Robert Porsche named Thermoformer of the Year by SPE Thermoforming Division

Robert Porsche, President and owner of General Plastics Inc. (Milwaukee, WI), was named Thermoformer of the Year by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Thermoforming Division. The award will be presented during the Thermoforming Awards Dinner held in conjunction with the 27th SPE Thermoforming Conference on Sept. 11 to 13, 2017, in Orlando, FL.

With a B.S. in marketing and management from Southern Illinois University, Porsche began his thermoforming career in sales for Profile Plastics in 1975. In 1987, he purchased General Plastics Inc., located in Milwaukee, WI, which was then housed in an 11,000-square-foot facility and had six full-time employees. Under Porsche’s direction, General Plastics now has more than 75 fulltime employees and recently expanded to a 93,000-square-foot building.

The modern facility contains the newest single-station, rotary- and twin-sheeting formers with pressure forming capabilities, as well as 3- and six 5-axis CNC routers with fully robotic trimming machines. The company, which is certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, also houses some of the largest forming equipment in the industry, allowing the company to address a diverse range of production demands.

General Plastics was presented with the Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year Award last month in the small business category, an honor that it also received in 2014. The company has earned numerous awards for its contributions to the SPE Thermoforming Division’s Annual Parts Competition over the years, as well.

An active member of SPE, Porsche has served in many leadership roles as a Thermoforming Division board member, where he chaired the Finance, Machinery, and Processing Committees, in addition to two SPE Thermoforming Conferences. Porsche is a prior Division Outstanding Achievement Award Winner, and has served as a heavy gauge technical session presenter and moderator. He is also active in a variety of Milwaukee-area business and civic nonprofit organizations.