Introducing the New Editorial Advisory Board

With the advent of the new year, MoldMaking Technology magazine finds itself celebrating its fifth anniversary, and we would like to thank you, the reader, for helping us achieve what we have thus far. Now, as part of the magazine's commitment to growth and in response to many of your requests and comments, we believe that it's time to instate a new Editorial Advisory Board. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our previous EAB members for all their help and support during the past years, and would like to welcome the new EAB to MoldMaking Technology magazine. As you will read, while they come from a variety of backgrounds, all of our new members have a lot of experience to share with us.

Alan J. Amazon is the tool engineering manager, mold standards for Tyco Electronics (Harrisburg, PA) - one of the major business units of Tyco International and the world's largest passive electronic components manufacturer. In his many years in the industry, Alan has worked as a moldmaker, as a toolroom and mold shop supervisor, as a mold and manufacturing engineer and as a project manager with such companies as Hughes Aircraft Co., Bic Pen and AMP Inc. - both in the U.S. and in Shanghai, China. While he has worked mainly with hot runner molds and mold materials, Alan's areas of expertise include mold design practices, product design for moldability, decreasing cycle times, rapid tooling practices, tool standardization and moldmaker training.

Bud Harrelson has worn many hats in the machining industry. In 1978 he began by running wire EDM systems before moving on to operating EDM sinkers, and has been involved with EDM work throughout his career. Bud also has worked with everything from manual mills and lathes to CNC mills and lathes - acting as both programmer and operator. He also has worked at a variety of businesses, including the Los Alamos National Lab, Sandia National Labs and NASA. Currently, Bud works as the "EDM guy" as part of a team at Hayes Industries (Sugar Land, TX) - a specialty plastics and custom cabling manufacturer that makes and repairs all of its own molds.

Amar A. Patel is the project and design engineer for Product Development Technologies, Inc. (Lincolnshire, IL) - a global product development company. With a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a M.S. in manufacturing engineering, Amar has worked for such companies as Motorola, Rapid Design Group and A.J. Gerrard and Company. He has developed business plans and training manuals, as well as authored and instructed others in training programs and manuals for assembly, fabrication and machining. In addition, Amar is proficient in the many software programs - such as Pro/Engineer, SDRC Ideas Master Series and AutoCAD - that are associated with product development, manufacturing and tool engineering.

Gregory Reny is the Canadian technical leader for Automotive Engineering Plastics Technical Service and Product Development at Dow Chemical Canada (Sarnia, Ontario). Professional experience includes design and project engineering and heat transfer technical service engineering. Greg has worked with both injection and blow molders, focusing on new product development and customer productivity initiatives. His areas of expertise include mold filling analysis, polymer drying, hot runner design and mold cooling optimization. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Carleton University, Ottawa. Honors bestowed by Dow Chemical include the Technical Excellence and the Creative Value Creation awards and most recently the Global Developmental Scientist Organization Award. The Society of Plastics Engineers gave Greg the Most Innovative Use of Plastics and Speaker Awards. Greg is a registered professional engineer in the province of Ontario and a father of three.

Robert Allen Vaughan originally began his career as an apprentice mold designer for Caco Pacific Corp. in 1973, and has since moved on to become a senior mold designer for Porex Medical Products, Inc. (Ontario, CA), which offers expertise in the design, development and manufacturing of high-performance plastic injection molds and injection molded plastic products for the medical device industry. His experience includes not only mold design, but also department management, vendor management, material flow analysis and toolroom support. Robert also has designed molds for such companies as Dauntless Molds, Inc. and has extensive experience with EDM systems, machining, hot runners and CAD/CAM systems.