Charles E. Waters was a pioneer in the development of productivity improvement auxiliary equipment for the Plastics Injection Molding Industry.

Waters entered Northwestern University but left after his freshman year to join the Navy where he was a fighter pilot during WWII. After the War, he returned to Northwestern University where he received a Bachelor of Engineering degree.

After graduation he went to work for Carrier Corporation, and then to the Carrier-owned Chicago contractor/distributor, Air Comfort Corporation/Temperature Equipment Corporation where he became Chief Engineer.

At Air Comfort/Temperature Equipment Corp. he met Lloyd E. Qually, who was Sales Manager. They recognized the need for water conservation equipment in the plastics injection molding industry. They saw an opportunity with Carrier Corporation, who wished to focus their efforts on the air conditioning market.

When their employees were not interested in the plastics industry opportunity, the formed Application Engineering Corp. (now AEC, Inc.) in 1959. Both Waters and Lloyd Qually committed all of their personal assets and borrowed money from family to start the company and originally worked out of an employee’s garage. In 1967, they acquired Whitlock, Inc., a material handling, blending, and drying manufacturer. In 1978, they acquired Nelmor, Inc., a manufacturer of granulators. Waters and Qually built the company into a worldwide manufacturer of auxiliary productivity improvement equipment for the plastics industry. The company became a public company in 1970 and was listed on the NASDAQ Over-the-Counter Market.

Waters' and Qually’s first development was the heat pump chiller, which cooled the injection molding machine and recaptured the head for supplemental plant space heating. The initial installation was at a molding plant in Baraboo, Wisconsin. They then developed a portable water chiller for cooling individual molds in the injection molding machine. They also developed the design parameters and engineered systems for recirculating the cooling water for the injection molding machine hydraulics; and developed the Brown Film Cooler for providing cold air to the air ring of the blown film extruder to improve productivity of the process.

One of their most far reaching developments was the heat transfer analysis of molds. In the late 1960s, they were the first to recognize that the mold used in the injection molding process was a heat exchanger, and could be analyzed using basic heat transfer principles to improve molding quality and productivity. They established and funded a research study with the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle Campus, and developed and marketed the “Mold Analysis” (later called “MOLDCOOL”) program to do this. The analysis was done manually originally, and then later computerized as computers became more sophisticated; and the incorporated with a CAD program to make the program even more valuable a tool.

Waters and Qually worked to convert the processes of material conveying, material drying, and mold cooling from an art to a science. In this endeavor they funded various studies through the University of Illinois at the Chicago Circle Campus.

Charles Waters actively worked at his company as President and Chief Executive Officer until his death in 1984.