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Nicholas Vitelli, lecturer in engineering for the Plastics Engineering Technology Program at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College in Erie, Pennsylvania, is one of MMT's new editorial advisory board members. Photo Credit: Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Meet Nicholas Vitelli. Nick has more than 17 years of experience in the plastics industry, specifically plastic part and mold design and project management. He earned his plastics engineering technology degree from Penn State Behrend and landed his first job as a mold designer at a local tool and die shop specializing in complex thermoplastic and thermoset molds and die-cast dies.
Nick moved into project management and technical sales, working with customers to develop new projects, which included sharing part modeling best practices and material recommendations focused on flow characteristics. He also provided tool estimates and ways to lower tool costs through part adjustments and simplification while maintaining proper part function. In addition, Nick developed solutions to moldability problems and methods to mold a complex part with a robust mold.
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During his time at the local tool and die shop, Nick also held weekly meetings with manufacturing to ensure proper communication and to keep a project on track. After the mold build, Nick attended the initial mold trials to assist with setting up the process and evaluating the process window before qualifying the tooling.
His experience extends to helping customers build replacement tooling for existing product lines, improving poor mold design concepts and guiding customers on the proper mold material to build an optimal mold for each project.
For the last 12 years, Nick has been an adjunct lecturer in the Plastics Engineering program at Penn State Behrend and started full-time in 2022. He thrives on helping the students at Behrend in the Plastics program learn from his experiences and gain the soft skills that are vital for the day-to-day activities in the moldmaking and plastics industries.
While serving on MMT’s board, Nick is eager to share his insights on business issues, culture, software, mold material and components, mold design, disruptive technologies and workforce development. In addition, during his EAB term, he hopes to gain insight from others on how to best prepare the next generation of plastics engineers on what specific problems businesses need help solving and how to better train students to fill those roles.
When Nick is not working, he enjoys spending time with family on Presque Isle in the summer and doing outdoor activities in the winter.
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