Hall of Fame entry adds to Prischak s legacy
Plastics News photo by Don Loepp
Joseph Prischak is considered the father of the plastics engineering technology program at Penn State Erie, which has produced more than 1,000 graduates and is the largest undergraduate plastics program in the country.
2021 is turning out to be a year of milestones for Joseph Prischak.
First, the company he founded, Plastek Group, a major global injection molder and toolmaker based in Erie, Pa., was named
Plastics News Processor of the Year.
A few weeks later, he celebrated his 90th birthday. (Joe expects to see many more. His father made it to 101.)
Neumann led Engel s global growth, found partners who ‘push us to new limits
Photos courtesy of Peter Neumann
Peter Neumann steered Engel during technological changes like rising automation, which the company closely linked to its molding machines to offer manufacturers in high-cost, developed countries ways to boost their competitiveness.
Peter Neumann, former CEO of Engel Holding GmbH, enters the Plastics Hall of Fame after putting the injection press maker on a path that s made it one of the world s largest molding machine suppliers.
Neumann, who became head of the group in 1997 and retired in 2016, oversaw the building of the company s three factories in Asia, dramatic investments that positioned it to take advantage of the economic growth in China and the region the last two decades.
Reifenhäuser, ‘global spokesperson for plastics, joins Hall of Fame
Plastics News photo by Caroline Seidel
Ulrich Reifenhäuser of Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik at the company’s Fakuma 2018 booth.
German machinery executive Ulrich Reifenhäuser, who joins the Plastics Hall of Fame this year, grew up with plastics at the dinner table.
His father, Hans, was the second generation running extrusion supplier Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik, and both the business and his father were a strong presence. Reifenhäuser was a family-owned company, and my father was the big and strong guy, he said. Being his kid, he always brought the company into the family. I met with customers, and I met with employees who would sit at the dinner table.
Inductees flew millions of miles before Hall of Fame
Inductees flew millions of miles before Hall of Fame
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This year s class of Plastics Hall of Fame inductees have all traveled to dozens of countries and many were still on the move even as they have entered retirement.
They flew for work, trade shows, conferences, speeches and pleasure. That is, until early 2020 when they were put on house arrest, as Vince Witherup said during a recent interview with
Plastics News.
The coronavirus pandemic grounded or reduced most airline travel, which was one of the reasons the Plastics Academy Hall of Fame ceremony was delayed alongside NPE2021. The ceremony will now take place in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Oct. 7 during the Plastics Industry Association s annual meeting and fall conference. All inductees intend to make the trip.
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