The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), the Plastics Innovation and Resource Center (PIRC) of Penn College of Technology, and Paulson Training Programs Inc. have entered into an alliance to offer plastics professionals and companies a resource for educational information, training programs, and certifications.

Drawing on its wide reach within the plastics industry, SPE will market this training and certification alliance within the community and will also initiate outreach programs to attract new members with their first year of premium membership as part of their training and certification packages. Paulson will provide discounts for existing SPE members who attend seminars through their Plastics Academy or onsite training. Penn College brings exclusive North American rights to the premiere Global Standards for Plastics Certification (GSPC) program. GSPC is the only recognized method of apprenticeship certification in the world for the plastics industry. It provides universal recognition of plastics worker’s knowledge and capabilities, as well as demonstrated economic benefits to companies.

Those interested in learning more about how to get started, sign up for new membership, or sign up for individual or company training can contact SPE headquarters for details.

“As a combination of a robust industry association, a technical college and a world-class professional training company, this new alliance offers individuals and companies everything they need to know to make the most of their career and business opportunities in the plastics industry,” said Russell Broome, managing director of SPE. “Existing and new members of SPE and the plastics community at large will benefit by having immediate access to the outstanding range of resources this new alliance brings”.

The alliance partners have already identified the shortages of skilled worker and of new employees as critical industry challenges that they can help to address. Most plastics processors have ranked lack of enough skilled employees as their number one problem.

“Our alliance with Penn College and SPE is aimed squarely at these issues by providing technical training and by working to get the next generation of workers interested in plastics as a very lucrative and exciting career opportunity,” said Craig Paulson, president of Paulson Training. “Our company, for example, has been giving seminars and marketing in-plant training solutions to the plastics industry for over 35 years.”
Paulson will be supplying training in several formats including online, CD-based and seminars through the Paulson Plastics Academy and ProMolder Certification.

The academic and certification aspect of the alliance will be the specialization of Penn College of Technology, which, along with Paulson and SPE, will be offering GSPC certification to all plastics processors throughout North America. Hank White, director of Penn College PIRC is looking forward to working in this partnership to maximize the number of industry personnel who have a known global certification.

“The GSPC program is designed to give employers the ability to know that the people they are hiring have met certain standards in knowledge and skills,” said Hank White, director of PIRC at Penn College of Technology. “On the employee side, having GSPC certification is a big plus on any resume.”

Broome of SPE cited this example of how the alliance has already served as a resource for an industry company. “Soon after completing the alliance agreement, SPE received a call from a company in California looking for a training program for their injection molding business. SPE referred them to Paulson, and Paulson assisted the company immediately, offering the growing business a discount in SPE membership with a purchase of one of their products, and Penn College supplied research information and details about the GSPC certification program.”

The alignment of the three entities couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, according to Broome. “The economy is showing promising growth, especially in the domestic manufacturing sectors, causing more and more companies looking to obtain key industry information and to find qualified skilled people.”

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