Richard Thomas has accepted the position of program manager in the commercial business unit of the sales and engineering department. He joins Mack with experience as a product manager at CIRCOR Tech (Spartanburg, SC) and a quality engineering technician at CeramTec (Laurens, SC). Thomas has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in management from the University of South Carolina Upstate (Spartanburg, SC) and an associate’s in mechanical engineering from Greenville Technical College (Greenville, SC). Originally from Arlington, Vt., he once again makes his home there with his wife, Kristin, and their three children, Taylor, Jacob, and Emma. When not at work, Thomas enjoys golf, snowboarding, football, and coaching youth soccer.

Jonathan Whitney has joined Mack as a new business development manager responsible for New England region sales. He comes to us from Abiomed (Danvers, Mass.), where he was senior project manager for the design, development and commercialization of cardiovascular devices. Earlier, he owned and operated his own business, Whitney Realty Services. Other engineering experience included stints at Gyrus ACMI, Alkermes and Raytheon, where he earned a green belt six-sigma certification. Whitney holds an MBA from Babson College (Wellesley, Mass.); a master’s in engineering management from Tufts University (Boston); and a bachelor’s in plastics engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He lives in Medford, Mass., with his wife, Katie, who is a material program manager for Raytheon. Together, they have two sons – Tyler, age 3, and Dylan, 1. A varsity track and cross-country runner in college, Whitney continues to run and compete in triathlons. He also enjoys golf and playing drums for a local band.

Brittany Epstein has joined the medical products group – MackMedical — as a sales service representative, reporting to Business Unit Director Kevin Bradley. She will be responsible for supporting several medical accounts. Epstein brings six years of retail sales experience to her new position. A student at Castleton State College (Castleton, Vt.), she is working to complete a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Epstein resides in Manchester Center, Vt., with her husband, Joshua, Sergeant, Winhall Police Department, and their two children – Elizabeth, age 6, and Nikolai, 3. Like most Vermonters, she enjoys outdoor activities and spending as much time as possible with her children.

Two employees, John Preiser and John McFadden, have also been recently promoted to program manager positions within the sales and engineering department. Preiser originally came to Mack from Nexus Custom Electronics, Brandon, Vt., where he was engineering manager. He joined Mack’s procurement department in 2007, where he served as supplier engineer for a Class III medical device. His responsibilities have now expanded to managing all aspects of the account. A graduate of Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.), he has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering technology. Preiser lives in Arlington, Vt., with his wife, Nicole, and son, Adam, age 10. An avid cyclist and former racer, Preiser enjoys all things outdoors, especially hiking, camping, and winter sports.

John McFadden has also risen from the ranks of supplier engineer to program manager, where he will handle commercial business accounts. Before joining Mack, he designed new equipment for Pad Print Machinery of Vermont. A graduate of the University of Vermont (Burlington, Vt.), McFadden holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering with a minor in pure mathematics, and is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. A varsity athlete during college, he enjoys all sports, especially indoor soccer, golf, volleyball, football, squash, hiking and snowboarding. A Vermont native, McFadden takes a genuine interest in all Vermont has to offer, and was recently elected as the youngest member of the Select Board for Bennington, Vt.

The quality department has added three new staff members – William Hackett, Graham McFadden and Sherman McNeil. Accepting the position of quality engineer in the metals and machining department, Hackett has over 12 years of experience as a technician and electrician. Formerly with NSK Steering Systems America (Bennington, Vt.), he held several positions of increasing responsibility in quality and manufacturing during his 10-year tenure there. An active member of the American Society of Quality, Hackett is a certified quality inspector. He resides in Bennington with his wife, Tanya, and daughters, Crystal, age 7, and Makayla, 4. When not at work, Hackett enjoys camping, home improvement projects, electronics and technology, and spending time with family.

Graham McFadden has joined Mack as a quality technician within the MackMedical business group. A Vermont native, he previously worked as admissions representative for Southern Vermont College (Bennington, Vt.) following his graduation from the University of Vermont (Burlington). He holds a bachelor’s in business with a concentration in finance. McFadden also attended West Point Military Academy (West Point, N.Y.) and served in the U.S. Army. Formerly a gymnast, McFadden was a member of both the West Point Army Gymnastics Team and the Junior Olympic Team. He achieved Top 25 status in the U.S., and was a five-time winner of the New York State Gymnastics championships. Other favorite pursuits include hiking, camping, running, snow shoeing, mountain biking and gardening.

Sherman McNeil, also a quality technician, comes to Mack from Angiodynamics (Glens Falls, N.Y.), where he was an engineering intern in the research and development department. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.), he earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and was also awarded for Exemplary Achievement in the Study of Mathematics and Science. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. McNeil lives in nearby Salem, N.Y., and pursues ice hockey, biking, reading and traveling in his spare time.

Manufacturing has also added three – Thomas Jackson, Greg Perkins and Michael Burklund. Jackson, a U.S. Navy veteran, has joined the headquarters facility as a manufacturing engineer, primarily for medical programs. After 24 years of service with the U.S. Navy, Submarine Force, he brings complex electronic and electromechanical systems expertise to the table. Most recently, he was a project manager for the Submarine Learning Center, where he was responsible for developing computer-based training for navigation personnel in the Submarine Force. Earlier positions included quality assurance officer, where he managed a workforce of over 100; Navigation Division leading petty officer on the USS Albuquerque, where he supervised two work centers; and an instructor at Naval Submarine School (Groton, Ct.). Jackson makes his home in Dorset, Vt., with his wife, Melissa, administrator, Vermont Veteran’s Home, and children Dakota, age 17, Amanda, 14, and Daniel, 12.

Greg Perkins and Michael Burklund have both joined manufacturing at the Cavendish, Vt., plant. Perkins brings over 20 years of supply management and manufacturing expertise to his position as manufacturing supervisor. Previously, he was assembly & chemical operations supervisor for Vishay Tansitor, a broad-line manufacturer of electronic components in Bennington, Vt. Earlier, he was a production supervisor and process engineer for Crystal I.S. & Kyma Technologies, both in N.Y. and N.C. Perkins also served for eight years as a supply specialist in the U.S. Army and New York State National Guard. He is currently pursuing a bachelor’s in business management and economics at SUNY Empire State College (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), and has completed the U.S. Army Advanced Logistics Course with honors. Perkins lives in Cambridge, N.Y., with his wife, Jennifer, and children, Natalie, age 5, and Greg, 2. When not at work, he enjoys fly fishing, golf, sports and spending time with his family.

Michael Burklund, a program/manufacturing engineer at the Cavendish facility, owned and operated an engineering/design consulting firm for eight years before joining Mack. Earlier, he was a design engineer for groSolar (White River Junction, Vt.), and a mechanical engineer for Northern Power Systems (Barre, Vt.). Burklund holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in computer science from Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, Ariz.). He lives in Windsor, Vt., with his wife, Adrianne, and children Jacob, 8, Parley, 7, Oliver, 4, and Eliza, 2. He spends time “fixing” his Victorian-style home, as well as woodworking, fly fishing, and hiking with his family.

Catherine Haefs has accepted the position of procurement specialist at the headquarters facility, with a focus on medical supply management. She brings nearly 25 years of account management and product launch/support experience to her new position. Before Mack, she worked for Schleicher & Schuell BioScience, Inc. (Keene, N.H.), which was ultimately acquired by GE Healthcare. She held a variety of customer service/project coordination positions during her 23-year tenure there, including helping with the transition after the purchase by GE Healthcare. Haefs earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Keene State College (Keene, N.H.). A Connecticut native, she now lives in Bennington, Vt., and counts traveling and reading at the top of her list of pastimes.

Mack’s Finance department has also added two new staff members, Laura Nesbit and Jenn Millard. Nesbit, a CPA, has accepted the position of senior accountant, and brings 18 years of audit and accounting experience to her new position. Before Mack, she was audit and accounting manager for Love, Cody & Company CPAs, P.C., in Bennington, Vt. She has also taught accounting at the Community College of Vermont. Nesbit holds a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Vermont (Burlington), and a bachelor’s in accounting from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (North Adams). She is currently pursuing an MBA from the State University of New York at Albany. Nesbit is a member of both the Vermont Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She lives in Bennington with her husband, Mark, and their children, Gabe, 6, and Jesse, 4. A marathon runner, her most recent events included the Marine Corps Marathon last October (Washington, D.C.) and The Shires of Vermont Marathon last month (Bennington, Vt.).

Jenn Millard also brings significant experience to her new position as cost accountant. She comes to Mack from The Orvis Company, a corporate neighbor, where she held several inventory and accounting positions of increasing responsibility over a 14-year tenure. She has also operated her own bookkeeping business in Danby, Vt. A graduate of the College of St. Joseph (Rutland, Vt.), Millard earned a bachelor’s in accounting. She lives in her hometown of Danby with her husband, Keith, and infant daughter, Kathryn. An avid gardener, she nurtures several perennial gardens around her home.

Incredible material and processing gains have transformed the molding industry from thermoforming, injection- and blow-molding with basic resins into a high-tech industry with limitless options. Ken Kincaid, Technical Engineering Manager at Mack’s southern operations, looks at nanocomposites, water-assist molding and other new technologies on the plastics horizon.

Nearly 40 years ago, Mr. McGuire predicted there would be “a great future in plastics” in a conversation with young Ben Braddock in The Graduate. Today, we have progressed far beyond anything Mr. McGuire could have possibly imagined.

Injection molding has blossomed into structural foam, gas counterpressure, thin wall molding, gas-assist and more. Molding machines no longer have knobs and dials. We process through closed loop computer controlled process controllers. Many machines aren’t even hydraulic or toggle anymore, they’re all electric. Very quiet and clean. Operators generally perform secondary operations as the machine deftly extracts the part from the mold and gently sets it on a fixture or table to be converted to a finished product.

We no longer think of ourselves only as molders. We are suppliers of technology and advancement. Among the long list of offerings are contract manufacturing, design assistance, program management, purchasing support and an infinite number of variations of these services. Each one individually tailored to the customer’s needs. We routinely participate with our customers in cost reduction programs, weight reduction programs, and material conversion programs, all designed to help maximize their effectiveness in the marketkplace.

Not only have machines and services changed. Materials and processes have progressed even further. Take nanocomposites, for example. Who would have thought you could add microscopic particles of finely ground clay with an aspect ratio roughly that of the average business card to increase stiffness and improve dimensional stability without affecting color or adding weight to the part? This technology is now being used increasingly on interior automotive panels to improve fit and finish without adding weight or reducing impact qualities of the base resin.

Water-assist is also creating a stir in today’s plastics technology circles. Imagine having the ability to core out thick sections of a part from the inside, much like gas-assist does. Only by using water, you can not only increase the pack pressure to improve surface finish, but because the water also cools the part from the inside, it will improve wall thickness consistency and reduce cycle time reportedly up to 75 percent. For the more conservative types, it’s very acceptable to design a part to be built in a gas-assist process and, after confirming the design, convert it to water-assist and reap the benefits. Although this process is being targeted for all sorts of handle and tube type applications, it could probably be used in many other gas-assist type applications, as well.

Other incredible material and processing gains include long glass additives, which can generate flex modulus numbers in the seven-digit range. There are custom colors and other additives that do everything from glow-in-the-dark to kill germs on contact. Blending resins can give you an olefin-based resin with the feel of PVC, the weight of HDPE, and a cost and moldability approaching that of polypropylene. We can overmold to create dual durometer parts, as well as parts with structure on one side and high cosmetics on the other. Film insert molding allows us to place a highly cosmetic, endlessly decorated thermoformed film into an injection mold and mold a substrate with almost any features needed to support or attach it.

After all these years, the future is still in plastics…the only difference is you can hardly keep it to just one word!

If you’d like to learn more, contact Ken Kincaid, Technical Engineering Manager, Mack Molding, kkincaid@mackmolding.com

It’s no secret. In the world of plastic resins, the supply/demand balance has shifted dramatically toward short supply and higher prices. What can you do about it?

“Protect yourself by specifying more than one material for any part or application,” advises Jeff Somple, president of Mack Molding’s northern operations. “Availability and price are two good reasons to do that. When material suppliers are talking about allocating a resin that you’re locked into, you may not be able to get your product out the door. If that doesn’t send shivers down your spine, then consider dollars and cents. If you have sole-specified a material that falls victim to a shortage, you could be hit with a $.25/lb. increase, take it or leave it. You have no leverage; you can’t even negotiate.

“We’ve been lulled to sleep over the past decade by very stable raw material pricing, so sole-specifying has worked,” explains Somple. “That stability has now been replaced, however, by apparent material shortages and exploding prices. Customers who are locked into one material are paying the price…literally!”

Consider this scenario. You’ve spent months searching for the perfect material. You’ve done all sorts of trials. You’ve built tools and sampled a variety of resins. Finally, you get the part approved. “Yes! This is it! I like the way this looks! Get it into testing because we’re already a month late!” exclaims your manager. The part passes testing, and with a sigh of relief, you hasten it into production and don’t look back! Sound familiar?

“We strongly suggest you take that scenario one step further,” says Somple. “Once you move your part into production, do look back and quickly develop a second material for a back-up plan just in case something happens. Ideally, you should enter each new program with the mindset that you’re going to have two different materials pre-approved from two different suppliers. In fact, the smart OEM will draw both a material supplier and a processor into early design discussions to benefit from their years of experience in material development and processing.”

Bottom line? Don’t suffer the single-source sweats! Look at more than one material option, especially if your product has to pass regulatory and performance muster before it can reach the marketplace. You have to have a Plan B!

Bernhardt Design, a leading furniture design company headquartered in North Carolina, teamed with internationally renowned designer, Ross Lovegrove, to develop a stacking chair that would push the boundaries of originality, technology and craftsmanship. Called ORBIT, it was originally made only of Scandinavian ash or zebrawood veneer with a variety of painted or natural wood finishes.

While elegant in design and sleek in profile, the innovative wooden chair is also very complex and expensive to manufacture. Bernhardt wanted to remain 100 percent true to the original design, but at the same time, produce it in a more economical material that would be less expensive to manufacture, and thus, expand its marketability.

The solution? Plastics. “The moral of this story is to always talk with a good molder before ruling out injection molding for even the most complex designs,” says Ken Kincaid, technical engineering manager at Mack Molding’s Statesville, N.C., facility. “Even if injection molding looks like an unlikely partner for your design, show your molder what you’re trying to do and ask how you can get there…sometimes solutions are possible, but not obvious at first glance.”

The ORBIT stacking chair is a perfect example of this. But through the combined efforts of Bernhardt, GE Advanced Materials/Plastics and Mack Molding, a solution gradually evolved after weeks of painstaking trial and error. “This was more than just shooting plastic into a tool to get a shape,” comments Zack Lyon, Bernhardt product design & development engineer. “It was shooting plastic into a tool while extending the process to its maximum limits, as well as creating a part that would accept paint without requiring exceptional hand labor and finishing…it’s not just the chair but the finish too, and our customers are very, very picky about that. It had to be a very clean, debris-free, consistent, textured part, and that’s what we’ve been able to achieve.”

Using gas-assisted injection molding
“The first question we had to answer was whether or not we could mold the chair using a gas-assisted process,” says Kincaid. “There were cross-sections of the chair that were close to 1.5 inches thick. And Bernhardt wanted to maintain the integrity of the original design, which meant producing smooth, very stylish contours on both sides of the chair. Even the gas pins had to be hidden underneath the chair where it mounts to the frame. That meant using multiple gas pins with sequencing to direct the material the way we wanted it to go. Gas-assist was really the only option.”

It was a unique project for gas-assist, however, given the size and length of the gas section. “We’re basically filling 75 percent of the cavity with material, and coring out a full 25 percent of the volume of the mold with gas,” explains Steve Langen, Mack Molding program manager. “That’s a tremendous amount of material displacement.”

Mack worked closely with Delta Mold, Charlotte, N.C., to build the tool. After some 15 molding trials, the gas-assist process proved successful in reducing stress, maintaining flat and smooth surfaces, reducing both press and part size, and eliminating thick sections of material.

Developing a new material
While proving out the process, Mack simultaneously worked with GE and Bernhardt to sample possible materials. “We started with ABS and PC/ABS, but they clearly weren’t stiff enough,” says Langen. “So we started moving up the material food chain for more rigorous mechanical properties. We liked a long glass-fiber material because of its stiffness, but then we had to determine the base resin. We tried everything from polypropylene to nylon to PC/ABS with long glass-fibers, but paintability kept bringing us back to the amorphous PC/ABS type of material.”

The result is a new long glass-fiber PC/ABS composite from GE that offers superior tensile strength and stiffness at low glass loadings, which results in a resin-rich surface that can be painted without priming. Called LNP VERTON PCA-F-7004 EM compound, the material provides exceptional strength as evidenced by the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) back test, where it passed twice the normal load requirement with no sign of fatigue or failure.

The compound also provides a degree of flex for seating comfort. “This was an unexpected, but very welcome outcome,” says Bernhardt’s Zack Lyon. “The material gives the plastic chair flexibility that the wooden chair doesn’t have…it’s not only comfortable, but it has a built-in rocking aspect, a fidget factor. It was an unplanned, unpredictable, positive outcome that has turned into a selling feature for the chair.”

The plastic version sells for roughly half the price of the wooden chair and takes only a fraction of the time to produce. It is Bernhardt’s first foray into plastics, but won’t be the last, according to Lyon. “Based on the way things went with this project, Mack Molding will be our go-to molder on the next launch project. The collaborative effort was very important to the overall success of the product.”

Contacts:
Ken Kincaid, Mack Molding, kkincaid@mackmolding.com
Steve Langen, Mack Molding, slangen@mackmolding.com
Zack Lyon, Bernhardt Design, zacklyon@bernhardt.com

About Ross Lovegrove
Ross Lovegrove was born in Cardiff, Wales. He studied design at Manchester Polytechnic, and later, at the Royal College of Art, London. He then worked for the well-known design consultancy, Frog Design, where he worked on such projects as the Sony Walkman and Apple computers. As an in-house designer for Knoll International in Paris, Lovegrove designed the successful Alessandri Office System. He has served as design consultant for many large firms, including Louis Vuitton, Dupont and Hermes.

The quest for continuous improvement and customer satisfaction has been part of Mack Molding’s mission and key values since its start in 1920. In the early ’90s, we ratcheted up that endeavor in pursuit of perfection and total customer satisfaction. Today, Mack is formalizing that process even further through Six Sigma training. “Our overall goals are to cut out waste, drive toward lean manufacturing, and eliminate any steps in the process that don’t add value to the final product,” says Ray Burns, president of Mack Molding’s southern operations.

Steve Parker and Brian Colton, quality managers at Mack’s Inman, S.C., and Statesville, N.C., facilities, are pursuing Black Belt training through PACCAR Inc., parent company of key customers, Peterbilt and Kenworth. The four-week course is a methodology based around DMAIC – define, measure, analyze, improve and control. It focuses on root cause analysis or the original reasons for nonconformance with a process; process improvement; statistical methods to analyze and monitor process capability and performance; and waste elimination.

Currently in their final week of training, both Parker and Colton are completing process-related projects that will have bottom-line results for all customers. Parker is looking to speed up the root cause/corrective action process that is employed when a defective part is made, while Colton is studying ways to decrease the set-up time needed to change tools in the press.

Parker has worked in the quality assurance field for nearly 20 years, with much of that time in plastics. He began working for Mack in 1992. A graduate of Limestone College, Gaffney, S.C., he holds a bachelor’s degree in business, and is a lead assessor for ISO 9001:2000. Colton, an engineering graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, was quality and engineering manager for the Alcatel Fiber Optic Plant, Claremont, N.C., before joining Mack in 2002.

Wanda Knowles, director of quality and information systems at Mack’s headquarters plant in Arlington, Vt., is also currently participating in Six Sigma training. As part of her project, Knowles is working in concert with a customer to uncover process improvements for a new product launch.

Knowles joined Mack in 2000 with 22 years of quality management expertise garnered while working with such prominent OEMs as Simplex Time Recorder and Bose Corporation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in quality management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a master’s in project management from Tufts University, The Gordon Institute, Medford, Mass. An ASQ certified quality engineer, Knowles is also an ISO 9001:2000 internal auditor.

Contacts:
Steve Parker, sparker@mackmolding.com
Brian Colton, bcolton@mackmolding.com
Wanda Knowles, wanda.knowles@mack.com