OrthoLite added two new hires to its Global Foam Innovation team as the company continues to raise the bar in the insole category it founded 27 years ago.
Shaw Kiat (SK) Phua will work in the newly-created role as global operations chemical director, and Ha Pham, a seasoned polyurethane (PU) specialist, on the Global Foam Innovation team.
OrthoLite believes the Global Foam Innovation Team is at “the heart of the company’s ongoing quest for excellence in insole manufacturing.”
OrthoLite’s Chief Chemist, Hanson Zhang, founded and leads the Global Foam Innovation Team with Wen Bin Hong, the company’s chemical director.
“We’ve built our reputation on continuing to improve our exceptional foam materials and products since our founding,“ explained Glenn Barrett, founder and CEO of OrthoLite. “We push the envelope with our proprietary chemistry, our patented foaming processes, our six manufacturing locations, and the incredible people who work at our facilities around the world.”
Phua brings expertise in global foaming operations, innovation and manufacturing as global operations chemical director. He is responsible for “ensuring chemical innovation, consistency and transparency globally and will be involved in setting the strategic direction for OrthoLite PU material development focused on sustainable innovations in footwear. Phua is based in Singapore and will regularly travel to OrthoLite’s manufacturing facilities.
Phua joins OrthoLite from Brooks Running, where he was the global chemical engineering manager. Before that, he worked at Ecco, as global PU advisor. Pham has held leadership roles at BASF Vietnam as a technical development manager for PU footwear systems.
“We are proud to welcome SK and Ha to our world-class team to drive innovation in our global foaming operations,“ said Richard Bevan, VP of global operations at OrthoLite. “SK and Ha bring to OrthoLite decades of experience in performance foam innovation as well as best-in-class manufacturing leadership.“
Image courtesy OrthoLite
