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October 10, 2019

Erling Named Business Manager at Emery Oleochemicals

Emery Oleochemicals LLC Welcomes New Business Manager to Support its Eco-
Friendly Polyols Business

 

CINCINNATI, OH, USA (Oct. 07, 2019) – Emery Oleochemicals, a world leading,
natural–based specialty chemicals manufacturer, is pleased to announce that Bob
Erling has joined the company as Business Manager for Rigid and CASE Polyols to
support the continued growth of its Eco-Friendly Polyols business.
Prior to joining Emery Oleochemicals, Mr. Erling was a Business Director at Wanhua
Chemical. With over 30 years of experience in the urethanes industry working with
system formulators and OEMs in the building and construction as well as commercial
refrigeration markets, he has also held sales and business development positions at
INVISTA, Dow Chemical Company and ICI Polyurethanes. Mr. Erling graduated from
Cabrini University with a BS degree in Marketing and Business Administration.

October 10, 2019

Erling Named Business Manager at Emery Oleochemicals

Emery Oleochemicals LLC Welcomes New Business Manager to Support its Eco-
Friendly Polyols Business

 

CINCINNATI, OH, USA (Oct. 07, 2019) – Emery Oleochemicals, a world leading,
natural–based specialty chemicals manufacturer, is pleased to announce that Bob
Erling has joined the company as Business Manager for Rigid and CASE Polyols to
support the continued growth of its Eco-Friendly Polyols business.
Prior to joining Emery Oleochemicals, Mr. Erling was a Business Director at Wanhua
Chemical. With over 30 years of experience in the urethanes industry working with
system formulators and OEMs in the building and construction as well as commercial
refrigeration markets, he has also held sales and business development positions at
INVISTA, Dow Chemical Company and ICI Polyurethanes. Mr. Erling graduated from
Cabrini University with a BS degree in Marketing and Business Administration.

July 2, 2019

Knaub Joins AFPF Board

FXI’s Philippe Knaub Joins CertiPUR-US Board of Directors

(Rochester Hills, Mich. – July 2019) — Philippe Knaub, senior vice president and chief technology officer of the Media, Pennsylvania-based foam supplier FXI, has joined the board of directors of the Alliance for Flexible Polyurethane Foam (AFPF), the not-for-profit group that administers the
CertiPUR-US® foam certification program.
Knaub was previously the global head of research and development for emulsion polymers for Horgen, Switzerland-based Trinseo, a spin-off of the Dow Chemical Company, where he had worked for more than 20 years. His Dow positions included global research and development director, project manager, and global marketing manager.
With an established international reputation in polyurethanes and plastics, Knaub is named on several patents and has been published in numerous professional publications and textbooks.
Knaub joins the Board as the CertiPUR-US® program begins its 11th year. The program certifies flexible polyurethane foams that have been analyzed by independent, accredited testing laboratories, for compliance with emissions, durability and content requirements based on program standards.
Nearly 60 slabstock and molded foam producers are currently certifying flexible polyurethane foams and more than 1,000 of their bedding and upholstered furniture manufacturers and retailers are participating in the program.

July 2, 2019

Knaub Joins AFPF Board

FXI’s Philippe Knaub Joins CertiPUR-US Board of Directors

(Rochester Hills, Mich. – July 2019) — Philippe Knaub, senior vice president and chief technology officer of the Media, Pennsylvania-based foam supplier FXI, has joined the board of directors of the Alliance for Flexible Polyurethane Foam (AFPF), the not-for-profit group that administers the
CertiPUR-US® foam certification program.
Knaub was previously the global head of research and development for emulsion polymers for Horgen, Switzerland-based Trinseo, a spin-off of the Dow Chemical Company, where he had worked for more than 20 years. His Dow positions included global research and development director, project manager, and global marketing manager.
With an established international reputation in polyurethanes and plastics, Knaub is named on several patents and has been published in numerous professional publications and textbooks.
Knaub joins the Board as the CertiPUR-US® program begins its 11th year. The program certifies flexible polyurethane foams that have been analyzed by independent, accredited testing laboratories, for compliance with emissions, durability and content requirements based on program standards.
Nearly 60 slabstock and molded foam producers are currently certifying flexible polyurethane foams and more than 1,000 of their bedding and upholstered furniture manufacturers and retailers are participating in the program.

June 18, 2019

NCFI Mourns Jake Barnhardt, Jr.

NCFI Polyurethanes Mourns The Loss of Co-Founder and Former President, Jacob “Jake” Barnhardt, Jr.

June 6th, 2018

 

MOUNT AIRY, NC—NCFI announced today one of the company’s founding members, and former president, Jacob “Jake” Barnhardt. Jr. passed away May 12, 2018 at the age of 82.

The Mount Airy, NC based company got its start in 1964 as North Carolina Foam Industries through a partnership between Dr. Harris W. “Ace” Bradley, who had worked on the Manhattan Project during WWII and with DuPont in discovering and pioneering urethanes in the 1950s, and Barnhardt Manufacturing Company in Charlotte, NC. Jake Barnhardt, a Charlotte, NC native with an engineering degree from Georgia Tech (George Institute of Technology), and US Navy veteran, joined Dr. Bradley in Mount Airy to manage the new venture.

While Bradley served as the first company president until 1972, Barnhardt succeeded him and served until 1995. Under Barnhardt’s leadership the company saw considerable growth. “It was a dynamic time for NCFI,” says Lewis Barnhardt, president and COO of NCFI’s parent Barnhardt Manufacturing Company. “The company more than tripled our manufacturing space, took the lead in foam for aircraft seating, developed urethane carpet padding and geotechnical polyurethane foam, residential insulation foam—now our popular InsulStar line— and our roofing foam really took off, and we started doing business in Mexico, South America, Canada, and Russia. Jake had his hand on it all.”

Barnhardt adds it was under Jake Barnhardt that NCFI became the premiere partner for supplying foam for the US Space Shuttle’s external tank program. “Jake played a major role working with NASA and Lockheed Martin to formulate and provide the exacting standards required for the Space Shuttle program. It’s a working partnership of which we’re extremely proud and for which we’ve won accolades and awards. It’s also a relationship we still enjoy as we enter our 38th year—now working on the unmanned rocket programs.”

Chip Holton, NCFI president, echoes Barnhardt’s statements: “Jake Barnhardt’s leadership was crucial to NCFI at a time when change was constant. We had to innovate and change quickly, and balance the growth opportunities with what our scientists and chemists could achieve. One of Jake’s strengths as an engineer was keeping R&D progressing with the highest quality standards while finding new markets to capitalize on. He was the right man for the time.”

Holton says Barnhardt was known throughout the plastics and rubber industry as a visionary, and is remembered as a great storyteller and lifelong humanitarian. Holton says the company will honor Barnhardt’s memory with a private ceremony later this year.

http://ncfi.com/news/ncfi-polyurethanes-mourns-loss-co-founder-former-president-jacob-jake-barnhardt-jr/

 

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/charlotte/obituary.aspx?n=jacob-charles-barnhardt&pid=189017867&fhid=6483