Directors

James Alongi is the CFO of MAAC Machinery Co., including responsibility for its manufacturing operations. He has been an active member with the SPE Thermoforming Division since 1997. He has served on the Finance, Machinery, and Student Activities committees, and is currently the Assistant Treasurer of the Division, as well as an active member of the Machinery committee. James has been instrumental in obtaining affordable Thermoforming machinery for universities utilizing the equipment grant program and has consistently participated in fund raising events to provide donations for the SPE Thermoforming Division Scholarship fund. He has also regularly assisted with the parts competition at the annual Thermoforming conference.

Jim Arnet is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Hagans Plastics Company. Hagans Plastics is a AS9100-based custom thermoformer and injection molder dedicated to first class service.
 
Jim has been involved in the plastics industry for the past 27 years, dealing with both thermoforming and extrusion in both thin and thick gauge materials. Jim has extensive experience in both plastics and sales. Prior to joining Hagans in 2013, Jim was with KYDEX LLC. as the Central Region Sales Manager for five and a half years. Jim was the Western Regional Sales Manager with Primex Plastics for three years and before that he was with Reynolds Packaging (previously known as Ivex Packaging Corporation) for 15 years in many different roles, including sales management, export, and national accounts.
 
Jim is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a BS degree in Industrial Distribution. A retired U.S. Army Officer, Jim, his wife Sherry of 32 years, and his family reside in Flower Mound, Texas.

Robert Browning, of Atlanta, Georgia, has over 35 years experience in the design and engineering of single sheet, twin-sheet, and pressure thermoformed products, tooling and processes. During this time he has had the opportunity to develop, refine and patent new processes in thermoforming, and in the design of thermoforming tooling. For fifteen years, he was with one of the largest twin-sheet thermoforming companies in the U.S., as Director of Research, Development and Engineering.
 
Currently, a Partner with the McConnell Co. Inc., one of the premier thermoforming consulting firms, Robert has also had his own design consulting firm, Isosceles, Inc., since 1984. With degrees in Business Management and Industrial Design, he has successfully worked with companies such as John Deere, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, NASA, Disney, NCR, American Standard, Yamaha, and BMW, to define problems, develop alternatives, and implement solutions. At the present, he is an active member of the Industrial Design Society of America and is a Senior Member of the Society of Plastic Engineers.

After graduating from Ferris State University with a B.S. in business science from Ferris State University, I began working in the Thermoforming Industry at Brown Machine in 1985. I departed Brown Machine in January 1990 to start a new business endeavor as president of Thermoformer Parts Supplier, which started first-of-its-kind operations in 1990.

T.P.S. initially launched in support of the after-market replacement parts needs for the thermoforming industry. Business rapidly grew to more advanced thermoforming equipment needs such as retro-kit systems and complete thermoforming equipment rebuilding services. The company eventually expanded to include newly designed and constructed thermoforming equipment.

I am currently the president/owner of Monark Equipment Technologies, which was started in 1996 as an extension of the work that began at T.P.S. The company focuses primarily on the custom equipment needs of the thermoforming industry. Monark is one of only a few equipment manufacturers that offers both cut sheet/heavy gauge and roll fed/thin gauge thermoforming equipment.

My work history at Brown Machine, T.P.S. and Monark has given me a diversity of exposure within the industry and allowed me to personally meet many of the great individuals that make our industry work on a variety of levels. I have also been involved with local educational institutions to help promote manufacturing and the thermoforming industry.

I reside in Sanford, Michigan, and I have been an SPE Thermoforming Division Board Member since 2015. I’ve enjoyed the work ethic and dedication of the volunteer board who promote the thermoforming industry here in the States and abroad. The experience has been eye-opening, and I would encourage others to reach out and get involved as well. Our ship sails best when we all paddle together! I would be honored to continue to participate with my fellow board members in support of the SPE Thermoforming Division Executive Committee, and the vision for growth of both SPE and the Industry.

Juliet Goff is the President and owner of Kal Plastics, a custom heavy gauge cut sheet thermoformer, located in Vernon, California. She has been with Kal Plastics since 1990, learning the business from the ground up after graduating from UCLA. After many years of increasing responsibilities, Juliet honed her skills in finance, risk management, strategic planning, HR, marketing and sales. She became President in 2002 and the sole shareholder in 2004.
 
Her active involvement with the SPE Thermoforming Division started in 2008 at the Minneapolis Thermoforming Conference. There Kal Plastics was honored as a Gold Medal winner in the annual parts competition. Since then she has regularly attended the Thermoforming Division Board meetings and in 2010 she became a Director. Her Board assignment is recognition and the annual Thermoformer of the Year award.
 
She brings with her the collective experiences of having served on several boards and non-profits throughout her career, in various leadership roles, including the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Vernon Chamber of Commerce, and The Vernon Community Fund. Currently she serves on the Executive Board for the Vernon Chamber of Commerce and as Chair for the Vernon Community Fund.

Brian Golden is the Product Manager for SencorpWhite. Brian has 33 years of experience in the plastics industry with a heavy concentration in thin gauge thermoforming.
 
Brian has served as a Technical Sales/Service Engineer, Manufacturing Manager for a custom thermoforming company, Project Manager, Director of Customer Satisfaction and Senior Account Executive for a machinery OEM as well as a Product Manager for an OEM in the pharmaceutical industry. Brian has been directly responsible for introducing new thermoforming technology in North America, creating and presenting OEM sponsored training programs performed on-site at customers or OEM’s facilities as well as predictive maintenance programs used to assess the current operating condition and value of production equipment.
 
SemcorpWhite is a leading US machinery manufacturer of capital equipment globally serving the packaging, medical, pharmaceutical, food and electronics industries.

Roger Jean is Vice President of Custom Sales at Simona PMC, a division of Simona AG. Roger has been actively involved with the thermoforming industry since 1987.

Prior to joining the PMC team in 2009, he held positions including Marketing Manager and National Sales Manager at Wilbert Plastic Services, and Market Development Manager at Solvay Engineered Polymers. Roger and his family reside in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Travis learned the many facets of the plastics industry because he was involved since a very young age. Travis’s knowledge and involvement in the plastic industry has been greatly influenced by his father, Terry Kieffer, who started the family-owned thermoforming factory located in Preston, Iowa, which was started on the family farm. Plastics Unlimited, Inc. has grown considerably since then and Travis freely acknowledges his father’s influence and impact it has had on his career choice. Travis now plays a key role in the company’s steady growth beside his father and other family members. Travis has been learning the business from the ground up.
 
Travis attended Iowa State College and is grateful for the scholarship he received from the SPE Thermoforming Division in 2008 and strongly believes it is a program that should continue to help other students reach their potential and continue the path forward in the plastics industry. After graduating from Iowa State University in 2012 with an Industrial Engineering Degree, Travis started working in the R & D Department and helped improve the production system. During this time, Plastics Unlimited was invited to speak at the 2012 SPE Thermoforming Conference on their patented Toolless Engineered Composite process. Travis represented the company as one of the speakers for this presentation. Since then, he has been promoted to the COO position and manages the day-to-day operations of the company as well as being involved with the R & D department. He continues to use his training from Iowa State to help improve production speed and capabilities within Plastics Unlimited.

I started regularly attending the meetings in September 2018. I joined the industry in 2012 when I purchased a heavy gauge thermoformer, Universal Plastics, based in Holyoke, MA.

Since then, I have acquired two other thermoformers: Mayfield Plastics in Sutton, MA, and a manufacturing operation near Albany, NY (the former Kintz Plastics). Prior to 2012, I was a trader at JPMorgan. I studied Computer Science and Operations Research in college where my internships were focused on the tech industry. I have been fortunate in my career to have experienced several industries and a taste of different career paths.
 
I believe that this industry has a lot of opportunity and can provide a very useful niche in the manufacturing world. As a collection of processors, material suppliers, and machine manufacturers, we need to work together to educate the industrial community on what thermoforming can do for them. I believe I can bring a lot of value to the board given my experience before entering the industry, but also through my experience in the industry as a relative “newbie.”

Dennis Lemmon works for Cascade Engineering in Research and Development, working with current and potential customers. Cascade Engineering is a family of companies that specializes in large-plastic injection molding. In service to a wide variety of industries, we share our engineering, technology and knowledge across multiple business units producing a diverse product line. As a triple bottom line company, Cascade Engineering strives to have a positive impact on society, the environment and to be financially successful.
 
Dennis grew up around manufacturing as his father owned an injection molding company, Northwest Molded Plastics. Dennis worked there from a young age and eventually started running the company at age 21. He received his associate’s degree from Northwest State Community College in 2012, and attended Penn College for a hands-on workshop in thermoforming. He joined Cascade engineering in 2015. He has utilized thermoforming in many ways. Including thermoforming thin sheet paint film and using them as inserts into an injection mold, in-mold-coating for injection molding, distortion print forming, foil transferring, tooling, and processing injection and thermoforming. He has worked with major material companies in developing and testing new materials for injection and thermoforming. He has also worked with acoustical sound barrier materials and compression molding. Dennis was also hand-selected to learn robotics and computer numerical control systems at Fanuc and brought that knowledge back to the company.
 
Dennis currently services the entire family of companies within CE because of his education and experience in many areas of expertise, including information technology, internet securities, injection molding, thermoforming and agricultural sensors. He still utilizes all of these skills making him one of the most well-rounded and dependable employees of CE. He even helps instruct Kung Fu in his spare time, which speaks to his discipline, respect and commitment to his profession.

Jim Lyon is the New Business Development Manager at Penda Corporation in Portage, Wisconsin. He has extensive knowledge of thermoplastic materials, tooling and LEAN principles. His primary focus is collaborating with OEMs on the development and integration of thermoforming into their designs. He has been an active member of SPE since 2001, and has served on the board of the SPE Iowa Chapter. Jim also continues to be an active member in the Chicago and Milwaukee Chapters. An SPE Thermoforming Division Board Member since 2020, Jim oversees the Division’s website and also serves on the promotions committee.

Ian Munnoch is president of MSA Components, Inc., a manufacturer’s representative group selling to thermoformers for 33 years in both the thin and heavy gauge industries. His experience includes outsides sales to sales management. Previous to starting MSA Components, he worked for Fortune 500 companies to small O.E.M. manufacturers. Ian has been working with thermoformers and tooling shops to develop the best plug material and designs available by today’s standards. He became a member of the SPE Thermoforming Division Board in 2016 and serves on the Materials Committee. Ian is an avid outdoorsman and lives in Mazomanie, Wisconsin.

Steve Murrill is one of the owners of Profile Plastics, Inc., in Lake Bluff, IL, a custom molder of highly cosmetic plastics parts manufactured via the cut sheet thermoforming process. He has a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has been on the Board of Directors of the Thermoforming Division since 1987! Over the course of the last 30 plus years he has been Chairman of the Division, and active on every Conference committee since its inception. He has been a presenter, moderator and program chair for the Thermoforming Conference and many other SPE Conferences and RETECS, held by other SPE Divisions and Sections including the European Thermoforming Division. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Division in 2001 and was recognized as “Thermoformer of the Year” by the Thermoforming Division in 2011. Most recently in 2015, he was recognized as an “Outstanding Chemical Engineering Graduate” By Purdue University.

Prior to his purchasing Profile Plastics he acquired his Plastics background working for the Plastics Department of Exxon Chemical Co. and from his father who was a “Plastics Pioneer” working 38 years for the Plastics Division of the DuPont Co.

Laura Pichon is VP Development & Strategic Partnerships at Ex-Tech Plastics, Inc., an extruder of thin gauge plastic sheet supplying the packaging industry. She has worked with PET, PVC, PP, HDPE, and PLA. She is currently heading Ex-Tech’s bio plastic division focusing on growing Ex-Tech’s PLA and bio based line of products.

Laura has been attending SPE thermoforming conferences since 1992. Laura became active with the board as a moderator for the 2002 Conference in Nashville and many subsequent conferences, serving on the board since 2004. In 2004 she chaired the Thermoforming Conference in Indianapolis. Laura has also served as technical chair and headed the publications committee from 2008 to 2013. Laura is currently heading the membership/nominating committee and active on both AARC and Materials.

Laura is a member of NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) and is a volunteer at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Dan has 35 years of experience in the plastics industry, working in the fields of extrusion and heavy gauge custom thermoforming. His extensive experience in and knowledge of extrusion includes running the extrusion line (sheet, profile, pipe),
materials, machine set up, and problem solving. Dan has worked with all types of thermoforming equipment, including single station, rotary, twin sheet, and pressure forming machines.

Throughout his career, Dan also worked in material development, design (from concept to production), tooling (aluminum and ceramic), product development, project management and sales.

Dan recently launched his own plastics consulting and business development company. He previously served as Director of Sales at Medallion Plastics for 13 years, and also held roles at Triangle Plastics and Paramount Plastics. Dan was appointed to the SPE Thermoforming Division Board of Directors in May 2018.

Brian Winton is the VP of Sales for Processing Technologies International (PTi). Brian has over 35 years of experience in domestic and international capital equipment sales and project management. He began his career in the thermoforming industry in 1985 and continued into extrusion and plastic recycling. Brian has worked primarily for equipment manufacturers in manager, director and vice president capacities, with past technical sales and marketing teams including John Brown Plastics Machinery, Modern Machinery, Lyle Industries, and The Brown Machine Group.

Brian has extensive process and industry knowledge, and started his career managing turnkey projects for sheet extrusion and thermoforming operations. This included designing and properly sizing ancillary features, downstream equipment and plant utilities, while coordinating comprehensive installation and training services. Brian works closely with his customers to clearly understand their current and future needs. He also collaborates with suppliers and other engineering sources to technically define and promote the latest cutting-edge solutions.

As a graduate of Michigan State University, Brian further promotes the plastic industry through his involvement with schools, colleges and universities. He is an active member of his local Plastics Sector Alliance, which identifies and matches the educational needs of individuals with companies that require a properly educated workforce.

Brian is highly involved in the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Thermoforming Division and has served as a board member since 2002. He continues to serve on the Promotion Committee, AARC Committee and Student Activities Committee, and has previously served as ANTEC Technical Program Chair and Conference Chair.