*** Please note, each row and course# listed below is a separate, complete course. ***

Plastic Product Design and Development

Course# Date Time Location
216-1433 06/02/2025 - 06/04/2025 8:30 PM - 4:30 PM Microsoft Teams
216-1434 11/10/2025 - 11/12/2025 8:30 PM - 4:30 PM Microsoft Teams
Cost: $650.00 USD
Online Registration
CEU's: 2.5
Instructor: Dr. Sylvain Seif

Course Overview

This course covers a wide range of topics, including the materials, processes, and techniques used in the design and manufacturing of plastic products. The syllabus covers introduction to plastics including material selection and testing, common plastic processes like injection molding, assembly techniques such as ultrasonic welding, assembly operations like snap and screw fitting, plastic product design principles, and plastic part tooling including basic mold design.

This course is recommended for designers, engineers and managers involved with product design, development and production. For example, to design a high-quality injection molded part, the designer must select an appropriate plastic material formulation, develop a functional design and must work within the manufacturing limitations associated with the injection molding process.

Online Course Requirements

We want you to have a great experience participating in our remote (online) courses, and for that, you’ll need the right equipment and internet connection.

Minimum needs are:

  • A broadband internet connection that has at least a 2 Mbps upload and download speed.
  • A computer (PC or Mac) that can support the latest web browser versions.
  • At least 4 GB of RAM and adequate hard drive space.
  • A microphone and a speaker.
  • International Students: For virtual (online) courses, an additional fee will be assessed to cover the cost of shipping the professional binder (presentation slides), to your address. The cost of international shipping can be significant.

For more information, visit our Online Course Requirements webpage.

Instructor Biography:

Fow

Dr. Sylvain Seif has over 15 years of industrial R&D experience in Polymer Engineering, spanning several different areas in the field, and over 12 years of academic teaching experience. He completed a BS in Mechanical Polymer Engineering in 2005 followed by a PhD in Polymer Engineering degree in 2009 from The University of Akron in OH, USA. After graduation, he joined INDEVCO Group, a multinational packaging and consumer goods firm, starting up an R&D Center called “PACT”- Polymer Application Center for Technology- for the entire flexible packaging and compounding divisions of INDEVCO, which consists of 10 manufacturing facilities spread across the globe. He has also taught several engineering courses at the university level, and started R&D collaborations with 5 different universities, refereeing over 30 Masters and Final Year Projects, and being a jury member on all these projects. In 2017, as Senior Technical and R&D Expert at PACT, he helped the INDEVCO R&D Center attain ISO 17025 accreditation for lab testing.

Since 2022, Dr. Seif has been working at an environmentally conscious start-up company, Novoloop, in California, managing the polymer processing lab; having expertise in operating the twin screw compounder, injection molding and co-extrusion cast film machines. Here, he optimized the processing and properties of various durometer TPUs, whereby the polyester polyols are derived from PE recycled waste. He is also very familiar with structure-processing-properties relationships of polymers and their composites, with a strong know-how in lab testing methods for mechanical, rheological, thermal and physical properties. Moreover, Dr. Seif has over 10 academic publications and 3 patents in the polymer field, and has a strong passion for teaching and doing research and development in sustainable solutions.

  1. Polymer Chemistry Basics and Material Selection Process

  2. Plastics Part Design Process overview

  3. Prototyping and Testing

  4. Manufacturing Considerations - Design for Molding

  5. Design for Assembly and review of assembly techniques

  6. Use of Mold flow analysis to enhance part design

  7. Part Design considerations to prevent failures

  8. Effect of radius and sharp corners in stress analysis

  9. Tolerances on molded parts

  10. Estimation of mold shrinkages

  11. Snap-fit, press-fit design, threaded inserts, ultrasonic/vibration welding, adhesives

  12. Design calculations and exercises

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions or need more information about this course, please contact:

Penelope Pinkston
330-972-8303
penelo1@uakron.edu


TO REGISTER

Online Registration

OR

Registration Form

Registration information: Registration shall remain open until posted as closed on the course listing on this site.

Registrations must be guaranteed by check, a purchase order number or a credit card, otherwise the registration will not be processed. Checks should be made payable to "The Akron Polymer Technology Services Training Center" and must include a copy of your completed registration form. Course fees are due before attending.

All registrations—whether by online, phone, fax or mail—will be confirmed and considered binding and subject to all cancellation policies. If you do not receive a confirmation prior to the class, please call The Akron Polymer Technology Services Training Center to verify your registration.

Course fee includes classroom instruction, instructional materials, parking permits, continental breakfast, lunch, beverages and refreshment breaks. Travel and hotel accommodations are not included.

ENROLLMENT IS LIMITED AND ON A FIRST-COME BASIS. EARLY REGISTRATION IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!

Visit our registration webpage to view our cancellation/withdrawal policy.