SPE Product Design and Development Division

By: Albert McGovern

Glenn Beall, known internationally as the ‘Father of Plastics Design Principles’, and a founder of PD3, was recently celebrated as the Division’s first Emeritus Member for his extensive leadership and mentoring. The PD3 Board unanimously and exuberantly approved this long overdue recognition of Glenn’s innumerable contributions to the plastic design community.

A custom trophy, made from a cow horn and gold-toned metal mounted on a walnut plinth, was designed and obtained by Mark Wolverton, PD3 Board Member (and long-time friend of Glenn’s), who presented it to Glenn on March 17th. It recognizes Glenn’s long-term interest in plastics artifacts (see also Plastics Pioneers Reading Room at Bird Library in Syracuse University), particularly those made from horn, as evidenced by the fact that he is the only US member of the The Worshipful Company of Horners (UK). Here’s a brief excerpt from their History page to whet your appetite for learning more about this fascinating group that dates to at least the year 1284:

“Whilst the use of horn continued to decline, the twentieth century saw a considerable rise in the Company’s fortunes. Through a succession of enterprising Clerks and Masters, their numbers were allowed to rise to 100 in 1905 and then to 200 in 1925. Seven Horners have served as Lord Mayor and many others in the office of Sheriff. In 1943, recognising that the working of horn was no longer a viable industry, the Company had the great foresight to adopt its modern equivalent, the Plastics Industry. Since that time the Company has played a role, and kept pace with a significant international technological industry. Similarly, bottle production has progressed to be a major consumer of plastic materials, and bottlemaking once more fits the Horners’ portfolio.”

Glenn is also one of the Master Historians in The Honourable Company of Horners, a much newer US-based version of the UK group. Glenn was extremely appreciative of the Emeritus honor and most especially of the trophy, which he said will surely go to the front of his collection of previous awards—which include being an SPE Distinguished Member (one of only 6 such Members who were not first the SPE President); induction into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1997, and; Member of the Plastics Pioneers of America.

Congratulations, Glenn, on this most worthy award!

Hello Product Design and Development Division (PD3) Members!

It has been a busy and exciting start to the year. Our flagship event, ANTEC, was held in March where our board was instrumental in helping organize the Mike Sepe Symposium. This symposium highlighted the practical, applied use for the typical material and testing knowledge often presented at ANTEC. Our Past-Chair, Al McGovern, was one of the presenters and organizers of the event. During the symposium each of the speakers took their area of expertise and highlighted how incorporating their data helped companies save money in designing more robust parts. Helping to organize this symposium was a great way to follow through on our goal of bringing our members content that helps them better design sustainable plastic products. If you are interested in seeing the type of content that was shared, I encourage you to watch a small video clip of two of the presentations here. You will also see another example of content at ANTEC through our technical article. The article highlights how you can use multi-point, long-term data to make better material selection decisions for your next application. If you find this type of discussion and content interesting, I encourage you to consider attending ANTEC next year, where it will be held in Pittsburgh, PA.

This year also brought well-earned recognition to some of our amazing board members:

• Glenn Beall, one of our founding members, became PD3’s very first Emeritus Member! Special thanks to Mark Wolverton for designing a beautiful trophy to commemorate Glenn’s decades of guidance and leadership.
• Al McGovern received the Honored Service Member (HSM) award at ANTEC, recognizing his long-standing contributions to PD3 and the SPE Foundation.

These honors are a testament to the incredible talent and dedication within our division—and the amazing peers you can collaborate with as a PD3 member.

After ANTEC, PD3 finalized the merger with the Failure Analysis and Prevention Technical Interest Group (FAPTIG). FAPTIG approached PD3 as a potential partner because of the joint mission of helping the broader community design plastic parts and assemblies that resist failure.

They saw how we were taking an active role in distributing our technical content and felt they could better serve their membership through the merger. There will be no major changes to PD3 with the merger, but we will gain valuable additional content that we can share with our design community. Todd Menna, previous FAPTIG chair, will be joining our board to help with the transition and highlight how we can utilize their core content to further enrich our community. If you just want to keep up on the latest events, make sure to follow us on LinkedIN and on our website.

Finally, this will be my last Chair message to you in our newsletter. In July, Mark MacLean-Blevins will take on the role of Chair. Mark, a product designer himself, has been a long-time board member of PD3, and will continue to help us bring content that is relevant to today’s design community. I’ll be excited to support Mark as I take on the Past-Chair role. As Past-Chair, I’ll be putting more effort into our Design for… webinar series and other technical content. It has been a great pleasure serving as the Chair, and I’m excited to see what we will do next.

Thanks again, and I look forward to our next conversation!

Erik Foltz

March 2025 – Westminster, Maryland

Established in late 1992, then becoming a Maryland corporation in 1995, MacLean-Blevins & Associates, Inc. and has now been providing quality and innovation in product design and development for over 30 continuous years.

From diverse products like scientific research instruments, to diagnostic durables and disposables, to high volume consumer electronics packaging, to precise fluidic dispensing and dosing products, to automotive and household lighting devices, to accessories for hunting and fishing and other sporting goods, to lawn and garden devices and tools, M-B&A, Inc. has helped to create, design, develop, and implement into manufacturing hundreds of new and improved products.

Over these 30+ years the founder, Mark MacLean-Blevins, has had the opportunity to create design solutions and assist over 100 clients, both within the United States and internationally, with over 250 projects and counting. As a result of his work, Mark has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Glenn L. Beall Product Design award, one of only six International Awards bestowed annually by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). In addition, using his creative expertise and experience, Mark has contributed and been recognized on 56 U.S. patents to date, many of which have been successfully patented internationally as well.

With over three decades of design experience, focused on the design of products and parts specific to polymeric materials and processes, Mark has written a technical book titled Designing Successful Products with Plastics – Plastic Part Design with Sustainability in Mind now in its second edition, published by Elsevier. The book is available directly from Elsevier, from Amazon.com, or from several other online technical book retailers.

Mark has been a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) since 1986, volunteering actively within the organization since 2006, and is currently serving as Chair-elect for the Product Design and Development Division.

Visit www.maclean-blevins.com to learn more. MacLean-Blevins and Associates, Inc. – Creating award winning product designs with Quality, Innovation, and Service for over 30 years!

The Need for Data and the Theme for 2024-2025

Hello Product Design and Development Division (PD3) Members!

I hope this newsletter finds you well, and you were able to enjoy some time with family over the holiday season. As we come back from the holidays many of us are setting resolutions for our own personal and professional development and how to improve over last year. We are often instructed to use the “SMART” goal-setting framework to carefully plan out and achieve these goals. While it is sometimes easy to do this type of goal setting when focused on an individual, it can be difficult to achieve when a team is involved. Additionally, many of us are tasked with leading and supporting product design tasks in our professional roles. These jobs often deal with “fuzzy” front-end work, where only an over-arching, sometimes inspiring 😊, task is laid in front of us. However, there is not really a clear solution, or obvious path in how to achieve these tasks. To compound the challenges, we often have to achieve these goals with a dynamic team of individuals coming in and out of the project at different phases. Therefore, it can be really beneficial for us as leaders and team members to implement this SMART framework when dealing with our plastic components.

S – Specific

Last year, one of our board members, Mark MacLean-Blevins, laid out a great framework for us to follow when we are tasked with making our product designs more sustainable. In his article, he states “The design engineer will begin with a set of requirements for the product or part and will proceed to create the initial design solution concepts”. Building on this statement, it is also important that, relatively early on in this process, we get specific with what we want these end product metrics to be. Metrics like what markets are we targeting, what environments our products will be utilized in, what regulatory requirements need to be met, and what cost targets we are looking to achieve. Establishing these metrics can help us in tasks like material selection, manufacturing process selection, and design optimization. They can also act like an anchor for the team to reference as individuals come in and out of the project so we ensure we are moving in the correct direction. Check out our article in this newsletter, about the importance of building a product profile to help establish these specifications.

M – Measurable

Being specific, as outlined above, can help us engineers and designers understand what data we may need to help guide our design process and vet viable solutions. While there is a lot of great data out there for metals, polymers and plastics have less robust data which requires careful consideration in how our material selection may dictate our design envelope for a component or product.

he Division’s mission statement is, “The continual improvement in the quality of the design and development of plastics products”. In light of that, we are always trying to gather useful data and make it accessible to our membership. In fact, our mission for this year is “Getting the Right Data to Achieve The Right Design”. Therefore, follow us on LinkedIn,bookmark our design guide archives, or reach out to one of our board members to see how they might help you along in your plastic part design journey!

A – Achievable

While most of us reading this newsletter are champions of plastics and how they enhance our design and experience, we must admit that plastics also do have their limitations. It is important that we utilize the materials responsibly and sustainably. Therefore, we must look at potential failure modes and the effects on our product design. Often identified as FMEA, performing this activity effectively means we are taking lessons learned from previous failures and applying them to this new product. This usually suggests we have the previous experience. However, not all designers have experience with plastics or a new market. Therefore, we encourage you to check out our column by our Board titled “Gallery of Goofs”. This can be a great way for you to learn about failures our veteran board has gone through, without getting all the bumps and bruises we have gotten.

R – Relevant

An easy way to fail in setting a goal is to get overwhelmed with all the variables and potential failures we may need to address in our product design. It is important to make sure we are always focusing on the product metrics that are most important and will move the needle for our involvement in the project. Therefore, we must make sure we are bringing relevant data to the discussion to help support our direction without excessively delaying the program or team.

T – Time Bound

In the product development field, we are always managing risk. Therefore, we must balance having the perfect design and data versus having a good enough design. Delaying our product development process because of unknowns may delay the release of our product, costing us market share or anticipated profits. However, rushing through the process can result in releasing a product that delivers a poor user experience from which we may not be able to recover. Therefore, it is important we establish proper timelines to address any critical risks we deem are achievable in our product. This is always difficult for engineers, as we strive for perfection. However, we hope that through your interactions with our division you can find resources (either websites, or individuals) that can help keep your program moving along.

f you are still reading this, I hope you feel inspired and uplifted as we begin our new year of challenges in the product design field. We look forward to hearing from you about what topics you would like to see more about in our various platforms. Feel free to reach out to myself or anyone on the Board and let us know what we should be focused on. Hopefully, we will even get to see many of you at one of our events this year!

Until we connect again, I hope you all enjoy the content of this newsletter!

Erik Foltz

PD3 Chair (2023-2025)

The Madison Group

Celebrate Your Excellence in Injection Molding! SPE and the SPE Injection Molding Division invite you to enter the IMPACT: Injection Molding Performance Awards, a prestigious program celebrating groundbreaking achievements in injection molding. This is your opportunity to showcase your innovative designs, manufacturing breakthroughs, and bar-raising applications. Why Enter? By entering, you can gain recognition for pushing boundaries in fields such as automotive and transportation, manufacturing/commercial/industrial equipment, medical and health, consumer goods, sports and recreation, and more. We’re also interested in student prototypes and concepts. Key Details Eligible entries must feature parts in active commercial production, introduced within the last 24 months, and utilizing injection molding processes. Student prototypes are welcome, even if not in commercial production, but must use injection molding. The WOW! Factor Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of industry experts based on innovation in design, materials, processes, market impact, customer value, sustainability, human-centered benefits, and aesthetics that balance form and function. This is your chance to shine on a global stage and earn recognition for advancing the art and science of injection molding. Critical Dates Entry Submission Deadline: January 31, 2025 Online Judging: February 3-5, 2025 Finalists Notified for Final Judging at ANTEC®: February 10, 2025 Final Judging at ANTEC® (in-person): March 3, 2025 Awards Ceremony at ANTEC®: Date TBD Recognition & Rewards Winners will be celebrated at ANTEC® 2025 (March 3-6 in Philadelphia, PA) and featured in trade publications, such as Plastics Engineering—gaining worldwide credibility and visibility among peers and potential clients. Show us your best work and earn your place among the greatest in injection molding! Submit your Entry HERE

JOSHUA MARTIN
Penn State Behrend Junior
Plastics Engineering Technology major with an interest in design

“Thank you for the generous Jonathan Meckley Memorial Scholarship! I was very appreciative to learn that I was the recipient of this scholarship award. Thanks to your support, I am now one step closer to achieving my goal of working in plastics with the long-term goal of plastics design. I hope one day I will be able to help struggling students reach their goals in higher education by assisting them in the same way you are helping me. Thank you very much for your generosity!”

YOUR SUPPORT MADE THIS POSSIBLE!

Thank you for your role in establishing this scholarship in honor of Professor Meckley, which will impact deserving students like Joshua for years to come.

We’re thrilled to announce that the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas are the first to earn our Sustainable Packaging Patch!

Nearly 200 Girl Scouts and adult volunteers gathered in Dallas, TX, to learn about sustainable packaging, including polymer science, recycling, and career opportunities in the field.

This event was made possible by your generous donation last Giving Tuesday. Thank you for empowering the next generation of packaging leaders!

Hello Product Design and Development Division (PD3) Members!

It’s that time of year, when individuals invest in themselves and head back to school to continue to learn new
tools that will help establish a good foundation for when they enter, or re-enter, into industry. Some of these
tools and concepts may be something that others in the industry already utilize and have mastered, while
others may be new tools that will help keep us moving forward. This is one of my favorite times of the year, as
I had a great experience throughout school and was fortunate to connect with teachers and professors who
invested in me and grew my passion for science, manufacturing, and polymers—special thanks to Tim
Osswald, Lih-sheng (Tom) Turgn, and Roxann Engelstad.
Looking at our division, we pride ourselves on being a source for continuous learning and bringing the right
concepts and data to our membership and the industry. Given that objective, the division has decided that
the theme for our activities this year is “Getting the Right Data to Achieve the Right Design”. The theme is in
part to honor the late Mike Sepe who always pushed us in the industry to stop blindly believing preconceived
theories and instead generate data to support one’s theory and design direction. Whether he pushed us to
generate data that allowed us to understand how our design and material would respond not only on Day 1
but also on Day 1,000 or pushed us to explore mold and melt temperatures that were outside the typical
processing window to benefit our part performance, Mike was always more interested in seeing the data
rather than listening to opinions. Despite individuals like Mike preaching what data is important for design, we
still struggle as designers and engineers to find and apply that data correctly. Having a good understanding of
the fundamentals and having access to good data will be critical for us to apply and harness the power that
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning offer. Therefore, throughout the year, we will highlight
technical content that provides insight into what data is important and how to read it. We will also generate
content that will highlight what can go wrong if we don’t apply these principles in our designs. If you are
interested in contributing to these articles or want to see content specifically about a topic, please reach out
to us and we will try our best to integrate/curate good content.
One of the other ways that we, as a division, are looking to get the “right data”, is to also look to expand our
board of directors. Our board currently has many seasoned veterans that have allowed us to create a good
foundation for the board, and make us a great source for curating the material that I mentioned above.

However, we also recognize that it is important to not only present the right data but present it in the right
format. Additionally, there are new topics that our current PD3 membership may be better authorities on than
our current board to help us bring those topics to the forefront. I think a prime example of the contributions
our “newer” board members can make include Dr. Akanksha Garg’s most recent Design for… webinar, where she
spoke about the importance of understanding and overcoming the material quality issues with circular plastics.
It was a rare opportunity to talk to a real expert that is passionate about this topic, without being masked by
the marketing or public opinion. She brought “the data” and we had a real conversation! To continue expanding
our scope and expertise, we will be bringing on four new board members. We are excited to see where their
passion and unique areas of expertise will take us to keep us relevant to you, our membership. If you are
interested in being more active on the board, please feel free to reach out to me, or any of our board members.
We are always excited to connect with passionate design and materials professionals who highlight the
benefits that polymers can add to our design community!
Until we connect again, I hope you all enjoy the content of this newsletter!

Erik Foltz
PD3 Chair (2023-2025)
The Madison Group

We recently added two new events to our page! Our next Design For…webinar on decoration techniques and a Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) webinar!

Check them out here!

Mike “The Materials Analyst” Sepe was a long-time SPE member and contributed more than 100 columns to Plastics Technology.

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