The Scottish Plastics and Rubber Association (SPRA) is a Scottish Company Limited by Guarantee, (Company Number: SC270173; Registered Address: 24 Great King Street, Edinburgh EH3 6QN). The SPRA provides a forum for discussion of topics of mutual benefit to members in the form of technical and business meetings, seminars, a regular newsletter and a website. The SPRA also organises social functions for members to allow them to relax in the company of professionals with similar outlook, away from the stresses of the workplace. SPRA members are encouraged to engage in Continuing Professional Development (CPD), participate in the activities of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3) and form links with other groups with similar interests. The SPRA is affiliated to the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and is also an Affiliate Member of the British Plastics Federation
The primary aim of the SPRA is: "to promote the advancement of plastics, rubber and related materials, through education and training in the science, engineering and design associated with the manufacture, conversion and end-use of polymeric materials".
Iin a normal year the SPRA arranges 7 evening meetings, with invited speakers talking on themes of Materials, Processing, Design and Business. Venues for the evening meetings are varied to make attendance more attractive to members in different geographical areas. Some meetings are sponsored by companies and attendance by non-members is encouraged. The SPRA also organises larger seminars based on a series of presentations and accompanying exhibitions on a particular theme. Members are kept informed through a Newsletter, this website and regular mailshots. The popular annual Dinner Dance in early March gives an opportunity for members and guests to let their hair down and enjoy themselves.
Members, with a common interest in plastics and rubber materials and representing from shop floor to senior management, are drawn from over 80 organisations covering raw material suppliers, converters, end-users (small enterprises to multi-national companies), machinery suppliers, designers, consultants and academic institutions. Involvement with the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3) is maintained through the presence of SPRA members on Institute committees. The SPRA Council, currently numbering 11 elected members, meets on a regular basis to organise activities and services for members. Corporate Membership allows companies opportunities for networking, supporting the activities of the SPRA and helping the SPRA to be the voice of the polymer industry in Scotland.
The Scottish Plastics and Rubber Association was formed in 1993 to continue the activities of the Scottish Section of the Plastics and Rubber Institute (PRI) after the merger of the PRI with the Institute of Metals and the Ceramics Institute to form the Institute of Materials (IoM). The PRI in turn had been formed by amalgamation of the Plastics Institute (PI) and the Institution of the Rubber Industry (IRI) in 1975. A Scottish Section of the Plastics Institute had been active since the early 1940s and the Scottish Section of the Institution of the Rubber Industry was established in 1927.
The SPRA was set up in 1993 as an autonomous body, affiliated to the Institute of Materials and modelled on the well established Scottish Association for Metals. In 2004 the Scottish Plastics and Rubber Association became a Scottish Company Limited by Guarantee.
Registration No. SC270173
1993 Colin
S Hindle, Napier University
1993-1995 John
S Adams, Silleck Mouldings
1995-1996 Coll
Findlay, TC Industries
1996-1998 George
Wellwood, GE Plastics
1998-2000 Stephen
Learney, GE Plastics
2000-2003
Hugh Smith, Albyn of Stonehaven
2003-2005 Colin S Hindle, Napier
University
2005-2005 James
MacSporran, Caledonian Ferguson Timpson
2005-2007
Ralph McNeill, Safeglass Europe
2007-2009 Leslie
J Rose, Impact Laboratories
2009-present Fergus Hardie, Hardie
Polymers