WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE!

I am a chemical engineer, consultant, and educator, with further training in anthropology, and working with plastics most of my life — first as a technical service engineer with Union Carbide Plastics, and since then independently (practical tech, no selling or buying).  Areas of specialty include packaging, agriculture, building & construction, and environmental issues. I now do these things:

  • INTRODUCTION TO EXTRUSION OF PLASTICS– basic training course formerly presented in various cities (since 1980) but now converted to Virtual training seminars, available on-demand anywhere in the World in digital form, in your place, at your pace, with or without my audio description. See Item 1 below for details.
  • Author and publisher of THE PLASTICS EXTRUSION OPERATING MANUAL, now in its 24th revised edition.
  • Private consulting work, including help in getting started in extrusion, troubleshooting, On-Call Technical Service, and legal assistance.
  • I am especially interested in supporting the images of plastics as nontoxic and doing far more good than harm to our health and the environment. That includes understanding the reasons for the worldwide “plastiphobia,” which are linked to the need to believe in the impossible (magic, hope), and the fears of corporations and government, the unnatural, and science in general.
  • Please click the appropriate button to learn more.
Seminars
Webinars
Extrusion Manual
Consulting Services
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1. Introduction to Extrusion, now all Virtual (digital)

— your place, your pace

  • This is the latest version of my basic introductory course that I’ve taught to over 5000 people since its first session in 1979. Details change, but people still want to learn the practical basics. Until this year, if you wanted to attend this seminar, you had to go to the host city on the day presented, or have it presented in-house. Now that’s all changed, as people will be reluctant to travel and stay in the same room with unknown others for a long time.
  • However, you can avoid risk, save travel time and cost, and see it on your own schedule by having my 190-slide PowerPoint pack sent to you, either…just the slides (with a Guide to the Slides as a Word file), at a charge of $US 595, or…the slides with audio attached to each (my explanations) which you can control, go back, repeat or skip slides, even add new ones of your own, see alone or with others, at a charge of $US 995.

For content in more detail, click on the Seminars button above.

You may send me questions and comments (or even phone calls) afterward, which is the offer I made to all who attended my seminars in person.

For more information or to receive a Virtual Seminar with or without audio, please call me at 301-758-7788 or email ()

2. My Webinars

Since 2010 I have been presenting 1-hour free webinars from time to time. The most recent one was “What Every Extruder Should Know,” presented on May 14, 2019, and hosted by PlasticsToday. It was recorded and still available via www.plasticstoday.com. Call or email me for help if you have trouble registering.

  • Past webinars include:
    • “Throw Almost Nothing Away”; — the economic and technical aspects of recycling, in-plant and out.
    • “How to Read a Spec Sheet” — information from resin suppliers is useful, but isn’t always complete or consistent. This hour will help you get the most value from them.
    • “The Ten (11) Key Principles of Extrusion” — the basics of extrusion: mechanical, thermal, speed, plastic is the coolant, conveying in the feed zone, save all resin, power cost, the vital signs, output, shear-thinning, and the barrel-motor balance.
    • “Plastics Chemistry for Non-Chemists” — an easy-to-understand cartoon-based explanation of how monomers become polymers.
    • “Plastics in the Environment” — major issues (bag ban, phthalates, BPA, more) and reasons for the massive misunderstandings.
    • “Testing Incoming Raw Materials” — why you should be testing and how to do it.

The slides for these past webinars are still available. To access them, or for questions on content, call me at 301-758-7788 or email to .

Technical Articles:

Seminars
Webinars
Extrusion Manual
Consulting Services
Contact
Us