Instructors

John Beaumont is the CEO and Founder of the AIM Institute and Beaumont Technologies. His earlier industry credits include being Program Chair and a founding faculty of the Plastics Engineering Technology program at Penn State Erie, Technical Manager for Moldflow Pty. Ltd., and Engineering Manager for Ciba Vision Corp. He has authored several books including Runner & Gating Design Handbook and Successful Injection Molding, and he contributed the design chapters of the Injection Molding Handbook.

John is well-known for his patented MeltFlipper® technology and his dedication to bettering the injection molding industry through extensive research. In 2015, he was elected into the Plastics Hall of Fame, a designation awarded to those deemed worthy of the highest honor in the plastics industry. John has also won SPE’s Fred E. Schwab Education Award, recognizing his significant contributions and dedication to plastics industry education.

John is also an SPE Fellow, a member of the Plastics Pioneer Association, and a past Chair of the Injection Molding Division’s Board of Directors.

David Hoffman is the Director and an Instructor for the AIM Institute where he was instrumental in coordinating and developing the curriculum for the AIM Institute’s courses and programs, including the Pennsylvania State Registered Plastics Process Technician Apprenticeship Program and the Plastics Technology & Engineering Certificate Program. He also is a contributing author to John Beaumont’s Runner & Gating Design Handbook. David previously served as the Technical Director of Sales & Marketing for Beaumont Technologies, and is co-inventor for the company’s MeltFlipper® MAX™ melt rotation technology patent. He has authored various published technical articles through MoldMaking Technology and Plastics Technology magazines, and several ANTEC papers on injection molding processing, mold filling variations, and recycling thermoset phenolics.

David also worked as the Engineering Manager for a tier 2 automotive supplier of high precision plastic components and assemblies. In this role he was involved in plastic part design, injection molding processing, mold design, quality control, quoting, and customer technical service. He also worked for Mack Molding in Vermont with similar job responsibilities, including technical sales.

David’s formal education includes an Associate’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Erie.

David Rose is a Senior Instructor and Researcher at the AIM Institute. David brings his passion for science to the classroom and pairs it with his nearly 30 years of industry experience to show how the practical application of science can improve decision making. Additionally, David played a pivotal role in the accreditation of the Plastics Technology and Engineering (PTE) and Molders Series certificate programs, which were credentialed by ANAB.

Prior to joining AIM, David has served as the Strategic Account Manager for Beaumont Technologies, Inc. He has previously worked in the consumer products industry where he held roles in new product development, manufacturing, and tooling and process development engineering. In these roles he worked primarily with thermoplastic materials using the injection, extrusion blow, and rotational molding processes.

As a Product Development Engineer David worked with a cross-disciplinary team to develop entire product assemblies that would be designed for manufacturability while maintaining the Industrial design intent for product functionality, aesthetics, and meet stringent safety requirements.

As a Manufacturing Engineer David acted as a liaison between corporate engineering and company manufacturing locations to help ensure that new products being developed could be efficiently molded and readily assembled. He worked as a team member responsible for establishing the first Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing line in one of the manufacturing facilities. This involved coordination between the molding departments and line assembly to ensure that the appropriate parts were available to the assembly line as they were needed and that that proper assembly instructions were readily available.

As a Tooling Engineer David was responsible for ensuring that new mold builds met corporate mold design and build standards. Additionally, he was responsible for developing a process for these molds that would produce a quality part at or below the estimated cycle time. Injection molding machine sizes ranged from 50 ton to 2000 ton.

He has also worked in the thermoset composites industry as a Product Development and Manufacturing engineer before being promoted to the role of Engineering Manager.

David is an in-demand consultant and trainer. He is also a respected researcher and has authored a number of technical papers which have been presented at various technical conferences within the plastics and rubber industries, including: SPE’s ANTEC, SPE’s Megatech, Mold Making Technology, Amerimold, International Rubber & Molding Conference, the Plastic Executive Conference, and other similar venues.

David earned an Associate Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Erie.

Michael Sepe has over 40 years of experience in the plastics industry, focused on injection molding and material testing. His primary interests involve the integration of process technology and material testing and analysis to competitively produce high quality products. Michael teaches public courses at several universities and writes a monthly article for Injection Molding Magazine on material analysis and its application to product performance and processing problems. He has written contributing chapters for a number of industry publications and has presented over 25 ANTEC papers. He has has also authored a book on the use of dynamic mechanical analysis as an engineering tool. Michael currently works as an independent consultant to the industry and provides analytical services and assistance in solving design, manufacturing, and material selection problems.

Jennifer Schmidt is the Senior Moldflow Instructor at the American Injection Molding (AIM) Institute, with over twenty years of plastics industry experience: more than ten years of hot runner experience and fifteen plus years of Moldflow® experience. She is a Moldflow® Certified Expert and GM Approved Moldflow® Analyst.

She has spent more than two thirds of her career as a sought-after Moldflow consultant, helping companies solve complex problems and improve their parts and processes. She previously worked as a Design Engineer for Beaumont Technologies performing simulation projects. Prior to Beaumont, Jennifer worked in the Hot Runner industry as an Application Engineer, and later a Flow Simulation Specialist using both Moldflow® and SigmaSoft® software.

She can often be seen sharing her knowledge through technical articles or presenting at various industry conferences, such as Amerimold, Moldflow Summit, and the Penn State Innovation and Emerging Plastics Technologies Conference. She is a member of the General Motors Moldflow Standards Advisory Board and an advisor on Autodesk Moldflow Training and Certification. Given her extensive experience providing Moldflow training, she was contracted to improve the Autodesk Moldflow Training materials.

Jennifer earned a Bachelor’s degree in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Erie. She also holds a position on the Board of Directors for the NWPA chapter of Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), acting as their Treasurer.

Jason Travitz started at the American Injection Molding Institute with 20 years of industry experience in the injection molding industry. He began working as an Associate Process Engineer and later as a Process Engineer in the 150+ molding machine operation for Molex in Lincoln, Nebraska. While at Molex Lincoln he implemented a process development workbook and procedures for creating and documenting 2-stage molding processes for new and existing injection molds. He planned and coordinated all the new tooling activity in the Molding Plant Pre-Production Area and assisted in the development of the Worldwide Injection Molding Machine evaluation protocol. In addition, he played a key role in the plant wide implementation of data acquisition systems and cavity pressure sensors for process replication and monitoring.

In 2000, he moved to the Molex facilities in Auburn Hills, Michigan as a Process Engineer responsible for launching new automotive connector programs as well as continuous improvement projects for existing molds. It was during this time that Jason began teaching Injection Molding courses to Molex personnel in the US, Mexico, China and India. Jason was promoted to the role of Senior Process Engineer at the Global Design Center while continuing to train and implement advanced technology throughout Molex’s global operations. His additional responsibilities included evaluating and implementing new technologies such as 2-shot LIM & thermoplastic molding, 3-stage molding, MuCell and CT Scan part inspection & measurement.

Jason later worked as a Technical Program Manager for connectors at Apple. During his time at Apple Jason was responsible for the global teams of Technical Program Managers and Quality Engineers who were ramping connectors for the Apple pencil and iPhone. A highlight of his time at Apple was successfully launching an iPX7 rated Lightning connector in the iPhone 7.

Jason then joined the team of instructors at the American Injection Molding Institute. He led the creation of the Molders’ Series of hands-on injection molding courses. Jason brings his vast experience, a love of teaching and passion for encouraging molders to think critically to solve molding problems to the classroom.

Jason earned a B.S. in Plastic Engineering Technology and A.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Penn State Erie. He is also an SDI Scuba diver instructor and PSIAA ski instructor.

Lucy joined AIM in 2022 as the Molding Lab Coordinator, a role for which she is uniquely qualified. She finds it amusing that she moved from a career in lab operations, teaching and research to exactly the same type of second career. The last 16+ years were spent overseeing the manufacturing operations management of the largest undergraduate plastics teaching lab in the country at Penn State Erie. Here she was responsible for the day-to-day operations and every aspect of the mold floor.

As a faculty member, she taught a variety of classes in the ABET accredited Plastics Engineering Technology program, including many instructional labs. Early in her career at Penn State Lucy was a plastics researcher for the Ben Franklin Technology program. She is well versed in research, and has presented at multiple professional venues. She looks forward to exploring the many and varied research opportunities at AIM.

Prior to Penn State, Lucy spent many years in quality engineering for Johnson Control’s automotive and PCD divisions. Here she was involved in various aspects of product supply, primarily from the tooling side.

Lucy earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Gannon University (Erie PA) prior to earning her Bachelor’s in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State University.

Glenn Keith has over 40 years of experience in the plastic industry focused on mold maintenance for injection and blow molding. During those years he has created preventive maintenance systems and improved the efficiency for the molds used along with handling project management for new tools and equipment for both molding and the tool room.

These experiences have led to instructing mold maintenance courses for MoldTrax LLC for over 8 years where more than 500 students have attended. Glenn is also an independent consultant working as part of the tech support team for the mold maintenance software system MoldTrax.

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