A gala awards dinner is always one of the highlights at the SPE Thermoforming Division’s annual conference, and the celebration at the group’s 25^th such event, held Sept. 26-28 in Schaumburg, Ill., was no exception. 

The division named Ian Strachan, a 45-year thermoforming veteran, as its Thermoformer of the Year, and bestowed its lifetime achievement award on Noel Tessier, one of the founders of Attleboro, Mass.-based CMT Materials Inc. 

Additionally, the group handed out 20 awards in its annual parts competition, with Profile Plastics Inc. taking home two major awards — for heavy-gauge parts and the People’s Choice Award.

Thermoformer of the Year 

After starting his career working in specialty, high-tech metal production in his native country of South Africa, Strachan entered the thermoforming industry as general manager of the Elvinco Group of Companies in 1971. He served from 1974 to 1988 as managing director for Nampak Mono Containers, a thermoforming and steam chest molding company. Nampak was the largest diversified packaging group in the world at the time.  

He went on to manage several subsidiary companies that specialized in thermoforming and extrusion, where he developed new packaging processes that are still being used today. Strachan was the first to introduce CPET packaging outside the U.S., and also developed thermoformed in-mold labeling and several other techniques for Unilever in the mid-1980s.  

From 1988 to 1992, he served as CEO and deputy chairman of the Sun Packaging Group in South Africa and later formed MGA Southern Africa Pty. Ltd. and MGA Inc., an international consulting firm specializing in technology and process improvement in the packaging and thermoforming industries. More recently, he acquired ToolVu LLC, which offers a process management system that monitors what is happening in a thermoforming mold in real-time. 

“Ian Strachan is a major contributor in process development and improvement in the thermoforming industry,” said Bret Joslyn, SPE Thermoforming Division Chair. “He continues to innovate and to consult around the world to help improve thermoforming and auxiliary processes. Ian has also played a pivotal role in assisting small and developing countries to adopt thermoforming technology for the food and fruit processing industries.”

Lifetime Achievement Award 

The SPE Thermoforming Division’s Executive Committee selected Noel Tessier as recipient of its lifetime achievement award. Tessier is a materials scientist with more than 35 years of experience in the research and development of composite materials. He is one of the three founding directors of CMT Materials, the first company dedicated to tooling materials for thermoforming. He currently is responsible for developing new materials for plug assist thermoforming.

Tessier has written or co-written five patents and has had a significant impact on the thin-gauge thermoforming process, measured by the increasing volumes of thin-walled plastic containers around the world, and by the adoption and growth of third-axis plug-assist forming.

Early in his career, Tessier focused on materials research and the manufacture of the glass microspheres that became an integral component of syntactic foam structures. And he has contributed to the development and commercialization of syntactic foam plugs for thermoforming, which has resulted in a material that provides stability and repeatability for thermoforming processors. 

Tessier holds a MSc degree in plastics engineering from the University of Massachusetts - Lowell and a BSc degree in chemical engineering from Northeastern University.  

Prior to founding CMT Materials, he worked for Quadrax Corp., and had responsibility for production, development and quality improvement for all thermoplastic matrix continuous fiber tape products. He has extensive experience in composite materials, including syntactic foams, fiber-reinforced materials and highly filled plastics, and previously held research and development positions at W.R. Grace and the Army Materials & Mechanics Research Center.

“Noel Tessier is a true trailblazer in the thermoforming industry,” said division chair Joslyn. “His vast experience and remarkable accomplishments are inspirational to us all.”

Parts competition 

“Nearly 30 parts were submitted to this year’s parts competition and the SPE Thermoforming Division is extremely pleased with the quality and quantity of the submissions,” noted Matt O’Hagan, chair of this year’s contest. “The large and small part entries represented each sector of the thermoforming industry.”

Profile Plastics, based in Lake Bluff, Ill., won gold in the heavy-gauge pressure formed category for a housing for a surgical waste management system used in hospital operating rooms. The same product also earned the People’s Choice Award, which is voted on by conference attendees. Profile had made the cover for an earlier version of the waste system for the unidentified customer, and then introduced a new, redesigned model earlier this year. 

Using negative pressure forming tools instead of the positive vacuum forming tools that had been used in the earlier version of the part, the company says it was able to improve aesthetics, reduce primary assembly components by 75%, and cut costs by one-quarter. 

Profile Plastics also earned gold for another heavy-gauge product — body protection plates for the chest and back. Made from an antifungal thermoplastic urethane, the parts are designed to absorb large amounts of energy, for use in a personal-protection application.

The other gold winners (and their categories) were: 

• Roll-Fed Consumer — Jamestown Plastics, for the “Click it Clamä.”
• Roll-Fed Recycled – Innovative Plastech Inc., for the “Book and recorder clamshell.”
• Roll-Fed Medical – Barger, Placon’s Medical Specialists, for the “Medical liner to protect orthopedic implants.”
• Heavy-Gauge Vacuum Form – Associated Thermoforming, for the “Touch Tower.” 
• Heavy-Gauge TPO – Brentwood Industries, for the “Dash assembly.”
  
• Heavy-Gauge Value Add – Medallion Plastics, for the “Motorhome interior dash.”
• Twin Sheet – Associated Thermoforming, for the “Wheel chair shower.”
• Sheet-Fed Recycled – Valley Industrial Products, for the “front face of a decorative wall protection system.”
• Meantime, Sara Allgeierof Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, took first place in the Student Awards, receiving a $1,000 award for her “Thermoformed Pizza Box.”

For the full list of this year’s honorees, go to http://thermoformingdivision.com and click on “Current Winners” in the Parts Competition menu link.