Eliokem director wins Hancock medal 2008

ERJ staff report (DS)

Villejust/Paris -- Manu Patel has been awarded Hancock Medal 2008 for his outstanding service to the rubber industry in India and abroad and for his contribution to national and international standardisation (ISO-TC/45) in the rubber industry.

Patel is the former Chairman of The Indian Rubber Industry and currently Honorary Member of All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA). He was a Director at Apar Industries Ltd, thru February 2008 when the Polymer Division was bought by Eliokem. He is now a Director at Eliokem India, Pvt. Ltd.

Born 1931, Mr. Patel has dedicated most of his life to the rubber industry. He started his career in 1953 at a rubber hosepipe manufacturing company, soon after his graduation in chemistry. He has always served The Rubber Industry in India and abroad where he was assigned to various United Nations agencies such as UNESCO and the World Bank in Sri Lanka, and the UNIDO in Vietnam (1983-1986). He is also a pioneer in India to participate in IISRP activities.

He was the first to receive KM Philip Gold Medal Award in 1993 for his contribution to the growth and development of the Indian Rubber Industry. He largely contributed in propagating the use of styrene butadiene whose output jumped from 10.000 MT in 1960 to 200.000 MT/year in 2007.

“Eliokem is very proud to work with Mr Patel. It is a big honor to have him among us, sharing with us his experience in the rubber industry”, added the company.

The Hancock Medal was first instituted by the then Plastics and Rubber Institute (PRI), UK, and named after the British inventor and father of the British Rubber Industry, Thomas Hancock.