Executive Committee

Paul Uphaus is the Director of Applications Development & Technical Services at Primex Plastics Corporation, joining the company in August of 1989. Paul has 35 years of technical experience in the plastics industry and manages a team of six product specialists and oversees all functions of Primex’s JJF Technical & Innovation Center located at their corporate headquarters in Richmond, IN.

Paul currently holds the position of Incoming Chair of the SPE Thermoforming Division Board of Directors and resides with his wife and two children in the Atlanta, GA area.

Stephen Zamprelli is the Vice President of Engineering & Product Development at Formed Plastics. He joined the New York City area-based organization in 2011. Formed Plastics, nearing its 75th anniversary, specializes in thermoforming, rotational molding, fabrication and injection blow molding.

Steve has 20+ years of expertise in designing and manufacturing products utilizing various processing methods. His broad technical background, artistic influence, and readiness to accept new challenges has afforded him many diverse opportunities. Steve’s prior experience enables him to approach issues from the customer’s point of view, assisting SPE to bridge the gap between the OEM and supplier.

Prior to joining Formed Plastics, Steve held positions as an industrial designer, design leader and manufacturing engineer while gaining experience in project management and sales. His passion for thermoforming began early in his career as an industrial designer for two major New York City-based ID consulting firms specializing in product development and packaging design.

An active member of the SPE Thermoforming Division, Steve joined its board of directors in 2013. He previously served as Secretary, Communications Committee Chair, Parts Competition Chair and 2019 Conference Co-Chair, and currently holds the position of SPE Thermoforming Division Chair.

Steve earned a BS in Industrial Design Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, and remains active in its alumni activities.

As sales executive in the plastics industry for nearly 25 years, I have been an active participant in the SPE Thermoforming Division conferences since Ft Mitchell, Kentucky. My first job after graduating from Ohio University with a BA in Latin American Studies and Spanish, I began selling Motorola radio communication systems to various industries.
 
Upon marrying my wife Laura, I moved to the Cleveland area. Shortly thereafter, I started working for Stopol Inc. Stopol was one of the leaders in buying and selling of plastics processing machinery. I have gained a tremendous amount of industry knowledge working for Neil and Don Kruschke. As I moved up the ranks, I became an integral part of the growth and leadership within our organization. During my 20 + years of working for Stopol Inc and Plastics Machinery Group, I have been afforded the opportunity to travel the world to attend and exhibit at many plastics trade shows events, including shows like K show in Dusseldorf, Germany, Plastimagen in Mexico City, numerous NPE Chicago & Orlando, and SPE Europe, along with several ANTEC meetings.
 
As Executive Vice President at Plastics Machinery Group, I am responsible for maintaining customer relationships, sales, purchasing and consulting with many of our thermoforming customers. As a machinery dealer we can offer new and used machinery sales. Purchasing of complete plants, liquidations, appraisals, Mergers and Acquisitions are some of the many services we offer. In addition, I am a certified machinery appraiser.
 
I have two boys in high school and college. My hobbies are travelling and trail running. I enjoy coaching my boys in sports and life as well as being part of their growth and development as young men.

Phillip Karig has over 25 years of experience in the plastics industry, most recently as Managing Director of Mathelin Bay Associates LLC a plastics industry consulting firm with offices in the U.S. and Germany. Prior to that he was Vice President of Purchasing and Supply Chain Management and then Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at Spartech Corporation, a then $1 billion company that performed cut sheet and rollstock extrusion, injection molding, profile extrusion, calendaring and blown film extrusion, as well as compound and color concentrates production.

Previously he led the procurement and logistics functions at Uniroyal Technology Corporation, which produced Royalite brand extruded sheet products, Naugahyde brand vinyl coated fabrics and Ensolite brand foam products.

Prior to Uniroyal, he was at Leaseway Transportation Corp. (Currently Penske), a $1 billion public company, as a Strategic Planner before assuming Profit and Loss responsibility for a network of bulk plastics warehouses and rail to truck plastics transfer facilities.

During his career he has purchased billions of pounds of resins in multi-million pounds annual quantities including ABS, ASA, SAN, Acrylic, Polycarbonate, APET, PETG, PVC (suspension and dispersion), Polystyrene, Polyethylene, Polypropylene and more.

Phillip earned his Master’s degree at Harvard University and his Bachelor’s at the State University of New York. He is a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Fellow, has taught Game Theory and Decision-Making, and has also worked with the Department of Commerce and the Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee. He speaks German.

He serves as a Director on the Society of Plastics Engineers Thermoforming Division Board, is a member of the Research & Development Committee and oversees the Division’s website.

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.

As Principal of Probst Plastics Consulting based in Milwaukee-WI, Ed Probst has 30 years of experience in the heavy gauge custom thermoforming industry. For 28 years he worked at Profile Plastics Corporation, Lake Bluff IL in manufacturing, engineering, design, and sales. During that time he had the privilege of working for and with three SPE Thermoformer’s of the Year: John Grundy, Steve Murrill, and Stephen Sweig. He is a Senior Member of the Society of Plastics Engineers and is a member of the Thermoforming Division, European Thermoforming Division, and Product Design and Development Division. Over the years he has served SPE as Chairman of the 2001 SPE Thermoforming Conference, Technical Program Chairman of the 2005 SPE Thermoforming Conference, Technical Program Co-Chair of the 2012 SPE Thermoforming Conference, Presenter at the SPE Thermoforming Conference in Cincinatti-OH and European Thermoforming Division Conference in Ghent-Belgium, SPE Product Design and Development Division (PD3) Board Member and Treasurer, Co-Chairman of the 2003 SPE PD3/Rotomolding Topcon in Cleveland-OH, and Co-Chairman of the 2014 SPE PD3 Design TOPCON.