PLENARY SPEAKERS
3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing
Scott Schiller
Global Head of Customer & Market Development, HP Inc
Monday, May 7
Role of Material Science and Application Development for a Successful Product Launch - Reflections on Metallocene Polyethylene Revolution
Dr. Rajen M. Patel
Performance Packaging, Technical Service and Development, Dow Chemical Company
Tuesday, May 8
Advanced Industry Training & Education to Match Industry Needs
John Beaumont
President & CEO, American Injection Molding Institute and Beaumont Technologies
Wednesday, May 9
Controlled Structuring of Polymers by Processing – Science, Technology and Applications
Professor Phil Coates, FREng
Polymer IRC, University of Bradford
Thursday, May 10
3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
SCOTT SCHILLER
Global Head of Customer & Market Development, HP Inc
(Joseph) Scott Schiller is the world-wide Head of Customer and Market Development for HP’s 3D Printing global business unit. His position has accountability for vertical market development, strategic customer engagement as well as strategic partnerships and alliances across HP’s 3D printing initiatives. Scott is based in Barcelona, Spain.
Joining the 3D printing organization in January 2014, Scott served as Business Director for the launch of Multi Jet Fusion™. Prior to that he spent eight years as part of the team that built a new business in HP focused on mass customization solutions for high volume print manufacturing. This business continues today as HP’s PageWide Press division.
Prior to joining HP, Scott had a variety of entrepreneurial and product development roles with companies such as Honeywell, Microsoft as well as leading several smaller businesses in Seattle. Scott holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology as well as an MBA in Technology Marketing from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Monday Plenary Sponsor
Role of Material Science and Application Development for a Successful Product Launch - Reflections on Metallocene Polyethylene Revolution
ABSTRACT
Markets trends of cost reduction, consumer convenience, sustainability & down-gaging drive the need for new and improved products. Polyethylene has a long and rich history of product, process and fabrications innovations to meet growing market needs over the last 80 years. Successful development and commercialization of new technology (or an invention) is crucial to the industry for value creation. Since early 1990's, the development and commercialization of metallocene and post-metallocene technologies have greatly expanded the product and applications ranges of polyethylene resins. This presentation will describe the paradigm shift created by metallocene polyethylene, key applications, and role of material science and applications development in the commercial success of metallocene polyethylene resins. The presenter will also share his reflections on what makes a product launch successful.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
DR. RAJEN M. PATEL
Performance Packaging, Technical Service and Development, Dow Chemical Company
Dr. Rajen Patel joined Polyolefins R&D of the Dow chemical company in June 1991 in the materials science group and transferred to Polyolefins Technical Service and Development (TS&D) group of the Dow chemical company in November 2007. He has worked in various research and applications development areas including polyolefins characterization (thermal & rheological), structure-processing-properties relationships in polyolefins, and product development in variety of applications such as hygiene & medical, oriented shrink films, collation shrink film, stretch hood films, sealants, cast stretch films, blown films, extrusion coating, tie-layers, barrier, elastic films and fibers. He has researched extensively on materials science and applications development of single-site (metallocene) catalyzed Polyolefins. He has written a chapter on structure-properties and applications of Polyolefins produced by single-site catalyst technology in encyclopedia of chemical processing and design.
He has co-authored 22 technical peer reviewed journal publications, more than 35 articles in conference proceedings and 9 book or encyclopedia chapters. He is also a co-inventor of 51 granted US patents, 29 granted EP patents, and 32 pending patent applications. In 2009, he was elected as Fellow of Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). He is a board member of SPE's Engineering Properties and Structure division (ESPDIV). He is the recipient of 2 Dow Inventor of the Year Awards and The Dow Excellence in Science Award. He is currently an Associate Research Fellow in the Packaging and Specialty Plastics technical service and development (TS&D) group in the Dow Chemical Company leading packaging applications development.
Rajen Patel obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Bombay in 1984. He joined university of Tennessee, Knoxville, U.S.A. in September 1985 and obtained M.S. in December 1987 and Ph.D. in May, 1991, both in Polymer Science & Engineering.
Advanced Industry Training & Education to Match Industry Needs
ABSTRACT
Finding and preparing knowledgeable people for the plastics industry is becoming increasing difficult in the face of a strengthening economy and low unemployment. This challenge is compounded by a dwindling pool of resources as recent X, Y and Z generations entering STEM fields are not keeping pace with the retirement of the earlier baby boomers. Of those who have pursued engineering degrees less than 0.4% received B.S. degrees in plastics despite it being one of the largest industries in the world. As a result, despite the complexity of our industry a vast majority of engineers are brought up on in-house tribal knowledge. This presentation explores the challenges of preparing engineers to be impact players and presents new educational models that target practicing professionals in specific industry segments.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
JOHN BEAUMONT
President, American Injection Molding Institute
CEO, Beaumont Technologies
John Beaumont is the founder and President of the American Injection Molding Institute and Beaumont Technologies. He is also a Professor Emeritus at Penn State University where he helped develop, chaired and taught courses in the Plastics Engineering Technology Program for 25 years. In 2013 John retired from Penn State to establish the American Injection Molding Institute which is focused on the development and delivery of a new generation of educational programs to practicing professional. In 2017 the Institute became the first to offer an ANSI Accredited plastics Certificate program. Prior to entering the world of education, John held industry positions including Technical Manager for Moldflow's US operations and Engineering Manager for Ciba Vision Corp. John is a member of the Plastics Pioneers, an SPE Fellow, recipient of the 2018 SPE Education Award and is a 2014 inductee to the Plastics Hall of Fame.
Controlled structuring of polymers by processing - science, technology and applications
ABSTRACT
It is increasingly recognised that properties of polymers and polymer composites depend on the structure imparted during processing, which we term 'process structuring'.
Solid phase orientation processing at temperatures between Tg and the melting point provides a most striking example of process structuring, in terms of the magnitude of property changes which can be achieved-e.g., several hundred percent enhancements in physical properties. Molecular orientations and large scale effective morphological reorganisations achieved by drawing or other forming processes can be locked into the final product, which remain stable in final products. The products can be used for significant load bearing applications, or orientation may be intentionally recoverable in a controlled manner, for 'shape memory' products. Remarkable cost-effective improvements in properties can consequently be achieved in many polymers and polymer composites by solid phase orientation processing, with applications including medical technology (e.g. tissue fixations, stents, drug eluting implants), construction (the spin-out at www.eovationsllc.com ), high performance pipes, and personal products. Die drawing is a unique technology where solid polymers are drawn through a die or over mandrels, to achieve controlled enhancement of physical properties for many polymers, including selected axial or biaxial orientation distributions, at commercially viable production rates and at a range of length scales, e.g. 100 micron wall thickness tubes for bioresorbable stents, to tens of millimetres thick sections for structural applications, in either batch or continuous mode processing. Our fundamental studies of polymer deformation, include necking and structural evolution analyses, and FEA of processing, including current collaborations with leading Chinese research groups, in Sichuan and Changchun, for structure developments, and the potential for using oriented polymers in medical technology applications.
Secondly, our precision micro moulding area involves controlled process-structuring of polymers, including control of morphologies e.g. for shape memory products, blends, electrically conducting materials, and geometries, e.g. surface feature control. We employ and develop extensive in-process measurements. Some commercialised or developing products, particularly in the medical devices area, are discussed.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
PROFESSOR PHIL D. COATES
BSc ARCS MSc PhD FREng FIMechE FIMMM CEng
Professor Phil Coates is a Physics graduate (Imperial College), London. His PhD research was on solid phase deformation processing of polymers (Leeds University). Prof Coates was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1995. He was Pro Vice Chancellor for Research & Knowledge Transfer at Bradford for 7 years (2004-11), and is Professor of Polymer Engineering, at the University of Bradford. He is Director of the internationally recognised Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) (across the Universities of Leeds, Bradford, Durham and Sheffield), with some 50 researchers at Bradford involved at the leading edge of in-process measurements for process monitoring, analysis and control, and computer modelling in a 4500 m2 laboratory. The research targets high value polymer products for a range of sectors - healthcare technology (including bioresorbable polymers for orthopaedic applications), pharmaceuticals processing, optical, automotive and advanced materials developments, including nanocomposites and reactive grafting, all with pioneering in-process measurement and modelling. He is a director of MeDe Innovation, the £5.7m EPSRC Centre of Innovative Manufacturing in Medical Devices, founded in 2013 across Leeds, Bradford, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield Universities. His research has substantial support (over £50 million total grants and contracts) from UK Government sources and industry, with over 150 companies collaborating in the research programmes from the USA, Europe, the Middle East, China, Australia and Japan. Similarly, the research involves strong international cooperation in the UK, Europe, N America, Japan and particularly China.
He directs the RCUK Bradford Science Bridges China/ ESPRC Global Engagements programme - a government sponsored collaboration (which has achieved over £15m total UK and China support to date) with over 20 Chinese Universities focussed on advanced materials for healthcare technologies, based around a research and open innovation platform. He leads the UK-China Advanced Materials Research Institute (UK-China AMRI). He is an Honorary Professor of Sichuan University and Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and a Molecular Sciences Forum Professor at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing and CIACAS Changchun, and has high quality joint publications with these groups. He has three joint laboratories with leading Chinese groups: (1) The first formed in 2010 with Sichuan University State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, on Polymer Microprocessing - this is a nationally approved (by MOST) 'national international' laboratory, and we have a range of joint international grants from MOST, NSFC and MoE in China; (2) The second formed in 2015 with Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Polymer Process Physics. We have joint grants (Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship (2014-5) and a Royal Society Newton Advanced Fellowship (Prof Y Men, 2015-18), plus joint high level publications and research exchanges; (3) the third in Dec 2016 with Beijing University of Chemical Technology on Soft Matter Technologies. He is also a Famous Overseas Scholar and member of the National Bureau of Foreign Experts of China. He was the first recipient of the Tianfu Friendship Award in 2015, and received the first International Science Cooperation award from Sichuan in 2016. He co-founded (with Prof Li Guangxian, senior Vice President of Sichuan University) the UK-China Advanced Materials Research Institute in 2012, which maps onto our continuing Science Bridges China platform, which continues to thrive with researcher exchanges. He has just been honoured with the Chinese National Science & Technology Award for International Cooperation (2017), presented by President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders.
He runs research workshops (11 to date, at 1 or 2 per annum in the UK and China) with Chinese and UK academic partners (Leeds, Sheffield, Durham, Nottingham and Newcastle in particular), linking also with the EPSRC CIM in Medical Devices (MeDe). In addition, Prof Coates is involved with research in India, particularly in the leading Institute for Chemical Technology, Mumbai and the CSIR National Chemical Laboratory, Pune.
Prof Coates is a director of Medilink (Y&H) Ltd. He was a founder member of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership Business, Innovation and Growth Panel (for 8 years, part as chairman), and has continued to promote the international potential for links (see above).
He was honoured by the award of the Institute of Materials (IOM3) Netlon Gold Medal for Innovation in Polymer Processing (1999), the Plastics Industry Award for personal contribution to the industry (2006), the IOM3 Swinburne Award (2008), the Tianfu Friendship Award of Sichuan Province (2015), the Sichuan International Cooperation Award (2106), the JL White International Innovation Award (2017) and the Chinese National Science & Technology Award for International Cooperation (2017). He is a long-standing member of the International Polymer Processing Society committee, and has organised a wide range of international conferences, and regularly gives invited, keynote and plenary lectures. He has published extensively - over 300 papers in scientific journals and has co-authored 9 books, and edited 7 books. He holds 12 patents. He is Chief Editor of the IoM3 international journal, Plastics, Rubber and Composites: Macromolecular Engineering. He is married to Jane (for over 46 years), with four children and four grandchildren; in addition to family, his chief interests are in music, his church and computers.
