Names in the News: April 13-17

After serving as VP of injection molding for the company’s U.S. division for the last eight years, Paul Caprio will now become president of KraussMaffei Corp. (KM; Florence, KY), making him responsible for the U.S. activities of all of KM’s technology divisions, including injection molding, extrusion, and reaction process machinery. Caprio, who has been with KM for 15 years, will be tasked with implanting KM’s Technology to the Power of Three strategy in North America, offering customers one-stop shopping and synergies in extrusion, reaction, and injection processes.

Robert W. Davies is the new CEO of hot runner supplier Synventive Molding Solutions (Peabody, MA). Davies comes to Synventive from Cooper Power Tools, where he acted as president for the global business, its seven manufacturing sites, and more than 1000 employees. Prior to that, Davies worked for Moen Industries helping implement its lean manufacturing efforts. Davies replaces Dan Levy, who had to leave the business last October due to health reasons. Steve Delaney has been acting as interim CEO and will return to the non-executive chairman role when the appropriate transitional work is completed.

Former Solo Cup Co. president and COO Ronald Whaley has been named president and COO of plastics recycler Mountain Valley Recycling LLC (Boca Raton, FL). Whaley comes to Mountain Valley with 25 years of plastics industry experience, most recently at Solo Cup, a $2 billion dollar international manufacturer of food-service products. Mountain Valley is a closed loop plastic recycler that helps companies reclaim millions of pounds of disposable plastic shipping hangers and films, including shopping and carrier bags, stretch wrap, and poly bags.

BASF’s Polyurethanes division has named Kenneth T. Lane group VP. He succeeds Ralph Schweens, who has led the unit since 2005 and will now become managing director of BASF in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Lane has been with BASF’s Polyurethanes division since 2006 and was based at the company’s site in Wyandotte, MI where he was responsible for the company’s Polyurethanes Basic Products business in North America. Lane will be transferred to Brussels and the global headquarters of BASF’s Polyurethanes division.

Arthur S. Pantelides has been promoted to director of engineering by Sumitomo Machinery Corp. of America (SMA). Pantelides, who recently received a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in Engineering Management from George Washington University, has been working on global standardization of SMA’s R&D process and integrating regional facility engineers under centralized control at headquarters in Virginia.

Kydex LLC (Bloomsburg, PA) has appointed Bryan Ciesielski as quality manager, making him responsible for the design and implementation of the Kydex Quality Management System. Ciesielski comes to Kydex from Leggett & Platt where he filled progressive quality management capacities over six years. A manufacturer of proprietary thermoplastic sheet products, Kydex’s headquarters, major manufacturing operation, customer service, and R&D are in Bloomsburg, PA.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has hired Stephen White as its business manager corporate affairs. In this new position, White will handle public relations and communications for the LME. Before joining the Exchange, White was a public relations and analyst relations manager for Misys. —[email protected]