South Africa gets its first Plastics Hall of Famer
Posted on 05. Aug, 2009 by admin in News-Supply Chain
Nampak’s Chairman, Trevor Evans, is the first South African to be inducted into the USA’s prestigious Plastics Hall of Fame. This is a notable milestone for South Africa’s plastics industry, as well as for Nampak. “It puts our country and company on the global plastics industry map,” says Trevor. “There are very few Hall of Famers in the world, specifically outside the USA, so our achievement stands out.”
While Trevor is proud of the recognition that he’s received, he says he owes an immense debt of gratitude to Nampak, which afforded him the opportunities to develop his career over a period of 42 years. What’s more, he didn’t work alone and adds that his colleagues deserve much of the credit. “In the weeks leading up to the induction ceremony, I thought a great deal about my early career and colleagues at that time. Derek Jacobs gave me my first real career-break, promoting me from a technical role into marketing director. The names Arthur Buhrlen, Brian Graham, Francis Hannay, Klaus Hass, Ian McBean and Koos Oostuizen sprang to mind.”
The motivation for Trevor’s induction was received from the late Michael Gigliotti, a former US consultant to Metal Box/Nampak and a class of 2003 Hall of Famer.
At the black-tie ceremony in Chicago, USA on 22 June, Trevor said that he was honoured to be included in the Plastics Hall of Fame and he congratulated the organisers for extending recognition to other parts of the world. He also paid tribute to his other eight Hall of Famers and his Nampak colleagues.
Trevor joined Metal Box Plastics as a Laboratory Assistant in 1967. At that time, he worked at the divisional R&D facility, which was based at the Isando factory. His role involved approving polymers, establishing shelf-life of customer products in packaging made from various polymers, and assisting production staff and customers with quality issues. “In 1967, Isando was a brand new facility that included a wide range of technologies, blow-molding, injection-molding, thermoforming, film extrusion, and numerous decorating processors. We manufactured a variety of plastic packaging products, from fertiliser bags to beverage bottles.”
In the late 1970’s, Trevor was part of a team that negotiated and managed the introduction of the first two-litre PET bottle for Coca-Cola in South Africa. The ABI Benrose plant was the first to start bottling in plastic, following hot on the heels of Coca-Cola in the USA, which launched PET just 10 months earlier.
The chosen technology was from Nissei in Japan. “The partnership was so successful that our technicians were called upon by the Japanese to assist Nissei installations in other parts of the English-speaking world,” says Trevor.
He also did a lot of work in respect of the returnable PET bottle, as well as packaging wine in plastic.
In 1982, Trevor was appointed Managing Director of the Metal Box Plastics Division; and in 1985, he became Divisional Chief Executive of the merged Nampak/Metal Box Rigid Plastics businesses. From 1990, he held several senior positions at Nampak Limited, before being named Group Chief Executive Officer in 2000 and Non-Executive Chairman in 2003.
In addition to Trevor’s executive leadership of Nampak, the Hall of Fame recognised his significant contribution to the plastics and packaging industries as a whole.
In this regard, Trevor was heavily involved in drawing up the constitution for the Plastics Institute of Southern Africa in 1973. He did so in his capacity as a National Committee member.
He also served as:
· Vice President of the Institute of Packaging (South Africa) in 1980
· Chairman of the Association of Plastics Processors of South Africa from 1986 to 1989
· President of the Plastics Federation of South Africa from 1989 to 1991
In 1993, the Black Management Forum gave Trevor a special award for being “The Most Progressive CEO in South Africa”. This was in recognition of his leadership role in the transition from Apartheid to democracy.
His other accolades include:
· Gold Medal from the Plastics Federation of South Africa for exceptional service to the South African plastics industry (1991)
· Packaging Achiever of the Year from the Packaging Council of South Africa (PACSA) for distinguished service to the South African packaging industry (1997)
His role as a governor of Rhodes University was also mentioned.
Given the versatility of plastic, Trevor isn’t surprised by its immense popularity as a packaging material. But, he never imagined the advances it would make in engineering, domestic appliances, fabrics and so on.
Nampak Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Marshall, congratulated Trevor on his induction into the Hall of Fame. He says that it’s a fitting tribute to someone who’s made packaging excellence his life’s work.