Hickory Springs Manufacturing Company, one of the nation’s largest integrated manufacturers and an international supplier of components for the furniture and bedding industries, has hired Eric Geiger as Corporate Director of Foam Research and Development - Organic Growth.
Mr. Geiger joins the flexible polyurethane foam research and development team at Hickory Springs’s foam plant in Conover, NC. His direct responsibilities are the internal growth of new foam products and new process development. He joins a dedicated team of researchers that introduced the foam industry to PIPA polyol technology, melamine fire retardant, acetone as an auxiliary blowing agent and, more recently, Preserve® the world’s first bio-based foam, and the new innovative bio-viscoelastic foam PreserveVG®.
A Texas native, Mr. Geiger brings to Hickory Springs an extensive background in polyurethane foam with over 21 years of experience. He spent the past three years as Global R&D Manager with fire retardant producer Albemarle Corporation. Previously he was Director of R&D with Urethane Soy Systems in South Dakota and spent 10 years in research with Stepan Company, which specializes in polyester polyols. After earning his BS degree in chemistry at Texas A&M, Mr. Geiger joined Dow Chemical, where he worked on flexible molded foam technology. Mr. Geiger later earned his MS degree in chemistry from Depaul University in 2001.
“Hickory Springs has a long history as a pioneer in the development of new types of polyurethane foam,” said Bobby Bush, Senior Vice-President of Foam and Environmental Technology at Hickory Springs. “We look forward to seeing how Eric and his 21 years of R&D experience will help lead Hickory Springs’ foam division into a new era of innovation and diversification.”
