Peter Herrmann was born in pre-WWII Germany. Because his father crossed over to the West at the end of the war, he was denied a public education; but was sent instead to be trained as a machine fitter at the Maschinenbau Hoch Schule (Machine Builders University) under the East German regime. He and his young wife sought a new life in Canada in 1957. The job moved them to Detroit in 1965 to more fully participate in the nascent plastics supply industry that was developing to serve the Big Three American auto makers. Herrmann earned his Mechanical Engineering degree while working and raising a family. He lives today in Michigan with his wife Ursula. Along the journey described in this book, they raised two children and now have five grandchildren.