COMPUPLAST® Seminar and Training Instructors
Dr. Jiri (George) Vlcek is a nuclear physicist who became an expert in polymer processing and simulation. Jiri is a pioneer in the field of extrusion simulation and has spearheaded the development the most comprehensive set of engineering simulation tools for extrusion in the world.
Jiri is the President of COMPUPLAST®, a company he co-founded in 1990 with Dr. John Perdikoulias. He is a graduate of Charles University in Prague and has a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Chemical Technology, Prague, Czech Republic. After completing his PhD, Dr. Vlcek worked for the Plastics and Rubber Research Institute (VUGPT) in Zlin from 1976 to 1990. While at VUGPT, Dr. Vlcek developed several simulations to assist with the design and optimization of various polymer processing equipment. During this time he gained a great deal of hands-on polymer processing experience to help support and improve his theoretical developments.
In 1986 -1987 he became a postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario Canada working with Professor John Vlachopoulos. From 1987 to 1991 Dr. Vlcek also worked as a visiting Research Assistant for Professor Vlachopoulos and the Center for Advanced Polymer Processing and Design (CAPPA-D). During this period, he was instrumental in developing the first commercial version of POLYCAD 2-D, a 2D FEM simulation software package, as well as the precursors to many other software packages.
At COMPUPLAST®, Dr. Vlcek currently leads a team of engineers and programmers in the development of advanced Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) simulation tools that are currently used by hundreds of companies worldwide. He also guides his employees in consulting jobs, which COMPUPLAST® provides to many companies around the world, in many fields of extrusion.
Dr. Vlcek is also an associated professor at the Thomas Bata University, Zlin, Czech Republic where he mainly supervises PhD. candidates. All the PhD research is related to extrusion and aimed at helping to improve process understanding and simulation accuracy.
In 2001, Dr. Vlcek, and his business partner Dr. John Perdikoulias, developed an Extrusion course aimed at helping people to better understand the polymer extrusion process from an engineering point of view. This course, which is continuously update with practical examples, also shows how simulation can be used for process improvement and optimization. The course has been given frequently in USA, Canada, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Scandinavia and many European countries to thousands of participants.
Dr. John Perdikoulias, P.Eng, is a world-renowned specialist in polymer extrusion screw and die design. He has designed numerous screws and dies in all areas of single-screw extrusion such as sheet extrusion, film extrusion, profile extrusion, pipe extrusion, rubber and TPE extrusion, and medical applications. John is especially renowned for his expertise in blown-film extrusion. Screws and dies designed by John generally meet or exceed expectations, have excellent flow distribution, and purging characteristics.
John is a licensed Professional Engineer with over 28 years of experience in the plastics industry. He holds B.Eng. and M.Eng. Degrees from McMaster University and a Ph.D from the University of Waterloo, Canada. He is currently president of COMPUPLAST CANADA Inc., providing simulation software and consulting services to the extrusion, thermoforming, blow molding, and injection molding industry worldwide.
From 1985 to 1996, John was R&D Engineer for Brampton Engineering where he was responsible for screw and die design and helped develop the first commercially available 8 and 9 layer blown film dies in the world. In 1996 he formed COMPUPLAST CANADA Inc. as the North American office for COMPUPLAST INTERNATIONAL (Czech Republic) which he co-founded in 1990 with Dr. Jiri Vlcek.
John is an active member of several industry societies and has served as a Chairman of the TAPPI, PLACE Division Council and has been awarded the Division’s Technical Achievement Award. John has also been active member of the SPE Ontario Section holding several positions including President. He is also currently on the SPE Extrusion Division Board of Directors and was recently elected as an SPE Honoured Service Member for his contributions to the Society. He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and has received best paper awards.
Through COMPUPLAST®, Dr. Perdikoulias has helped many companies around the world improve their equipment designs and polymer processing efficiency. He also provides regular consulting and design services to several leading equipment providers and processors around the world.
Dr. Jiri Svabik is a graduate of the Technical University in Zlin where he also gained a Ph.D. in 1996, in the area of 3-D FEM simulation of polymer flow fields.
Jiri is vice-president of COMPUPLAST INTERNATIONAL a.s.
His responsibilities in COMPUPLAST® include the further development of FEM based codes and coordinating consulting jobs. He participates on various research projects.
Having published over 30 papers around the world, having provided many commercial consultancies word wide, and having participated on various research projects, has combined both the parctical and theoretical aspect of rheology.
Jiri worked on developing solutions for profile, automotive, medical, pipe and cable industry. Jiri has designed and troubleshooted numerous dies and screws for applications in all type of extrusion processes.
Jiri lectures frequently COMPUPLAST® customes with basic software training, so as the advanced level skills.
Jiri is in contact with the Tomas Bata University in Zlin, where he is also involved in major development projects.
Jiri also provides after-sale support of the Europian and some Asian customers.
Vijay Kudchadkar, MS (Plastics) is a Polymer Engineer who has become an expert in analyzing and troubleshooting problems in extrusion, injection molding, thermoforming, and blow molding.
Vijay graduated from the University of Pune in 2003 with a Bachelor's degree in Polymer Engineering and from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2005 earning a Master's degree in Plastics Engineering. He was hired in 2005 by Mold-Masters to work in their Research and Development department, where he was responsible for inventing, designing, and improving hot-runner technology for injection molding.
Vijay worked on developing solutions for automotive, medical, and consumer products. Since joining the COMPUPLAST® team in 2010, Vijay has designed and troubleshooted numerous dies and screws for applications in profile, multi-lumen, sheet, cast film, and blown film extrusion.
Along with Dr. Jiri Vlcek and Dr. John Perdikoulias, Vijay presents at COMPUPLAST® seminars around the world. Vijay has over 8 of years experience in applying injection molding simulation to optimize parts, hot-runners, and molds and troubleshoot molding problems. Vijay has performed over 500 simulations on injection molded parts, hot-runners, and molds. Vijay is also proficient in using T-SIM and B-SIM, to analyze and troubleshoot problems in thermoforming and blow molding.
Vijay has numerous publications and 4 patents in the field of polymer processing.