Canadians big winners at SPI design competition

Two Canadian companies, Horizon Plastics and FGL Precision Works Ltd., won four awards between them at the annual Society of the Plastics Industry Structural Plastic Division’s new product design competition held last week in Dearborn, MI.
Molder Horizon Plastics, based in Coburg, ON, received the top prize in the Automotive category for its 2002 Ford Expedition spoiler U22. The part was made by the "structural web" process, which uses gas to produce a lightweight part with a high-quality surface finish. Horizon also won the top prize in the Industrial & Military category as molder of the Fuelmaker Natural Gas Refueling System. Horizon molded the system’s half-bucket and top cowling, as well as numerous internal parts using the structural foam molding process. The tooling for both the spoiler and the natural gas system was made by FGL Precision Works.
FGL (Concord,ON) won the Building & Construction category with its High Capacity Envirochamber entry. The chamber is part of a waste management housing system and has 1/8 in. wall thickness with louvered slots in the side wall to accommodate ventilation. The tool was made of aluminum with P20 steel inserts and required 8000 lb. side cores to create the slots. FGL also took the top honors in the Materials Handling category for supplying the tooling used to make the Spectralite Case. The case replaced plywood cases currently used to ship stage lighting for concerts and plays. FGL built the 21-cavity mold from aluminum for Horizon Plastics, the molder of the case.