The honour of being posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame was bestowed by the Plastics Industry Trade Association and the Plastics Academy on six individuals during Antec 2014 in Las Vegas. One of the inductees was Hans Reifenhäuser, entrepreneur and long-time president of Reifenhäuser Group, who deceased in 1999. In the 1950s, Hans Reifenhäuser and his brother Fritz developed their father’s forge in Troisdorf (Germany) into one of the most important machine manufacturing companies of the global plastics industry. The stature and importance of today’s extrusion technology would have been almost inconceivable without Hans Reifenhäuser’s pioneering achievements. The technology became a milestone in the production of plastics throughout the world and formed the basis for the success of Reifenhäuser.

In line with this, the Plastics Academy’s laudatio text reads as follows: “With his entrepreneurial spirit, he developed the Reifenhäuser extruder, further vaulting his company and introducing new trends into the growth of the extrusion field. The name Reifenhäuser soon gained worldwide prominence and became synonymous with high quality extrusion machinery”.

During a ceremony at Port Jefferson Station (New York) Jay Gardiner, president of the Plastics Academy, recognized the accomplishments of the deceased individuals on which the highest honour of the American plastics industry was bestowed by inducting them into the Hall of Fame. “The six men”, said Gardiner, “have dedicated their lifelong careers to advancing plastics innovation. Their contributions and extraordinary accomplishments will forever carry on in the history of the industry and in their memory”.

Ulrich Reifenhäuser, one of Hans’ three sons, came to Las Vegas to attend the induction ceremony. He added: “The way our father was honoured fifteen years after his death as one of the great pioneers in the industry and especially in extrusion technology that was strongly marked by him, was a meaningful event - both for our family and our company. We understand the induction into the Hall of Fame as a special recognition of our father’s lifetime achievements, and we feel committed to staying true to his idea of ongoing innovation as the basis for the efficiency of our company”.