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The Reusable Industrial Packaging Association (“RIPA”) announced that Barry Wingard has been selected to receive the organization’s 2018 Morris Hershson Award of Merit.

Mr. Wingard is the minority owner and Senior Operations Director of Container Life Cycle Management, LLC.

Mr. Wingard owned and continues to operate reusable industrial packaging facilities in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee.

RIPA is a trade association that represents North American reconditioners, manufacturers and distributors of reusable industrial packaging. The organization represents over 90 percent of the industrial packaging reconditioning industry of North America, including many of the world’s leading manufacturers of steel, plastic, and fiber drums, as well as intermediate bulk containers.

By way of background, the RIPA press release notes that Mr. Wingard has worked in the industrial container reconditioning industry for over 40 years. It further states:

He started in the business working with his father, David Wingard, who was the 2002 recipient of the Hershson Award. Dave and Barry co-owned Drumco of Arkansas and Drumco of Tennessee, beginning in 1977. Barry built a new open-head drum reconditioning plant in Bauxite, AR in 1994 and in 2009 moved that facility to a new site in Arkadelphia, AR, where the business has thrived. Mr. Wingard was a founding member of Reusable Packaging and Container Systems (REPACS), which operated successfully for nearly a decade as one of the first national container collection, sales and distribution companies.

Mr. Wingard is stated to have served on numerous RIPA technical committees and been elected to the association’s Board multiple times. He was elected Vice Chairman in 2002-2003 and Chairman in 2004-2005. Further, he has served as Vice Chairman of the association’s Steel Drum Product Group since its inception and served as Chairman for the past seven years. His work in innovating new products for the industry, such as ultra-sonic leak detection, improving chime sealant products and applications, vertical painting and expanding and automated lid straightening was noted.

A copy of the news release can be found here.