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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPI STRUCTURAL PLASTICS DIVISION HONORS INDUSTRY PIONEERS

WASHINGTON, DC (April 25, 2002) - The Structural Plastics Division of The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. recently inducted five outstanding members of the structural polymer industry into its Pioneers Club.

Inaugurated at the Division's recent annual conference in Dearborn, MI, the Pioneers Club was established to honor those persons whose knowledge and commitment has had a lasting impact on the structural polymers industry.

The 2002 inductees were:

• James W. Hendry, who, among other accomplishments, holds 93 patents covering plastics processing machinery, is among the recognized leaders in the development of structural foam molding technology and is one of the pioneer inventors of internal and external gas-assisted molding.
  
  
• John Marshall, who began his career at Union Carbide at the age of 18, working first in phenolics and then moving on to research and development. In the early 1970s, Marshall launched S.F. Plastics, later leaving to start Polycel.
  
  
• Clay Elliott, who began his career in the lab at BF Goodrich in 1949, later working for General Tire, Guttaperka and Rubbermaid, where he became a plant manager. In 1972, Elliott left Rubbermaid to start his own company, Horizon Plastics, where he remains as president.
  
  
• Frank Meisels, who founded FGL Mould Works in 1965 and recently retired after 36 years of active participation in the mold-making industry. An active member of the Division, Meisels served in various capacities on several conference planning committees.
  
  
• Siebold Hettinga, who entered the plastics industry in 1950. Hettinga, who launched FM Corporation, a plastics research and development enterprise, in 1968, is a highly respected industry expert with numerous patents and a reputation for innovation in process and control technology.

Criteria for induction included participation in the industry for approximately 50 years, a contribution to the structural polymer industry, nomination by a Division member company and past participation in Division conferences. The Structural Plastics Division plans to induct at least three new members annually into the Pioneers Club.

Members of the SPI Structural Plastics Division represent a cross-section of the U.S. plastics industry. Their principal products are in applications that enclose, support, or bear a load, such as housings for computer equipment, automotive components, recreational products, materials transport, consumer electronics, construction, telecommunications and medical equipment. For more information, visit the Web at www.plasticparts.org.

Founded in 1937, The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., is the trade association representing one of the largest manufacturing industries in the United States. SPI's 1,500 members represent the entire plastics industry supply chain, including processors, machinery and equipment manufacturers and raw material suppliers. For more information, visit SPI on the Web at www.plasticsindustry.org.

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