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 industry events, challenges around micro-molding and feedback systems, automation, industry career advice ...
Aug 01, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 3
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 different countries, the importance of emotional intelligence, career advice for engineering students, mento...
Jul 04, 2025•25 min•Season 8Ep. 2
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 compostable materials, developing an empathetic leadership style that helps bring the best out of everyone, s...
Jun 06, 2025•39 min•Season 8Ep. 1
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 business decisions based on scientific data, trends in plastics, sustainable materials, favorite tools,...
May 05, 2025•53 min•Season 7Ep. 10
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 for everyone in the plastics industry, using AI to compile years of simulation data to help optimize...
Apr 04, 2025•39 min•Season 7Ep. 9
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 due to weathering, and the future of materials testing. Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTu...
Mar 07, 2025•41 min•Season 7Ep. 8
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, networking, injection molding, sustainability, the future of plastics, and designing for plastics st...
Feb 07, 2025•50 min•Season 7Ep. 7
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 . PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals . Look for new episodes the first Fri...
Jan 03, 2025•42 min•Season 7Ep. 6
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 challenges of AI in the plastics industry for employers and staff. Watch the PlastChicks podcast on th...
Dec 06, 2024•41 min•Season 7Ep. 5
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, mentoring and coaching high school students, service projects, work with her SPE Student Chapter, and a...
Nov 01, 2024•24 min•Season 7Ep. 4
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 podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel . PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professiona...
Oct 04, 2024•34 min•Season 7Ep. 3
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 recyclability and sustainability. Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel . PlastChicks...
Sep 06, 2024•39 min•Season 7Ep. 2
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 globally competitive marketplace with an emphasis on ease of use and efficiency. Watch the PlastChicks...
Aug 02, 2024•49 min•Season 7Ep. 1
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 . PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals . Look for new episodes the first Friday o...
Jul 05, 2024•38 min•Season 6Ep. 9
Bonus Episode! PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Jess Rodriguez , Sustainability Project Manager at Berry Global, Inc. They discussed her journey in the plastics industry and working with designers and customers to improve sustainability and recyclability in healthcare packaging through circular content, recycling technology, and process optimization. This episode was recorded live at NPE2024 . Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel . PlastChicks is sponsored...
Jul 03, 2024•26 min
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Jake Kelly-Walley , an R&D Engineer at Matrix Polymers and PhD Student at Queen's University Belfast. They discussed UN Sustainable Development Goals, responsible consumption of materials, introducing post-consumer recycling into rotational molding processes, banana fiber, deciding which applications can use less virgin materials while maintaining performance requirements, advances in rotational molding processes, and getting students inte...
Jun 07, 2024•33 min•Season 6Ep. 8
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Wendy Hoenig , CEO at H & H Business Development , 2024 inductee into the Plastics Hall of Fame, and 2018 Women Breaking the Mold award winner. They discussed Plastics Pioneers , her work at Dow, product incubation, emerging trends in the plastics industry, approaches to and importance of mentoring and being mentored, giving back to the next generation of plastics professionals, providing technology and business assessments of start-ups, a...
May 03, 2024•29 min•Season 6Ep. 7
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Dr. Ellen Lee, Technical Leader of Additive Manufacturing Research at Ford Motor Company , live from ANTEC ® 2024. They discuss her journey in additive manufacturing, challenges in using additive manufacturing in the automotive sector, developing technical roadmaps, collaboration with the value chain, advice for people interested in additive manufacturing careers, and additive manufacturing design, optimization, and printing processes. Watch t...
Apr 05, 2024•44 min•Season 6Ep. 6
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Darien Dierksen , Senior Application Engineer at Procter & Gamble . They discuss her journey in the plastics industry, mentoring, challenges for women in the plastics industry, sustainable solutions at Procter & Gamble, the importance of recycling education and her road ahead in plastics. Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel . PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals . Look for new episodes t...
Mar 01, 2024•41 min•Season 6Ep. 5
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Alethea Schaeffer, VP of Sales & Engineering, USHECO . They discuss her journey in the plastics industry, thermoforming processes, the company's entrepreneurial approach to manufacturing, designing for manufacturing, approaches to problem-solving in engineering, pivoting to support pandemic supply needs and how the company stays innovative. Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channe l. PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring...
Feb 02, 2024•40 min•Season 6Ep. 4
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host the co-CEOs of Hoffer Plastics : Gretchen Hoffer Farb, Charlotte Hoffer Canning and Alex Hoffer. They discuss the dynamics of a family-owned injection-molding plastics business, their approach to innovation in the plastics industry, the advantages of having multiple co-CEOs, the importance of family being part of company values, and working together with customers and staff at all levels to address the needs of the customer, end consumer, and ...
Jan 05, 2024•42 min•Season 6Ep. 3
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Monika Stroeder, PhD , Team Leader, Circular Products R&D at NOVA Chemicals . They review her role in developing new products, her move into technical services, packaging, sustainability and finally into research and development of circular products. They discuss working together with the industry in a value chain, downgauging, mono material packaging, incorporating recycled materials, mechanical and chemical recycling, the challenges for ...
Dec 01, 2023•41 min•Season 6Ep. 2
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Madison Kramer, a Plastics Engineering sophomore at Penn State Behrend and the first PlastChicks Scholarship Winner. They discuss her scholarship, her interest in plastics engineering, how Lynzie and Mercedes created the PlastChicks podcast, plastics mold design, the benefits of internships in addition to academic studies, and innovations in the plastics industry. Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel . PlastChicks is sponso...
Nov 03, 2023•17 min•Season 6Ep. 1
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Sarah Webber , Sustainable Packaging Engineer for Plastic Ingenuity . They discuss her sustainable plastics industry career journey, encouraging others to explore careers in plastics, the importance of involving packaging engineers early in the process when the design is frozen but not ready to launch to optimize the potential for sustainable packaging, addressing the challenges of recycling, finding end markets for recycled materials, young p...
Oct 06, 2023•39 min•Season 5Ep. 10
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Mitch Rife, Engineering Manager for Additive Manufacturing, Delta TechOps. They discuss transitioning from subtractive to additive manufacturing processes; designing for 3D printing while considering injection molding requirements should production needs increase; producing 3D-printed tools, tool carriers and protectors to support aircraft mechanics; choosing materials for aerospace prototyping; use of 3D-printed parts in aircraft manufacturin...
Sep 01, 2023•49 min•Season 5Ep. 9
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Kate Davenport, Co-President of Eureka Recycling , a nonprofit zero waste organization and social enterprise recycler based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They discuss the economics and opportunities in providing recycling services, including finding sustainable markets that are interested in purchasing recycled materials, considering processes to move responsibility from the municipality to the producer, the difficulty of aggregating materials in...
Aug 04, 2023•51 min•Season 5Ep. 8
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Nathan Rader-Edkin, Plastics Innovation and Resource Center Program Manager, Pennsylvania College of Technology , a Plastics News Rising Star for 2023, and a co-founder of a new plastics career site, PlasticsPostings.com . They discuss his plastics industry career journey, parenting, injection molding, the importance of industry experience to an academic career, and the role of the Pennsylvania College of Technology's Plastics Innovation and R...
Jul 07, 2023•42 min•Season 5Ep. 7
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Dr. Sherrika Sanders, Senior Technical Engineer, Manner Polymers and member of the SPE DEI Advisory Board. They discuss her career journey, being one of the Hidden Figures of Dallas, developing small molecules to authenticate fuel and consumer goods, the use of PVC in building and construction, SPE Foundation's PlastiVan program, and the importance of STEM programs in developing the next generation of scientists. Find out more about SPE Founda...
Jun 02, 2023•49 min•Season 5Ep. 6
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Rashed Islam, Head of Product Integrity at Lyft - Transit, Bikes, and Scooters. They discuss his journey in his product integrity career, working at Google and Lyft, the challenges of implementing recycled plastics in products, sustainable transportation design, eStation strategies, the Lyft Micromobility Lab, and testing for different environments and conditions. Essentials of Management & Leadership in Plastics is a six-month virtual pro...
May 05, 2023•39 min•Season 5Ep. 5
PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host 3Dnatives guests Alexandre Martel, Co-Founder, and Filippos Voulpiotis, Chief Business Officer. They discuss the role of 3Dnatives as a reliable source of information on the latest trends of the Additive Manufacturing market, common misconceptions about additive manufacturing, the careful work that goes into producing content tailored to multiple languages and their audiences, and the synergies between SPE and 3Dnatives that led to SPE's acqui...
Apr 07, 2023•31 min•Season 5Ep. 4
