Donald Paulson
Paulson Training Programs Incorporated
Inducted 2021
Don Paulson began his career in the plastics industry in 1960, the start of more than 60 years of active participation. He is presently chairman of Paulson Training Programs Incorporated. Don’s first job was as a technical service engineer at Dow Chemical Company. In 1962 he had a life-changing opportunity when he was hired by General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) to develop a plastic processing training course for their engineering students. As part of the curriculum, he developed a plastics processing laboratory for hands-on training and research.
Controlling the properties of injection molded parts at that time was a mystery. Many studies were done to determine which machine control should be used to solve each type of part problem. None of the studies were successful.
Don decided on a different approach. Perhaps it was not the machine settings that determined part properties; it was plastic conditions in the mold. Looking at the process from the plastic’s viewpoint, there are only four basic variables: temperature, flow rate, pressure, and cooling. Over five years, using a highly instrumented molding machine and mold, Don proved his theory that the plastic conditions inside the mold determine the molded part properties. The machine settings affect the plastic conditions but in various ways that are often not apparent to the molder.
Don published numerous articles describing his research and the results. At that time, molding machines could not measure plastic variables, so the work was largely of academic interest. Today, most machine and mold builders have incorporated the capabilities to measure and control plastic conditions.
His research became the basis for his widely-used molding and extrusion personnel training. And it was only after major success with his own company – Control Process, Inc. – he turned his attention fully toward professional training. Since its founding in 1980, Paulson Training Programs has provided world-class training for more than 50-thousand plastics professionals. He says he gets the greatest pleasure from personnel, saying,” You changed my life.”
His induction into the Plastics Hall of Fame is only the latest in a string of honors that include being named one of the six most important innovators in the plastics industry by Plastics World Magazine and the Lifetime Engineering and Technical Achievement Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE, 2006).
A veteran officer of the U.S. Navy, author of over forty published articles, and holder of fourteen patents, Paulson also holds engineering degrees from the University of Minnesota and Villanova University.
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