Biography - Net History
Ron Larsen
has been active in
the creation, manufacture, and application of Plastic
Nettings since the mid-60s. His state-of-the-art
processes and equipment continue to produce
billions of square feet of Plastic Nettings annually.
This is how
it all started . . . .
Ron Larsen
began thinking
about the possibilities for plastic netting since he saw his
first sample of Dupont's Vexar diamond net in 1962. At the
time, he was employed to develop industrial products for the
Wood Conversion Company of St Paul, Minnesota.
As Manager
of New Product Development in 1963, he completed a
Development Project titled "Plastic Fiber Structures" in
which he recommended that Wood Conversion should look to
Plastics for business growth. Specifically, he
recommended the development of plastic nettings and of
plastic spunbonded and meltblown non-wovens. In spite
of the substantial opportunities proposed (substantiated in
history) and the
outstanding fit with Wood Conversion business, the report
stirred up - nothing.
Nothing
was all the encouragement
Ron needed to continue the development - that is, "They didn't say NO"!
So, he continued to seek out opportunities in technology to
provide the answers.
And then, in
1964, the R&D/R&E management changed at Wood Conversion, and the project to
develop Plastic Netting was Approved - And he was ready!
By that time, a French
company - Rical - had begun making and licensing a square net
extrusion process, but the extruded nets found little
practical application compared to the early expectations -
the extruded nets/fabrics were too weak, too expensive, and
difficult to convert (sew, heat-seal, join).
Ron saw the
answers to these problems, the business potential for
solving them, and the way to demonstrate/prove his ideas to
Wood Conversion.
And the
rest is history . . . .
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