Plastics Pioneers Elect Three New Members

The Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA) elected three new members at its fall meeting, held September 26-28.

The PPA is a 71-yr-old organization founded by indviduals whose careers were spent in the plastic industry and whose aims are “Honoring the Past and Ensuring the Future” through fellowship and scholarship. People in the plastics industry are nominated to the organization for their outstanding contributions to the industry and elected into the organization by PPA members.

The new members are:

• Brenda Clark, HASCO America, engineering manager: Brenda Clark began her 36-yr career in plastics while in high school, and is a mold designer by trade with a degree in Machine Design in Mechanical Technology from Hartford State Technical College in Hartford, Conn. Her first position in the industry was with a small custom mold builder, Accurate Plastic Tooling in East Hartford, Conn., where she was working on connector molds.

There she learned mold building, mold design, processing and even how to play golf before she moved to North Carolina. Specialties of her expertise include standard mold bases—metric and inch—mold base components, technical specialty components for special mold base operations, hot runner systems, customer service and application reviews for new and old molds. Over the last 14 years at HASCO America, she helps mold builders and designers with their projects.

Clark also works closely with technical colleges and universities in her local area, and across the U.S. to help them with finding available funding/grants, and equipment such as mold plates and components and supplying training assistance. Educating the next generation is a key goal for Brenda and for her current employer.

She is a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers, the Plastics Industry Association, and the American Mold Builders Association. She is also the past Chair of the SPE Mold Technologies Division 2017-2018. Clark was elected as Mold Designer of the Year for 2019 by the SPE Mold Technologies Division, and she received a $500 honorarium which she donated to the Blue Ridge Technical College in Flat Rock, N.C. which provides a class in mold design.

• David J. Anzini, manufacturing technical manager, Celgard LLC: David Anzini has spent 39 years in the plastics industry. He holds an M.S. and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut.

Currently he is the manufacturing technical manager for Celgard LLC, a division of Polypore International Inc., responsible for the development of improved and next generation blown film processes to produce microporous films for lithium ion battery separator applications. Polypore is a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Kasei, a multi-billion dollar manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo. 

Anzini has also worked for Zip-Pak, Pactiv, Conwed Plastics, Mobil Chemical, and BP Performance Polymers. He holds multiple patents and has several patent applications pending. He is a member of the ITW Patent Society. Anzini is also a senior member of the Society of Plastics Engineers, serving on the Extrusion Division Board of Directors since 2001. He will be SPE’s overall ANTEC Technical Program Chair for the 2021 and 2022 conferences.

• Roger C. Klouda, president, MSI Mold Builders: Roger Klouda joined the mold building industry in 1978 at MSI Mold Builders in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and became president in 1988. MSI is a 100-person mold manufacturer with plant in both Cedar Rapids and Greenville, S.C.

Klouda has led the charge for a transition to mold manufacturing, both at MSI and in the industry at large, opening his plant to competitors on numerous occasions to showcase the benefits of lean manufacturing in a “one-off” environment. He has shared manufacturing best practices at numerous trade meetings.

As an extremely active member of trade associations, he has worked hard to promote the industry—as well as the profession—of mold building. He has partnered with Kirkwood Community College in the area of Advanced Manufacturing with emphasis on CNC machining and CAD design, funding scholarships for community college students. He frequently opens his plant for local community college and high school students to tour.

Klouda also helped lead a statewide Apprentice Training Program for mold making via the Iowa Cable Network, in which apprentices statewide receive classroom training over an interactive cable network. He is currently helping develop programs focused on elevating awareness of Advanced Manufacturing as an excellent career choice.

Klouda is past president of the Iowa Chapter of the SPE and has been a member of Executive Board of the Plastics Industry Association since 1995. He was the 2000 recipient of the SPI Structural Plastics Division Recognition Award. He has served on the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA) Board of Directors from 2001-2013. In 2006 he was the recipient of the AMBA Mold Maker of the Year Award. In 2013 Klouda was recognized as SPE Mold Maker of the Year for his lifelong contributions to the moldmaking industry.