(L-R) – Craig Paulson, President Paulson Training Programs; Willem De Vos, CEO SPE; Russell Broome, Managing Director SPE; and Hank White, Penn College of Technology.

Society of Plastics Engineers, Penn College of Technology and Paulson Training Programs Form New Educational Alliance for the Plastics Industry

CHESTER CT (March 2015)— Announced at NPE 2015, the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), Penn College of Technology – Plastics Innovation and Resource Center (PIRC) and Paulson Training Programs, Inc. (Paulson) have entered into a dynamic alliance to offer individuals, next generation plastics professionals and companies in the plastics industry a solid resource for educational information, programs and certifications all with the aim of promoting the plastics industry through research, education and application.

“Having this combination of a robust industry association, a technical college and a world-class professional training company is the trifecta of industry alliances. We’ll be able to offer individuals and companies everything they need to know to make the most of their career and business opportunities in the Plastics industry,” said Russell Broome, Managing Director of SPE.

“Existing and new members of SPE and the plastics community at large will benefit by having immediate access to an outstanding range of resources this new alliance brings,” said Broome.

Paulson and Penn College folks agree and reiterated the fact that their substantial collective resources will serve as a single source for anyone looking to improve upon or learn more about the realm of plastics processing.

Together the group has already identified “finding skilled employees” as a key industry challenge. Most plastics processors have ranked this issue as their number one problem. This has been the case for several years. There’s also a shortage of new employees and the younger generation coming into the plastics industry. This new alliance will be working together to address these critical industry challenges.

“We recognize that plastics processors are having great difficulty when it comes to finding skilled employees” says Broome. “This alliance with Penn College and Paulson Training is aimed squarely at that issue, and fits with our strategy of getting the next generation of workers interested in plastics as a very lucrative and exciting career opportunity.”

A task that’s in line with Paulson’s services; Paulson Training Programs has been giving seminars and marketing in-plant training solutions to the plastics industry for over 35 years.

“Working with SPE is a very exciting opportunity for Paulson,” says Craig Paulson, President of Paulson Training.

Adding, “We share a common interest in both training the current plastics workforce and reaching out to bring additional young people into the industry.”

Paulson’s piece of the alliance will be to supply their training as they do in several formats including online, CD-based and seminars through the Paulson Plastics Academy and ProMolder Certification and will offer discounts on new SPE membership for those individuals or companies purchasing Paulson products and Paulson will absorb the SPE membership fee for students taking a Paulson Training course.

The academic and certification piece comes from Penn College which holds the North American rights to the Global Standards for Plastic Certification (GSPC) and along with Paulson and SPE will be offering this certification to all plastics processors throughout North America. Hank White, Director of Penn College PIRC is looking forward to working in this partnership to maximize the number of industry personnel who have a known global certification.

“The GSPC program is designed to give employers the ability to know that the people they are hiring have met certain standards in knowledge and skills. On the employee side, having GSPC certification is a big plus on any resume of a prospective employee,” said White.

According to Paulson and Broome, the alignment of the three entities couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.

“The economy is showing promising growth, especially in the domestic manufacturing sectors, causing more and more companies looking to obtain key industry information, connections and to find qualified skilled people, said Broome.

In fact, soon after completing the alliance agreement, Broome received a call from an injection molding company in California looking for a training solution. SPE was well positioned to refer Paulson and Paulson was able to assist this company immediately offering the growing business a discount in SPE membership with a purchase of one of their products and Penn College was able to supply research information and information on the GSPC certification program.

An alliance with this exceptional combination serves the industry by sharing best practices and solutions. A win-win for all involved.

For more information about SPE visit, 4spe.org, about Paulson Training Programs visit, PaulsonTraining.com and for Pennsylvania College of Technology visit pct.edu.

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