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2008-The
"Zhuhai Start-up Team"
The Zhuahi
plant of Cardolite Corporation has
gone from
just an idea in 2002 to today being the
largest plant in the world of cashew
nutshell liquid derivatives. Since it
really only began significant production in
2004, the team at Zhuhai has accomplished
this in 5 short years. Along the way in
these 5 years, the scope of the plant was
not only greatly expanded, but significant
additional capacity was added. This type of
growth, naturally, had some growing pains
along the way, but, overall, our major
customers were perfectly serviced as they
also grew exponentially. The magnitude of
the task cannot be underestimated. The
"Zhuhai Start-up
Team” not only had to construct a plant
where only empty land stood, but had to
develop internal management systems and hire
people. Over 100 people now work at Zhuhai.
Although it
is hard to draw the line in identifying
those individuals that accomplished this
feat, the
award committee chose to limit it to those
who were there in the early days and/or
provided essential guidance to the
development of the plant. Therefore, the
group is: 
- Sun,
Yanfei
-
Chen, Jiangbo
- Dong,
Haibo
- Zhou,
Guilian
- Han,
Rongping
- Zhang,
Guangya
- Dai,
Zhisheng (Jim)
- Li,
Jiuyao (David)
- Stonis,
Tim
- Guo,
Minghong
2007-Joseph
Formolo
Since
the early 80’s, Joseph Formolo has been a
formulator with the currently named Railroad
Friction Products. Joseph is responsible
for many innovations in his formulae using
CNSL. He has continually increased the
amount and number of CNSL based products
used in friction material for railroad
braking. Examples of the specific
performance he has achieved with cashew
based products are: friction level
adjustment in compounding; cost reduction;
better compatibility; reduced wear; better
flexibility; and substitution of hazardous
raw materials.
2006-Angel
Soto
Angel
has worked in various capacities in the
production organization of Cardolite since
joining in 1989. Cardolite experienced
tremendous growth during the time, and
Angel’s leadership of the production
activities consistently supported the huge
volume expansion while also increasing
productivity. He lead innovations in
friction particle production (a
semi-continuous process) and cashew
distillation (light color) as well as
numerous other process improvements.
  2005-S.
K. Shin and J. C.
Moon
S. K. Shin and J. C. Moon while working
as the leaders of the marine coatings group
at Korea Chemical (KCC) in the early 1990’s,
were the first to use the new low viscosity
phenalkamines and formulate a benchmark
marine paint for KCC that was high in
solids, quick dry, high in abrasion
resistance, and user friendly. A few years
after the introduction of that paint, they
then adopted the new lighter color version
of the low viscosity phenalkamine. This
significantly reduced wet color variation of
the paint as well as bringing in other
desirable properties.
2004-Zhisheng (Jim) Dai
Zhisheng (Jim) Dai brought the most recent innovations in products and markets to CNSL technology. Since joining Cardolite in 1993,
Jim led the development of the Lite series of products, low viscosity and unique adduct epoxy curing agents, specialty modifiers for
epoxy systems, new liquid friction resins, and distinctive friction particles. In addition to these technical developments, Jim was
the driving force in establishing the Chinese market for CNSL based epoxy products, greatly expanding the use of friction particle in
China, and construction of a production facility for CNSL based products in Zhuhai.
2003-Alan Penman, Alan Guy & Ken Baxter
AKZO, at the time International Paint, recognized the need to coat ships in Korea all around the year. There was a
urgent need for fast curing agents. Alan Penman was asked to find a solution and discovered the phenalkamine technology.
They rapidly developed a phenalkamine curing agent and improved it to make a product which revealed to be very efficient.
Alan Guy took then the baton to further develop the technology. International started the production in Felling and Alan Penman
was again coming on board to further develop the technology. All these developments and implementation works were done under
Ken Baxter's supervision. The production capacity was rapidly filled. Both Alan Penman and Alan Guy claimed not to have
thought of such a success when they started their research and development works.
2002-Eric Van Nevel
Eric Van Nevel’s efforts since 1986 as the head of Cardolite’s ex Americas sales have established cashew based, phenalkamine
epoxy curing agents as the standard for low temperature, quick cure in the marine and protective coatings industry outside North
America. From a base of virtually zero, current sales of cashew based epoxy products outside the Americas are many millions of
dollars and pounds. The business now eclipses the American business and is recognized as a mainstream technology in epoxy coatings.
2001-Tom Hartley
Cardolite Corporation granted its annual Mortimer T. Harvey Award to Tom Hartley for his outstanding guidance and process in
the sales and marketing area. Tom’s efforts lead to a significant increase in sales, while refocusing the company to become
more market and customer driven.
Tom is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned an MBA from NYU. He spent virtually all his career at Union
Carbide in various sales and marketing positions, including running the business and sales training & development department.
Tom has been married for 50 years and has 2 children. Tom started consulting with Cardolite 10 years ago.
2000-Robert A. Gardiner
In 1975 while working as a chemist for 3M, Dr. Gardiner invented the epoxy curing agent technology based on CNSL currently
called phenalkamines. Dr. Gardiner, in fact, coined the name "phenalkamine." His benchmark product, NC-541 and its derivatives
and copies, are the largest phenalkamine in use today.
1999-Warren P. Swett
Warren worked as a research chemist at Irvington Varnish & Insulator and 3M for over 40 years into the 80's. These
were the companies primarily responsible for commercializing CNSL based products. Perhaps, Warren's most important
innovation was developing the first continuous distillation unit for the production of cardanol.
1998-Vijay Datta
While as Technical Director of Devoe Coatings in the 1980's, Vijay introduced a product to the marine epoxy coatings industry,
with the combined concept of all season cure, surface tolerance, and outstanding corrosion resistance. This product was based on
a CNSL based curing agent and established the benchmark for a technology which continues to grow even today.
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