Frank Nissel, father of sheet extrusion and co-founder of Welex, dies

Sheet extrusion pioneer Frank Nissel passed away on August 28, 2014, after a brief illness. Nissel was 88.

Nissel co-founded extrusion equipment manufacturer Welex (York, PA) in 1966 and grew the company into a leading global supplier of plastics extrusion machinery. Nissel retired in 2010. Welex was purchased by Graham Engineering Corp. in 2013.

Nissel's career in plastics spanned more than 60 years. He was responsible for technical innovations that have made sheet extrusion among the most precisely controlled plastics processes. He was awarded patents in the United States and 13 foreign countries and authored more than 50 technical articles and papers on innovations in extrusion and coextrusion processing, barrier packaging, die design, and calendering.

Born in Germany in 1926, Nissel left with his family for Egypt during the Hitler era. In Egypt he was educated at the American University in Cairo. He went on to earn his MSc in chemical engineering at Virginia Tech in 1946 and began his plastics career at Bakelite Corp. (Union Carbide) in vinyl calendering development. In 1956 he left Union Carbide to help found Prodex Corp. and, when it was sold in 1966, formed Welex with the late Jack Hendrickson. Under his direction, Welex grew to become the global standard in sheet extrusion systems, with solutions installed in more than 3000 customer locations around the world. Welex innovations include co-extrusion and multi-layer methods that lead the industry as well as dozens of barrier lines installed globally.

Nissel received the SPE Extrusion Division Distinguished Service Award in 1992, became an SPE Fellow in 1993, and in 1995 received the SPE International Award in Business Management. He was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2000.

Nissel was an internationally minded business leader who spoke five languages. His collaboration on coextrusion with leading packaging producers in Europe and Japan led to its prevalence in those markets and ultimately in the United States, where, in the mid-1970s, production of the now famous 4-layer, 2-color party cup began using Welex equipment. Similarly, collaboration in Japan with a pioneering EVOH barrier packaging producer resulted in innovations that made their way to the United States in the early 1980s, when the first successful barrier container was produced.

"We are saddened by Frank's passing and, along with the industry, are grateful for his many contributions," said Graham Engineering Corp. President and CEO David Schroeder. "He was part of the industry's greatest generation, and his legacy lives on in Welex solutions installed in more than 3000 customer locations in 69 countries. Today the extrusion systems that Frank Nissel pioneered are manufacturing high-quality plastic sheet for products used everywhere, by everyone, every day."