The Society of Plastics Engineershas named Fred Steil of the D-M-E Company in Madison Heights, Michigan, as its 2004 Mold Maker of the Year, and Wayne Hertlein of Collins & Aikman Tooling Center in Troy, Michigan, as its 2004 Mold Designer of the Year.
The awards, which this year will be officially presented on June 23, are given annually to individuals who have exemplified the characteristics of leadership and adaptability in the field of mold building. This year’s awards were announced at SPE-ANTEC 2004 in May by Patricia Miller, the 2003-04 chair of the SPE’s Mold Making and Mold Design Division, and Scott Peters, the 2003-04 chair of SPE awards.
Steil is currently the mechanical engineering manager for D-M-E, where he has been employed for the past 20 years. He is a journey-level mold maker with an engineering degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. In addition, he has owned a plastic molding firm.
As a senior tooling engineer at Collins & Aikman, Hertlein is responsible for new tooling programs related to the automobile industry. He is a journey-level mold maker and a certified mold designer with an engineering degree from Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Hertlein owns one of the largest personal technical libraries on mold making and design in the United States, and has been featured in Detroit-area newspapers.