People, Places, and Things

FTM, Inc. announced the acquisition of Westedge, Inc., manufacturer of the Acryl-Hinge 2™, Acryl-Hinge Small™, Acryl-Pull Handles™, Acryl-Knob™, Business Card Pockets™, and the all-weather Flex-Fold 2™ acrylic/urethane continuous hinge. FTM, Inc. is a manufacturer of strip heating equipment for in line bending of thermoplastics and a major distributor of plastic fabrication supplies and accessories. They will continue the Westedge tradition of providing quality products and excellent service and can now offer a unique pricing advantage to their customers. Pictured on the left is Robert Krolick, former Owner of Westedge, Inc., and Bob Ayrest, CEO of FTM, Inc.

Amicon Plastics and UFC Fluorogreen, both part of the ATG Companies, announced the appointment of Hartwell Associates, Inc. as their manufacturer’s representative in New England, New York State, the Mid-Atlantic States and eastern Canada. Amicon Plastics is a manufacturer of PTFE skived sheet, molded rod and cylinders; they also mold and machine high performance custom engineered products. UFC Fluorogreen manufactures high performance gaskets and packing.

The International Association of Plastics Distributors awarded the 2001 Paul Davis Award of Merit for lifetime achievement on James A. Harrington, President of Engineered Material Sales, Inc. at their recent convention. Harrington, on the right, received the award from Ed Statter, President of Regal Plastics and last year's recipient.

Kleerdex Company has retained Jeff Bostic of Three-Four Solutions, LLC to represent the Kydex sheet product line in the Pacific Northwest.

Ensinger Industries, Inc. announced the appointment of Mike Gehrig as General Manager of Penn Fibre Plastics. Gehrig will relocate to the Bensalem, PA, offices and in his new position will take direct charge of the administrative and sales departments, in addition to overseeing Penn Fibre’s physical and manufacturing facilities.

Ensinger also announced the appointment of Ken Carlton as Production Inventory Control Manager of Ensinger-Hyde. Carlton will take direct charge of production scheduling, warehousing and inventory control at Ensinger-Hyde’s engineering plastic stock shapes facilities located in Washington, PA, and Grenloch, NJ. Ken Grier has been appointed as Technical Resources Manager of Ensinger-Hyde facilities located in Washington, Placentia, and Grenloch. Lastly, Dean Angel has been appointed Acting Production Manager of Ensinger-Hyde’s Washington facility.

Eastman Chemical names J. Brian Ferguson Chairman and CEO replacing Earnest J. Davenport who has retired.

Sustatech LLC, a new unit of Sustaplast, appointed Ken Schwartz V.P. Sales and Marketing.

King Plastic added Rick Butler as its marine products sales manager and appointed Rick Rice as industrial products sales manager.

Cast Nylons Limited announced the promotion of Stephen R. Tischler to Vice President and General Manager. Tischler was previously the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Also David Green has been selected as Operations Manager.

Lehigh Valley Plastics, Inc. announced the addition Rick Schmehl to the position of Outside Sales Account Representative focusing on the Northeast Region, and Brian Russo to the position of Manufacturing Supervisor of their Fairmont plant, where he will direct operations in the machine shop and fabrication department.

Transparent Protection Systems, Inc. (TPS), a wholly owned division of The Nytef Group, announced the appointment of Eddie Artajo to the position of Manufacturing Manager. Artajo has been involved in the startup and management of plastics extrusion plants for over 30 years, specializing in the design development and extrusion of custom profile shapes.

Moe Kessler, lifelong New York City resident as well as the founder, president and CEO of Outwater Plastics Industries and Architectural Products by Outwater died on December 4 in Manhattan.

Kessler established Outwater Plastics Industries in August of 1972. It was founded on the premise of providing small furniture and cabinet manufacturers with a source from which they could purchase extruded plastic moldings in quantities that actually reflected their requirements rather than the set substantial minimum quantities dictated by the plastic extrusion manufacturers at the time.

He is survived by his second wife, Linda, his two sons, Richard and Peter, daughter-in-law, Susan, and was the beloved grandfather of Stephen, Faye Lauren, and William.

Jerry Minkus, 81, a pioneer in plastics distribution and co-owner of Transparent Products Corporation, passed away January 12, in Bainbridge Island, WA. Minkus spent most of his life in the plastics business.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 58 1/2 years, Maurine in May 1999. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law Ken and Nancy, owners of International Plastics, and daughter and son-in-law Jerrine and David Rowley.

Correction - In the November/December issue we reported the recent Sheffield Plastics Inc. expansion and reorganization of their marketing and sales teams in error. The three new industry Manager positions, New Product Development Manager position, and a Marketing Communications Manager positions were filled by Doug Mahler, Industry Manager, Architectural Glazing & Security; Brian Faul, Industry Manager, OEM Markets; Jeff Hester, Industry Manager, Sign and P.O.P. Industry; Craig Pehlert, New Product Development Manager; and D.J. Jantz, Marketing, Communications Manager. Each position will report directly to Sheffield’s new Vice President of Marketing & Sales, Kurt Glaser.

For more information, contact The Plastics Distributor & Fabricator Magazine at the address below.