Canadian Plastics

Canadian vinyl industry icon Vic De Zen receives Vinyl Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award

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De Zen is currently the CEO and chairman of vinyl building product maker Vision Extrusion Group of Companies in Vaughan, Ont.

Vic De Zen, second from left, receives his award with friends and family. Photo Credit: Vinyl Institute

Canadian plastics industry pioneer Vic De Zen has been given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the U.S.-based Vinyl Institute.

De Zen, the CEO and chairman of vinyl building product maker Vision Extrusion Group of Companies in Vaughan, Ont., received the award at the Vinyl Institute’s annual meeting in Bonita Springs, Fla., on Nov. 6.

“A leader in the vinyl building products sector for over 50 years, Mr. De Zen’s companies have been consistent innovators, successful exporters, and prolific job creators,” the Washington, D.C.-based industry association said in a statement. “Not only did he invent the industry in Canada, he has re-invented it several times over. Arriving in Canada with his wife, Angelina, and $20 in his pocket, Vic built a multi-billion dollar worldwide vinyl conglomerate. Vic’s manufacturing plants which are marvels of automation produce quality economical products that compete with materials having shorter life cycles; this has helped grow the use of vinyl in building and construction products.”

In addition, the Vinyl Institute noted, De Zen’s companies “are always seeking advanced and better processes to convert recyclable products into raw materials to be used in new products.”

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“We are both proud and honoured to call Mr. De Zen a member of the Vinyl Institute of Canada, but more importantly, grateful to call him a friend,” said Vinyl Institute of Canada president and CEO Aiñe Curran.

De Zen, 77, launched Vision Extrusion Group of Companies in 2008, which manufactures such products as windows, doors, fencing, and decking. Born in Italy, De Zen moved to Canada in 1962 and founded plastics company Royal Group Technologies Ltd. in 1970, which quickly rose to become one of Canada’s largest plastic makers, specializing in PVC pipe, window profiles, and other plastics products.

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