Canadian plastics titan added to hall of fame

A Canadian plastics pioneer is one of nine business leaders who will be inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in June at the NPE2009 trade show.

Ralph Noble, co-founder of Mississauga, Ont.-based Carley Chemicals (which became Synergistics Industries Ltd.), will be added to the hall of fame.

During his tenure at the Canadian compounder, Noble was a pioneer in plasticizers in flexible compounds, and supported research at Canada’s major research facilities.

Noble was also the first non-American to hold the position of president at the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), and was an active member of the Canadian plastics industry. He is now a member of the regional Plastics Pioneers group.

Other inductees to the hall of fame include Robert Barr; Paul Colby, founder of Spirex Corp.; Trevor Evans; Italian catalyst technology expert Paolo Galli; James Hendry, a pioneer of the gas-assisted injection molding technology; Georg Schwarz of Engel fame; Chroma Corp. founder Robert Swain; and Donald Witenhafer.