The NWPA Society of Plastics Engineers is a nonprofit professional organization founded to facilitate and encourage the growth, knowledge, and expertise among the membership by offering educational and professional development opportunities focused on the plastics industry.

UPCOMING – April 24 Accudyn Plant Tour…..read all about it in the Spring Newsletter (on the Newsletter Page of course). Also be prepared for more socializing!

FEBRUARY 27, 2025 – Join us at Lavery Brewing Company at 5.30pm on Thursday for our first social of the year. You buy the drinks and we got your pub food. 128 W 12th St, Erie, PA 16501.

DECEMBER 2024 Student Chapter Scholarships are now awarded. Congratulations to our winners! Read about our winners on the Scholarship page.

OCT 24, 2024 – Learn all you ever wanted to know – and then some – about COLORS with Mark Zadrozny, Technical Service Manager, Penn Color. Join us at The Brewerie at Union Station, 123 W 14th Street, Erie PA on Thursday October 24, 2024. 5.30pm social, dinner at 6pm and speaker follows. $10/student or emeritas member of NWPA SPE, $20/professional member of NWPA SPE and $30/other.

Just a note – Cleveland SPE along with SPE International are hosting: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING: PRINTING THE PLAN FOR THE FUTURE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2024 WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, OH. Find more information at specleveland.org.

WHAT A GREAT DAY! 2024 NWPA SPE GOLF OUTING was held at Whispering Woods Golf Club in Erie PA. We cannot thank our sponsors enough for all that they do to help us make this event such a success. This year proceeds will be donated to the Mike Sepe Scholarship at www.4spe.org and we will be starting a NWPA SPE Section endowed scholarship through SPE National. Nearly a thousand dollars of game winnings was donated back by our players – we couldn’t do it without them either. Thank you.

Proceeds benefit Plastics Scholarships. Please share the scholarship information (see scholarships page).

2024 NWPA SPE Scholarship Applications……find them on the scholarship page

Coming Up Next: JUNE 26 Social at Poverty Knob Brewery @ Port Farms in Waterford, PA. Come south for a short drive or come north for a short drive – either way, we hope to see you there for free eats, some camaraderie and plastic talk.

Our most recent event: The Technical presentation on Thursday APRIL 11, 2024 at Vintage Pizza (Screw Bounce…What it is and Why You Should Care/David Hoffman, AIM Institute) was very well attended; the audience was given a great presentation followed by several very good questions, allowing them to delve even deeper into the subject matter and what the next step in research might be. Thank you, Dave.

Every processor has probably seen, debated, and most likely dismissed "screw bounce." Screw bounce happens as the machine transfers from first stage to second stage. And despite it happening with nearly every molding process to some extent, its root cause and potential impact on process development and the molded parts do not seem to be well understood. For example, screw bounce has a direct influence on the settings used for First Stage Fill Volume for a given mold. Research will be presented that shows the errors in actual versus theoretical fill-only part weight in molding processes both with and without screw bounce, and discuss how the pvT relationship of plastics helps to explain the errors. The presentation will then compare the different First Stage Fill Volume results to Autodesk Moldflow Simulation's results. Finally, a discussion on the influence of the molding machine's response will be included in the presentation.

PAST EVENT: APRIL NWPA SPE Tour of the Shell Cracker Plant in Monaca, PA.

Our NWPA SPE Board members from Shell Polymers were excited to share the progress at their plant with our chapter.

PAST EVENT: The 2023 NWPA SPE GOLF OUTING was held at Whispering Woods Golf Club on Thursday August 10, 2023. A great time was had by all – especially those that won some of those fabulous gifts!

We want to thank all our sponsors and golfers for their support!

GOLD SPONSORS: GeorgeKo, Port Erie Plastics, Beaumont Technologies, DIE – SEP, ICT Molding, Plastek Group, Shell Chemical, Conventus Polymers…

While you are here, let us know what you think of the new site! You can leave any comments/suggestions in the box below.