Changing of the guard at GE Plastics Europe (HQ: PO Box 117, NL-4600 Bergen op Zoom): Uwe Wascher, president and senior managing director since autumn 1990, has stepped down unexpectedly. The company says only that Wascher has left GE “after a long and distinguished career.” Successor is Matthew Espe, with GE since 1980 and most recently president of GE Plastics Pacific. From 1996 to 1998 he was commercial director for GE Plastics Europe.

While GE gives no official explanation for Wascher´s sudden departure, market rumours suggest it may have to do with start-up difficulties at the new polycarbonate plant at Cartagena, Spain (see PIE 13, 1998).Whatever the reason, Wascher is regarded as one of the most distinctive and successful managers in the European plastics sector. Over the past years he has provided many impulses for the entire industry, even if his unorthodox thinking and his casual approach have not always won him friends. At a workshop on future applications for plastics last February in Düsseldorf, Wascher “enlivened” the discussion with his ideas for restructuring the supply chain to achieve higher cost transparency in technical thermoplastics.

READER SERVICE: Speech by Wascher, “Partnership and co-operation – the path to the future” (English): PIE-No. 44142.