Production disruption from February's winter storm and cold along the Gulf Coast adds to existing shortages to push polypropylene prices beyond normal numbers.
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2021 Rising Stars: Matthew Zessin
Market Manager, Automotive, M. Holland Co.
Matthew Zessin has always been interested in plastics, specifically automotive. He was raised in the suburbs of Detroit, the Motor City.
Zessin graduated from Marquette University with a Bachelor of Business Administration, having majored in supply chain management and marketing. His first plastics job was working for Polymer Z, an automotive plastic distribution company that was acquired by resin distributor M. Holland Co. in 2015. I started in a supply chain role looking to maximize inventory positions while working closely with our customer base, he said. From there, I moved to external sales as we looked to grow the business with both new and existing customers.
2021 Rising Stars: Colleen Lavelle
Technical Service and Development Engineer, M. Holland Co.
Colleen Lavelle graduated from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics. Her first job in the plastics industry was a lab engineer internship at T&T Marketing, a distributor of polymer resins and compounds to the wire and cable market, where she worked on a product development project. I was initially drawn to the internship because of the hands-on research and development work I d get to partake in. I enjoyed working with plastics materials because they are very versatile and extremely functional across many industries, she said. I also enjoyed the challenge of creating a product that balanced properties in a new way to offer tangible benefits.
2021 Rising Stars: Maggie Highberger
Account Manager, M. Holland Co.
Maggie Highberger said she became drawn to the plastics industry because of its continuously growing opportunities and technology.
Highberger was born in Kansas City and graduated from Pittsburg State University in Kansas with a bachelor s degree in plastics engineering technology. Her first plastics-related job was an internship at Kohler Co. in Sheridan, Ark., making toilet seats and components. The internship taught me not only how to work with my hands, changing molds, but also how to build relationships with everyone involved in the manufacturing process, Highberger said. My experience at Kohler taught me so much that it could fill a book, and every day I am grateful that experience was my first look at the plastics industry.