Uniloy Milacron Names New Leadership for North American Blowmolding Business
April 2006 Uniloy Milacron names four experienced blowmolding veterans to new
management positions, headed by the return of Dave Skala. Named Vice President &
General Manager of Uniloy Milacron North America, Skala assumes the top position for
the blow molding business after eight years at D-M-E, Milacron's mold components
subsidiary. He previously held Uniloy sales and marketing positions from 1992 to 1997, when he joined D-M-E.
In other UMNA leadership changes:
o Mark Jenkins is promoted to Director, Uniloy Services.
o Rich Smith is promoted to Director, Marketing and Sales, Reciprocating Screw
Technologies.
o Dan Meehling returns to Uniloy as New Business Development Manager for non-
reciprocating products and technologies.
"These moves position Uniloy for new opportunities after a period of restructuring in
North American blow molding markets, especially the dairy industry where Uniloy is the
long-time leader in lightweight handled containers," said Skala. "This is strong, well-proven technology where we have a huge installed base, and it is now starting to spread worldwide as fresh milk products become more widely available. We're also working toward development of containers blown on our recip machines that can give extended shelf life without refrigeration."
Uniloy's core strength has always been its ability to provide complete systems
machines, container design, mold building, auxiliary equipment, training, even start-up and pre-production runs, Skala noted. "We continue to offer applications lab, mold
design and mold manufacturing integrated at our Tecumseh facility for single-source
processing solutions, while all machinery assembly is now centralized at Milacron's
Batavia, OH, plant."
Jenkins assumes direct responsibility for mold engineering, mold manufacturing,
aftermarket parts, machine retrofit and rebuild. He brings to the position more than 20 years Uniloy experience in industrial engineering, sales, customer support and
aftermarket services. Smith offers more than 20 years of Uniloy experience in sales
and product management. In the new position he is responsible for product
development, sales and service of reciprocating screw and intermittent extrusion
systems.
Meehling returns to Uniloy, where he served from 1985 to 2001 in purchasing,
manufacturing and sales assignments. He is responsible for non-reciprocating screw
products and technologies, including injection blowmolding, industrial blowmolding, PET molds, and structural foam molding, where Uniloy is the world leader in machine
installations and technology development.
"We've strengthened ourselves through the restructuring, as evidenced by our
significant reduction in working capital needs, our improvements in quality and on time deliveries, while, at the same time, our product development is on track to bring new capabilities to the recip machines," Skala added. "With Uniloy stalwarts like Rich Smith,Mark Jenkins, and Ed Hunerberg, who still heads our structural foam business,weathering the market consolidation of the last five years, and alumni like me and Dan Meehling returning to the business, we see indicators that a corner has been turned and we are positioned now with a strong team and technology as we move forward."
A pioneer in blow molding technologies, Uniloy introduced the first blowmolding
machine in the U.S. and created the first hollow-handle plastic milk bottles, now
ubiquitous in North America. It penetrated new markets for plastic containers with
innovative processing technologies and expanded into a global supplier. Purchased in
1998 by Milacron, the world's broadest line supplier of plastics processing technology, Uniloy has manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Europe and technical centers in North America, South America and Europe.
For more information, go to www.milacron.com.
Contact
Dave Skala
Uniloy Milacron
5550 Occidental Highway, Suite B
Tecumseh MI 49286
Tel: 517.424.8976
Fax: 517.424.8936
dave_skala@uniloy.com
or
Roger Rude
Kemble & Rude Communications
4242 Airport Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45226 USA
Tel: 513.871.4042
Fax: 513.871.4895
rrude@kemblerude.com/
