, visit www.pct.edu/pirc/GlobalStandards.asp.