SPE names Robert Porsche as Thermorformer of the Year

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Thermoforming Division has named U.S.-based industry veteran Robert Porsche as Thermoformer of the Year.

Robert Porsche

Porsche began his thermoforming industry career working in sales for Profile Plastics in 1975.  In 1987, he purchased Milwaukee, Wis.-based General Plastics Inc., where he remains president and owner. At the time, General Plastics had six full-time employees housed in an 11,000-square-foot facility; Porsche’s leadership, General Plastics now has over 75 full-time employees and recently expanded its facilities to a 93,000-square-foot building.

General Plastics is an ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified, full service custom plastic thermoformer. According to SPE, the firm also houses some of the largest forming equipment in the industry, and manufactures products for in rail, truck, marine, office, lavatory, medical, health and wellness, gaming, arcade, food and beverage, construction, and machine guarding applications.

In February 2017, General Plastics was presented with the Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year Award in the small business category, an honour that it also received in 2014. The company has also received numerous awards for its contributions to the SPE Thermoforming Division’s Annual Parts Competition over the years.

Porsche has served in many leadership roles for SPE, including as a Thermoforming Division Board Member, where he chaired the Finance, Machinery, and Processing Committees; and as chairman of two SPE thermoforming conferences.

“Under Bob Porsche’s leadership, General Plastics has grown from a small business to a thermoforming industry success story,” said Bret Joslyn, SPE Thermoforming Division Chair.  “As a long-time member of the SPE Thermoforming Division’s Board of Directors, Bob’s leadership in a variety of roles has contributed greatly to the Division’s success.”

The award will be presented during the Division’s Thermoforming Awards Dinner, held in conjunction with the 26^th SPE Thermoforming Conference. The conference will take place September 11-13, 2017 in Orlando, Fla. The awards dinner will be held on Tuesday, September 12.

Past recipients of the SPE’s Thermoformer of the Year Award can be found at this link.