In late May 2004, Hans Thorborg, the general manager of the German plant of Precision Worldwide, Inc. ( PWI ) , scheduled an afternoon meeting with his sales manager, accountant, and development engineer to discuss the introduction by the French firm Henri Poulenc (a competitor ) of a plastic ring substitute for the steel retaining rings presently used in certain machines sold by Precision Worldwide . The plastic ring , new to the market , not only had a much longer life than the PWI steel ring but also apparently had a much lower manufacturing cost