Alphagary has appointed Andy Claytor as Global Business Manager TPE. Andy Claytor will bring over 20 plus years of business development and executive sales experience to the fulcrum of Alphagary’s TPE operation. He comes to Alphagary from a seven-year spell as Vice President, Business Development, North Region with Hexpol Compounding. He also acted as Regional Sales Director for the organization. Prior to his last role, Andy was Director, Key Accounts & OEM Development for Teknor Apex, from 2001 to 2012.

The Board of Hexpol AB has appointed Georg Brunstam President and CEO for Hexpol AB effective 20 November 2020. The company said in a statement issued on 23 October 2020, that Brunstam is currently Chairman of the Board for Hexpol AB, and this assignment will end when he assumes his new role. Brunstam has previously been President and CEO for Hexpol AB 2007-2017.

Smithers, a leading provider of testing, consulting, information, and compliance services, appointed Dr. Natalie Jordan as Director of Materials Testing Operations. Natalie Jordan will be responsible for guiding and developing Smithers’ Materials Testing services to support the needs of clients across a range of industries including transportation, energy and industrial components.

Dr. Johannes Kilian is the new Head of Process Technologies at Engel Austria. Following the retirement of Prof. Dr. Georg Steinbichler, Engel has reorganised its development department and is now focusing even more strongly on process technology. Products and solutions for increasing process capability, such as the smart assistance systems of the iQ product family, but also innovative services, have been bundled in the Process Technologies department under the responsibility of Johannes Kilian.

Borealis has appointed Christopher McArdle as Vice President Polyolefins Strategy & New Business Development effective 1 September 2020. In this role, he will lead Borealis’ Polyolefins (PO) Strategy & New Business Development Portfolio.

Melanie Kostka has been awarded the Reifenhäuser Sponsorship Award on the occasion of IKV’s 30. International Colloquium Plastics Technology. With the Sponsorship Award, the Reifenhäuser company honoured the outstanding research work done by Melanie Kostka, who is employed as a scientific assistant at the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University.

Dr. Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro, has been awarded the Georg Menges Prize 2020. With this award, which is presented every two years, the Plastics and Rubber section of Germany’s Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA), together with PlasticsEurope Deutschland e. V. and the Sponsors' Association of the Institute for Plastics Processing in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University (IKV), acknowledge the achievement of individual persons or groups who have made a particularly valuable contribution to the transfer of research results to industrial practice in the field of plastics technology.

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Markus Susoff is the new professor for plastics testing and polymer physics at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück and head of the laboratory of the same name in the plastics technology laboratory area. The successor to Prof. Dr. Norbert Vennemann intends to expand the laboratory's research competence in a targeted manner and is focusing on close cooperation with companies.

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Markus Susoff is the new professor for plastics testing and polymer physics at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück and head of the laboratory of the same name in the plastics technology laboratory area. The successor to Prof. Dr. Norbert Vennemann intends to expand the laboratory's research competence in a targeted manner and is focusing on close cooperation with companies.

Andreas Fischer has been named Evonik's new chief innovation officer, effective from 1 July 2020. He succeeds Ulrich Küsthardt, who has held this position since 2015 and is now taking early retirement.