Canadian Plastics

CPIA announces 2015 Plastics Industry Leadership Award winners

Canadian Plastics   

Canadian Plastics Canadian Plastics Industry Association

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) announced the winners of the 2015 Plastics Industry Leadership Awards.

The Leader of the Year Award recipient for 2015 is Jim Ellies. A 35 year veteran of Canada’s plastics industry, Ellies is the president and COO of Mississauga, Ont.-based Gracious Living Innovations (GLI), said to be the largest foam extruder in Canada. “GLI has developed new product categories for some industries resulting in markets which they dominate and have become world leaders in,” CPIA said.

Leader of the Year Jim Ellies.

Leader of the Year Jim Ellies.

The CPIA’s Plastics Innovator Award is for those companies or individuals that have contributed to the expansion of the Canadian plastics industry, through advancement of the Canadian plastics industry in the areas of materials, products, process/technology, or marketing/communications. This year there are three winners. The first is Rob Miller, the president of Wittmann Canada. “Miller designed a new weight loading device for plastic powders used in the rotational molding industry,” CPIA said. “The RotoLoad product line will greatly improve the productivity, safety, effectiveness and hard consistency of the process.”

The second winner in the Innovator category is Terry Rochfort, director of technical services, Bericap North America. “Rochfort has been a fixture in the plastics industry for over 40 years with a heavy focus on delivering innovative plastic caps and closures to market,” CPIA said.

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The final winner in the Innovator category is Protoplast Inc. Based in Cobourg, Ont., Protoplast is a leading plastic injection molding company, and has developed technology to produce automotive flexible bellows or ducts through combining the accuracy of injection molding with the flexible variability of blow molding.

The Plastics Sustainability Award recognizes individuals or organizations who have contributed to the sustainability of the Canadian plastics industry in an environmental, social or economic manner, including post-use plastics recovery. This year’s Sustainability award winner is Quebec-based Cascades, for its Ultratill food trays. “When compared to trays made from 100% virgin HIPS, Cascades Ultratill mushroom trays are manufactured with 80% postconsumer recycled material and weigh 8% less,” CPIA said.

The CanPlast Award is designed to honour individuals who have contributed their time, energy and expertise to improving the competitive and environmental performance of Canada’s plastics industry. The first recipient is Steven Wood, president and CEO of Vintex Inc. “Wood’s current board and trade association involvement includes several years on CPIA’s Vinyl Council of Canada and the Canadian Textile Industry Association,” CPIA said.

The second CanPlast award winner is Veso Sobot, director of corporate affairs with IPEX Management Inc. “Sobot is a thought leader on important business topics with a proven track record successfully tackling industry issues,” CPIA said. “He has devoted countless time and much effort over the past decades to vigorously protecting and promoting the vinyl and PVC industries including participation in and chairing a variety of associations such as: Canadian Plastics Industry Association board of directors, Chairing CPIA’s Vinyl Council of Canada, Professional Engineers of Ontario, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and many more.”

The final last category of awards is the Lifetime Achievement Award, for individuals who have made outstanding achievements and contributed enduring legacies to Canada’s plastics industry. This year’s first honouree is Judith Nancekivell, former publisher of Canadian Plastics magazine. “During her 34 years with Canadian Plastics, Judith was responsible for launching Plastiques et moules for Quebec, as well as maintaining Canadian Plastics as a communications vehicle for Canada’s plastics industry,” CPIA said.

The final Lifetime Achievement Award winner is Vic De Zen, chairman of Vision Extrusions Group. De Zen founded Royal Plastics in 1970, which later became Royal Group Technologies Limited, and he grew that company to over two billion dollars in sales before the company was sold in 2005. “De Zen re-entered the PVC extrusion business in 2009 with Vision Extrusions Group Limited,” CPIA said. “Under his leadership the company has grown in five years to include multiple facilities currently housed in over 1 million square feet:”

The awards were presented at CPIA’s Plastics Industry Leadership Awards Celebration on June 15, 2015 in Toronto. For more award winner details, visit this link.

Headquartered in Mississauga, Ont., the CPIA is the national voice of Canada’s plastics industry, representing the interests of processors, material suppliers, equipment manufacturers and brand owners across the country.

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