SPECSheet
Society of Plastics Engineers / Cleveland Section
VOL 65 NO 3
Tour of Entec Ravago Americas new polymer distribution, recycling and compounding building in Medina, Ohio. The 500,000 square foot building includes a large warehouse, plant and office space. The new sixteen by sixty feet high silos provide storage for the plastic pellets that will be shipped around the world to meet their client’s demands.
Ravago Manufacturing produces a wide range of plastic and rubber materials from high performance engineered resins to recycled post-consumer materials. The facility will include pulverizing equipment to make rotational molding grades of plastic resin. The state of the art facility also includes extensive material testing capabilities along with 17-20 silos, railway sidings, and boxing and bagging equipment.
Next Meeting:
Location
Ravago Manufacturing Americas
5192 Lake Rd
Medina, OH 44256 + Google Map
5:30 pm Registration at Ravago
6:15 pm plant tours start
Dinner to follow tours
Cost
Professional $tbd
Retired $tbd
Student $tbd
Non-Member $tbd
New Member – first meeting Free
Reservations
Reservations must be in by noon on Fri., Nov. 8 and can be made to Gary Taylor at 330-419-4380 or akronspe1@gmail.com. Be sure to include your company affiliation and any dietary restrictions.
Cleveland SPE Members,
September was an exciting start of the 2019-2020 season for us with so many activities, such as CAD RETEC held at Cleveland. With leaves turning red, we are expecting more events coming in the Fall.
Vinyltec is co-presented by our fellow Akron section from 10/1-10/3. Cleveland session will sponsor another seminar this year at the department of macromolecular science and engineering in Case Western Reserve university on 10/11 (Friday, start at 3:15 pm). Furthermore, our Tymex plant tour is scheduled on 10/14. Look forward to seeing many of you.
Thank you!
Guojun Zhang
President
SPE Cleveland
1st Place Winner: Stephen Sun, Hawken Upper School in Gates Mills, OH.
“Polymer Based Modification on Peristaltic Locomotion of a Modular Mesh-based Robot”.
2nd Place Winner: Carly Justice, Firestone High School in Akron, OH.
“Recycling Plastics in Lightweight Concrete: Reducing Global Waste”.
3rd Place Winner: Charles Pafford, Incarnate Word Academy in Parma Heights, OH.
“Materials and Design Optimization for Fused Deposition Modeling Application of Vehicle Suspension Parts.”
2019/2020 SPE Scholarship Winner – Teegan Smith
Shawnee State College in Portsmouth Ohio, Associates Degree in Plastics Engineering and Computer Aided Design.
Tymex Plastics is a privately held company that was established in 2001 to primarily serve the rotational molding industry with state-of-the-art compounding and pulverizing capabilities. While pursuing this market, many opportunities arose that set the stage for the full-service plastic compounder and recycler they have now become.
Tymex has a management team with over 85 years of plastics sales, operations, and production experience. They specialize in the implementation of cost saving thermoplastic recycling and color compounding programs that provide our customers with various options what will conform to their needs and abilities. With a production facility of nearly 160,000 square feet, Tymex has the capabilities to handle a wide range of compounding programs.
Attendees: Wadell, C. Potter, R. Raleigh, J. Sovis, D. Meade, G, Zhang, D. Crist, R. Keeley, Z. Li (guest from CASE) and R. Opalko.
Missing members: J. Blayne
Officer Reports:
Treasurer – J. Sovis stated that the CAD of SPE will reimburse the CLE Section $1600 for our section’s attendance at the CAD RETEC in Cleveland. Also, SPE National will send us $380 in pass-through dues at the end of October. J. Sovis said that we are now approximately + $1100 more in income for the year. G. Zhang has asked CASE to send J. Sovis the receipt for our recent $100 donation for the food after the 10-11-19 event held at CASE.
Counselor – In addition to a review of his notes from the September meeting (see below), D. Meade said that the Nebraska section is dissolving due to low participation.
From September: D. Meade mentioned that due to a change in procedure at National, final results of all board elections are due to National by June 15 every year, starting in 2020. Meade will participate in a conference call Sept 20. Will also attend counselor meeting in CT in Nov.
Membership:
T. Waddell circulated a spreadsheet prior to the meeting which gave in great detail, the section’s demographics circa 2017. He volunteered to update this for 2019. Members discussed how we can use this data to promote the CLE section to companies prior to, or during tour events. There was also some discussion about getting other schools involved (Ohio University, schools in the Sandusky / Toledo area, companies east of CLE). Membership stands at 186.
Committee Chairs:
House – D. Crist reported that we had 23 attendees for the Tymex tour, for a $225 profit. D. Meade noted that the Akron section may want to hold a joint Christmas party with the CLE section this year. It was unclear if this was in lieu of or in addition to, the Akron party. D. Meade will investigate.
Communications – C. Potter had nothing to report.
Education – R. Raleigh reported that Lake Ridge Academy is scheduled with the PlastiVan for early November. Feedback on the 10-11-19 event at CASE was very favorable, and that they want to have this event 2+ times/year. R. Raleigh will provide assistance to the student chapter at CASE as needed (charter, etc.).
Technical Programs – R. Keeley said that there are no changes for the last of 2019 and early 2020, but solicited members for events later in 2020.
Education – R. Raleigh reported that Lake Ridge Academy is scheduled with the PlastiVan for early November. Feedback on the 10-11-19 event at CASE was very favorable, and that they want to have this event 2+ times/year. R. Raleigh will provide assistance to the student chapter at CASE as needed (charter, etc.).
Injection Molding Division Topcon – Still has not decided on a venue, so the CLE cannot help at this point. R. Raleigh gave some detail on how VinylTec was done, and that we might want to follow that template.
New Business:
J. Sovis & C. Potter crafted a recruitment letter that we want to send to the management at target companies. The letter requests education programs sponsorship support for scholarships and PlastiVan events. Letter had been reviewed by the Board prior to this meeting and approved for delivery.
Cleveland Technical Societies Council (CTSC)
As part of SPE Cleveland’s membership in CTSC (ctsc.org), you’re invited to subscribe to the CTSC’s TechWeek email listing of area events staged by the various technical and engineering groups in Northeast Ohio. Each TechWeek will feature a comprehensive listing of the speakers, tours, panel discussions and other programs which are either sponsored or co-sponsored by a CTSC member society. Each listing also includes live links to register or to get more information
about these events. This is a free CTSC service and there is no cost or obligation. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Also, as a new feature within TechWeek, we are providing a short listing of engineering and technical job posting courtesy of Search Masters. Each job posted will be linked to a profile with more information about that job.
Upcoming SPE Events
