Nearly three dozen attend annual thermoforming workshop

A group of 35 employees from 18 companies attended the Hands-On Thermoforming Workshop at Pennsylvania College of Technology from June 27-29, schooled by in-house and industry experts on essential elements from materials to finished product.

Mark Strachan, of OMV Technologies LLC in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, instructed the class on  thermoforming fundamentals as well as focusing on thin-gauge (or roll-fed) processing; and Christopher J. Gagliano, project manager for the Plastics Innovation & Resource Center at Penn College, co-lectured on heavy-gauge (or cut-sheet) processing.

Hands-on sessions in the college’s well-equipped labs included techniques and troubleshooting, materials testing and sheet extrusion basics.

The seminar and workshop, for which Primex Plastics Corp. was the platinum sponsor, was the latest in the PIRC’s summer series of development opportunities for plastics and polymer professionals. Participants traveled to the college’s main campus from Ontario, Canada, and from 14 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Assisting the instructors were guest speakers Joseph E. LeBlanc, assistant professor of physics in the School of Business, Arts & Sciences; Julie Griswold, of W.R. Sharples Co., North Attleboro, Massachusetts; John Moy, of CMT Materials in Attleboro; and Darrell Stafford, of Catalysis Additive Tooling LLC, Columbus, Ohio.

Nathan A. Rader-Edkin, PIRC program manager and a 2019 Penn College alumnus of the four-year plastics & polymer engineering technology major, also shared his knowledge during the workshop.

“Spending three days with industry experts – being able to bounce ideas off of them, get questions answered and learn best practices – has been invaluable,” said manufacturing engineer Mark McCoy, who attended with a colleague from Gemstar Manufacturing in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. “We will be able to return to work with a better understanding of the thermoforming process.”

“As a new member of the plastics industry, this workshop helped me deepen my understanding of the thermoforming process to better aid my company and our customers,” added Nick Damraksa, a product development engineer at EasyPak LLC in Leominster, Massachusetts.

To learn more about the PIRC, call 570-321-5533.

Penn College offers two plastics degrees through its School of Engineering Technologies – a bachelor’s in plastics & polymer engineering technology and an associate degree in plastics & polymer technology – and is one seven institutions accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET.

For more about the college, a national leader in applied technology education, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.