Names in the news: PCC, KraussMaffei, LIST, Gneuss, Reifenhäuser, Davis-StandardNames in the news: PCC, KraussMaffei, LIST, Gneuss, Reifenhäuser, Davis-Standard

"We're becoming more of a solutions provider and less of a commodity manufacturer," says PCC president Doug Borgsdorf. "Tim's experience at the product development level will help us engage our customers earlier and help them create solutions for their end customers." His company also recently announced the appointment of two industry sales people for the western U.S., a region to now covered by PCC's national sales team. The new sales representatives are Greg Bloomfield, who will initially cover most western states, and Donna Dungan, who will concentrate on customers in California. Both Bloomfield and Dungan come to PCC with over 20 years each in the plastics and compounding industry. PCC's new compounding facility in California is scheduled to open in Q4 of this year.

At KraissMaffei AG (Munich, Germany), the new head of corporate communications and marketing is Imre Szerdahelyi. He comes to the manufacturer of injection molding, extrusion, and reaction process machinery from Wacker Neuson SE, where he held a similar position. Szerdahelyi succeeds Matthias Andreesen, who leaves KaussMaffei for a new position at a technical services company outside the plastics industry.

Extrusion and polymer reaction machinery manufacturer LIST awarded its Heinz List Award to Dr. Marino Xanthos at the recent Society of Plastics Engineers annual meeting in Orlando. Established in 2006, the Heinz List Award, sponsored by LIST USA (Charlotte, NC), recognizes an individual who has contributed outstanding achievement in the area of polymerization reactions and polymer devolatilization technologies.  

As a professor in the department of Chemical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Xanthos has been instrumental in helping polymer engineering advance as an academic discipline. His career spans more than 40 years Xanthos also holds five patents and has published more than 50 papers and publications.

Gneuss Inc. (Matthews, NC), the North American subsidiary of German machinery manufacturer Gneuss Kunststofftechnik GmbH, reports it has added new staff to meet the needs of its expanding business in North America. Roger Clarke joined the company as sales engineer for screen changers and polymer filtration systems. His territory will be Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Clarke most recently was employed by Davis Standard.  

Extrusion systems manufacturer Reifenhäuser has named Jochen Hennes as co-managing director of Reifenhäuser Extrusion GmbH & Co. KG (Troisdorf, Germany) alongside Klaus and Bernd Reifenhäuser. In this capacity, Hennes assumes the responsibility for the business unit Cast Film.

Reifenhäuser Extrusion is part of the Reifenhäuser Group of companies. Hennes held various leading positions with Kiefel Extrusion GmbH in Worms, also Germany, and came to Reifenhäuser in 2009 when that company acquired the Kiefel Extrusion business.

New to the Extrusion Systems Group of Davis-Standard LLC (Pawcatuck, CT) is Weijian (Kent) Wang. He will work as a process engineer in development in the company's technical center at its headquarters. Before coming to Davis-Standard, Wang was employed for 13 years as a senior process engineer for processor Pactiv Corp. in Bakersfield, CA.