Jay Waddell

Mr. Waddell is the founding partner and key management principal of Plastic Concepts & Innovations, LLC, bringing the skills from 26 years of consulting and manufacturing in heavy-gauge thermoforming at Curd Enterprises, dba Multiplastics. He held numerous positions from Manufacturing Manager to Executive Vice President while at Multiplastics. In the plastics industry, Mr. Waddell is considered to be an expert in materials and manufacturing techniques, including twin-sheet thermoforming, pressure-forming and CNC operations.

Mr. Waddell has designed and established three thermoforming manufacturing facilities incorporating the latest technology. He was directly responsible for establishing and maintaining manufacturing capability at each one.

Mr. Waddell is experienced in developing products for industries as diverse as circuit-board handling packages to critical-care patient life-support systems and as mundane as bus end-caps and sanitary pieces. He is considered an expert in materials and manufacturing techniques having developed unique processes for fabrication and bonding of dissimilar materials, such as for twin-sheet forming of talc-filled olefins.

Mr. Waddell is experienced in ISO requirements and in 1996 led his company to become the first ISO 9001 certified heavy-gauge thermoformer in the United States.

Mr. Waddell has presented numerous seminars at major automobile manufacturers and their tier one suppliers, resin companies, and private enterprises on cut-sheet thermoforming. He presents seminars on advance thermoforming techniques and materials each year across the country to both formers and end-users. He has taught and consulted at companies in the United Kingdom, People’s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Mexico, Australia and Canada.

He has done extensive work in the development of Class-A thermoformed interior and exterior products for the major automobile manufacturers and their tier one suppliers. He has been active in the development of PVF and PVDF film technology in heavy-gauge thermoforming and the use of TPOs in exterior and interior applications. Under his leadership, PCI introduced heavy-gauge thermoforming of TPOs to the thermoforming industry. His company was instrumental in developing both forming and extrusion processes involving TPOs.

Mr. Waddell has also done extensive work in development of new products in the Marine, RV and Aircraft industries.

Mr. Waddell works with thermoforming companies in process improvement and product development both in the US and overseas. He is often called in as a “plastics forming 911” rescue resource for customers with all manner of forming issues both to correct them and also as an independent expert evaluating where the problem(s) for the issue(s) lies.

Mr. Waddell earned his BA at the Citadel and also continued his graduate studies in business there. He is a Senior Member of Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE) and has been a member of the national Board of Directors for the Thermoforming Division of the SPE for the past 20 years. He was the chairman for the 2002 Thermoforming Conference and has been a speaker and moderator at many other conferences.