PlastChicks

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri interview Tim and Barb Womer poolside at the Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA) and Plastics Hall of Fame (PHoF) Spring 2026 Networking/Conference in Sarasota, Florida. They speak to Tim and Barb about how they met, balancing work and personal life, raising a family, his plastics industry career journey through various engineering and executive role...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri interview Norm and Sue Fowler poolside at the Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA) and Plastics Hall of Fame (PHoF) Spring 2026 Networking/Conference in Sarasota, Florida. They speak to Norm and Sue about how they met, their relationship and home life, his induction into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2025, her professional career, his career at Xerox,...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Justin Riney, Sustainability Commercial Manager Americas at INEOS Styrolution and host of the podcast, Redefining Plastics . They explored his path into the plastics industry and podcasting, common myths around plastics and recycling, challenges of replacing plastics with alternative materials, efforts to improve municipal polystyrene recycling,...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Lexington Peterson , Business Development Manager in Automotive and Mobility at Engel . They discussed SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals, sustainability, her plastics engineering career journey, advancements in large-scale thermoplastic composite structures, lightweighting in electric and autonomous vehicle development, composite development...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Geoff Foster , CEO and President of Core Technology . They discuss how he founded his own plastics injection molding company, what's fueling their 300% growth since Covid, critical skills for engineering students, the importance of building diversity and inclusion into all levels of the company, the value of internships, considering potential em...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Pia Fischer , Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Institute for Plastics Processing in Industry and Craft (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University. They discuss the development of her interest in plastics, injection molding, skill building for success in the PhD program, the benefits of mentoring, processes for sustainability and recycling, addressing...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host the Plastics Industry Association , featuring Matt Seaholm, President & CEO, and Pat Farrey, Executive VP & Chief Integration Officer. They discuss the merger of the Plastics Industry Association and SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals to combine resources that offer members greater opportunities and amplify the plastic industry’s voice...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host David Routsis, President, and Hannah Donnellan, Sales and Marketing Associate, Routsis Training, LLC. They discussed identifying training needs in the plastics industry, addressing the challenges of capturing specific staff manufacturing knowledge before they retire, producing training content in six languages, keeping training current, visiting...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Tuan TranPham , "the most-followed person in 3D printing," and President of the Americas and Asia Pacific at Anisoprint . They discuss the evolution of his career in 3D printing and the plastics industry, his desire to educate and inspire about the reality and potential of 3D printing, the benefits of sharing what you know to build collective kn...

On this special PlastChicks Scholarship episode, PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri receive an on-air surprise! Eve Vitale, Gina Grady, and Brian Grady announce a new endowed PlastChicks Scholarship Fund to award scholarships forever to deserving plastics students. Thanks to Gina and Brian Grady for their generous support! Next Lynzie and Mercedes host their Third Annual PlastChicks S...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede . They discussed the founding of Supersede, marine and construction material manufacturing, the process for using recycled plastics, logistics management, the challenges of green solutions and carbon-reduction initiatives, designing cost-competitive systems to outperform alternatives and be profitable with a posi...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Kohei Shinohara , Senior Vice President at Sodick, live from the Innovation and Emerging Plastics Technologies Conference at PennState Behrend, June 11-12, 2025. They discussed injection molding machine design, medical and precision micro-molding, use of the V-Line® two-stage plunger injection system, selecting technologies to showcase at indust...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Lisa van der Vorst , Senior Sales Director-North America at Mold-Masters Ltd. , live from the Innovation and Emerging Plastics Technologies Conference at PennState Behrend, June 11-12, 2025. They discussed the state of the industry and future of hot runners, her career journey leading to injection molding, lessons learned from living in differen...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Dr. Shilpa Manjure , Global Technical Leader at Northern Technologies International Corporation / Natur-Tec and SPE's Bioplastics and Renewable Technologies Division Chair. They discussed how her interest in plastics and biopolymers developed, the global approach to find solutions for plastics pollution, the definition of bio-based and compostab...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Dr. Jennifer Hoffman , Director of Project Management for Eurofins | EAG Laboratories . They discuss her journey in materials science, her role as a "technical therapist," determining the best approach to address varying client needs, most common issues in plastics, deformulation/reverse engineering of materials, helping companies make smart bus...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host April Brown , Applications Engineer at Moldex3D . They discuss her professional journey to a plastics industry career, injection molding simulation projects, reducing manufacturing cost and optimizing processes while reducing waste and considering sustainability, being more inventive and efficient in the workplace, creating a sustainable future...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Dr. Andy Francis , Vice President of Marketing at Q-Lab Corporation . They discuss the big forces of plastics weathering, the arch nemeses of plastics, the difficulty of service life prediction, techniques and equipment for testing the effects of weathering on plastics, common misconceptions about plastics durability, plastics failure methods du...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host the Kenders, siblings with careers in plastics: Laura Kender , Polymer Process Engineer at Corning Life Sciences; Elizabeth Kender , Senior Product Developer at New Balance; and Stephen Kender , Senior Design Engineer at UPPAbaby. They discuss how their interest in plastics developed, their teamwork in college, their career journey in plastics,...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Andy Kamholz , CEO, Edge Precision Manufacturing . They discuss compression molding micro features on a macro part, micropore filters, hiring strategies for success, building a thriving corporate culture, the challenges in launching a new enterprise, and upcoming plastics innovations. Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel . Pl...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Lytia Watson , Vice President of Human Resources, Deceuninck North America. They discuss her educational journey, approaching impediments with curiosity, finding the best employees for your company, removing bias in hiring decisions, building collaboration skills for success, planning your personal career growth, and navigating the future and ch...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Tanisha Francis , 2024 PlastChicks Scholarship Winner, Computer Engineering Senior at Kettering University, and President of the Kettering University SPE Student Chapter. They discuss the development of her interest in the plastics industry, her desire to use hardware and software solutions to reduce waste and streamline plastics production, men...

Live from NPE2024! PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Emily Bowser , Process and Tooling Engineering Manager at Biomerics . They discussed improving processes to reduce scrap, the impact of mentorship on professional growth, 3-D printing, advice for aspiring engineers, emerging trends in plastics manufacturing, and leaving a legacy for the plastics industry. Watch the PlastChicks...

Live from NPE2024! PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Leslie Sonne , Senior Business Development Manager at Star Thermoplastics , a Hexpol TPE company. They discussed her career journey at Star Thermoplastics, working with clients to determine the best TPE formulations to meet their needs, the variety of TPE applications and cross-market designs, and addressing challenges in recy...

Live from NPE2024! PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Bailey Robin , Co-Founder and CEO, Matium . They discuss the journey that led him to found Matium and his future plans. Matium combines sustainable market and material science perspectives to create a comprehensive, interactive, digital supply chain network infrastructure supporting the plastics market and its services in a gl...

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Jay Shoemaker , Adjunct Assistant Professor, Western Michigan University and owner of HL&S Consulting . They discussed mold design, his work with Moldflow and iMFLUX, plastics education, mold design publications, and his participation in SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals . Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel . PlastCh...