Luc Messien (Re-Gain+) has been elected president of France’s plastic automotive OEM industry association Groupement Plasturgie Automobile (GPA, Paris-Levallois; www.autoplasticgate.com). He succeeds Jean Nanoux, who had held the position – which is up for renewal after three years – since 2008. François-Xavier Lemasson (Eurostyle Systems) was appointed vice president of the association, while Jean-Baptiste Humann (Hellermanntyton France) became its new treasurer.

Messien started his career in the automotive industry more than 30 years ago, and spent several years working at plastics processors like Reydel, Plastic Omnium and Engiplast. He led Tanis (Cambrai / France) until it was acquired by Spanish OEM Grupo Antolin in 2009 and later that year founded his own consulting firm, Re-Gain+ (Solesmes / France).

Part of French plastics processing association Fédération de la Plasturgie et des Composites (FEP, Paris; www.laplasturgie.fr), GPA represents the interests of engineering plastic parts and system suppliers to France’s automotive industry. The association has 18 member companies, representing an overall workforce of 10,500 and sales of EUR 2 bn.