Fred Shockey - Plastics Industry Transformer

Chairman and CEO, WinSell Incorporated

Fred is a seasoned plastics industry expert, with 18 years experience in plastics engineering, processing and material development.

Fred was in the thick of it during the good old days where success in the plastics industry could be realized based on two key factors: price plus relationship. He, like many, enjoyed great success with this model, which allowed him to build a thriving private label distribution company called IURINC.

Creation of WinSell

In recent years Fred has broken out of the industry mold by aggressively pursuing value creation for his customers utilizing his unique color approach, The WinVantage Process. Observing the powerful impact this achieves for his customers, Fred was impelled to reflect this in a new corporate identity launched in 2009, under the name of WinSell. This new identity expresses his objective of partnering with customers to "find ways to win" by streamlining processes, mining new veins of business, and growing these into unique value offerings that allow customers to retain and expand revenues.

Unleashing the Power of Competitive Value

This approach has additional significance during a time when plastics companies are keenly focused on evolving their viability within the new economy. Pressured first by globalization, then by customer attrition resulting from the economic downturn, industry survivors are demonstrating a new openness to innovation and developing high-growth opportunities. Fred is helping chart a course for profitability with these leaders of the new age for plastics.

Lifelong Industry Insider

Fred was born and raised in Northeast Ohio, where his family has been in the polymer industry for over 100 years. He earned a Masters in Polymer Engineering from The University of Akron and subsequently spent several years moving up the corporate ladder with global organizations. With Figgie International he was a member of the consulting team for mergers and acquisitions. During his tenure at Newell Rubbermaid, his work as a process engineer saved the company millions in resin costs. As a Senior Marketing Technical Service Representative for Advanced Elastomer Systems, he solved a variety of injection molding problems and performed a critical customer support role responding to technical Q&As in the Answer forum.

In 1995 Fred launched his own business, IURINC, where he spent many years in the trenches providing color solutions in a wide variety of processing environments and applications. The sum total of this experience laid the groundwork for the creation of The WinVantage Process, now in use with many of his most successful customers.

Personal Fulfillment

On the home front, Fred and his wife Carol keep busy with their thriving family and personal pursuits. With seven children, Kayla, Alexandria, Mariam, Hope, Peter, John and Faith, they make their home in Bath, Ohio (a suburb of Akron, the polymer capital). While all this would be enough to keep most people meaningfully occupied, Fred places high value on dedicating time to spiritual development with his church community, political expressions via his blog, and a daily fitness regimen. Reflecting on all this, Fred can only add, "On Sundays, I usually take a nap."

Leadership for Future Growth

Plans for the future include expansion of the WinSell business model and unique process into related industries. 

"I cannot imagine work that is more rewarding, says Fred. "Working with my partner customers to create innovations for their companies is exhilarating. One day we'll look back and see that indeed our industry has become transformed into an agile, adaptive and innovative group of leading companies. I think I'm working with many of those companies today."