William Hoffer, president of injection molder Hoffer Plastics Corp., recently got a chance to stress the importance of that issue when U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin visited the company's 365,000 square foot plant in South Elgin, Ill.
The visit was part of a state-wide tour of businesses that are "doing well in the recession and hiring people."
According to Hoffer, Durbin participated in a roundtable discussion with Hoffer executives and representatives from local business and educational organizations about the ACT WorkKeys assessment program, which administers a battery of tests that measures an individual's proficiency and suitability for various jobs.
"This skilled workforce initiative is so important," Hoffer told Durbin.
Last year Hoffer added 18 employees whose reading skills and qualifications were certified by the WorkKeys assessment process. That helped the company streamline the screening, interviewing and hiring processes.
According to the company, Durbin agreed to work with WorkKeys representatives and facilitate contact with state officials for next steps.
(Below is a photo of Bill Hoffer talking to Sen. Durbin in the molding plant, courtesy of Hoffer Plastics.)
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Toronto's The Globe and Mail deserves credit for bringing some balance to its Feb. 1 report, "Which is greener, paper or plastic? You might be surprised."
The story focuses on what types of bags local retailers use, and how some of them explain the decision to their customers.
The story isn't entirely pro-plastic, despite what the headline may imply. But Augusta Dwyer covers both the pluses and minuses of the different options in a balanced way.
That's good for consumers, who need facts to help make decisions -- not one-sided lectures.
Toronto retailers have been using fewer plastic bags since 2009, when they were required to start charging consumers 5 cents per bag.
That's resulted in a 75 percent drop in plastic bag use, according to the story.
]]>Last weekend one was featured in The New York Times' Sunday Magazine -- including enough plastics manufacturing references to make Plastics Blog readers smile.
The story, "Is There Anything Marc Newson Hasn't Designed?" profiles Marc Newson, called "the most acclaimed and influential designer of his generation" -- and that's just on his own firm's website.
Many of Newson's creations are made from plastic, and the feature story doesn't skimp on plasticky details -- how often do you get to read a New York Times Sunday Magazine story that mention parting lines, vacuum forming, and rotational molding -- within the first few graphs?
Another highlight: a list of Newson's least-favorite industrial designs. Is that opportunity I hear knocking?
I'm at the Plastics News Executive Forum today, and this morning's session featured several speakers who talked about the value of collaborating with industrial designers. More on that later .. for now, check out the Times feature on megastar designer Newson.
]]>The hybrid composite includes carbon enhanced reinforcements, produced by ANS.
Lockheed Martin describes the part as providing: "contoured supports to prevent thermal blanketing from interfering with the three solar array support mechanisms. The supports also provide an electrostatic discharge path. During its 5-year journey to Jupiter, the Lockheed Martin-made Juno spacecraft will rely on solar energy to power it computers and instruments."
Thanks to Plastics News staff reporter Rhoda Miel for today's post -- she discovered the project at the Society of Plastics Engineers Topcon event in San Antonio, Texas.
]]>My targets -- Repurpose Compostables Inc. and Bed Bath & Beyond stores, for their misleading messages about line of compostable cups made from polylactic acid.
A few weeks ago PlasticsNews.com posted a story about the cups from our sister publication Waste & Recycling News.
The original WRN story said: "Repurpose cups are made from polylactic acid -- made from corn -- and require 65 percent less carbon dioxide to make than plastic, the company said. The lids also are compostable, and no plastic means the cups are nontoxic."
Plastics industry defender and consulting engineer Allan Griff spotted that paragraph and sent me a quick note: "I assume the cupmaker said this, but PLA is a plastic, isn't it?"
Absolutely right, I replied, so I quickly corrected the story.
But Griff wasn't finished. He did some research on what else Repurpose and Bed Bath were saying about the cups, and he found more misleading information.
Both companies were openly contrasting their PLA product with "plastic," he said, feeding the public's fear of the plastics industry.
Griff found this on the Bed Bath & Beyond site:
The plant-based cup is made from corn, not oil like traditional disposable cups, so it's non-toxic and BPA free. It also lowers your carbon footprint, and uses soy based inks, so it is compatible with a zero waste program. Includes set of 12 cups and 12 lids.
As Griff points out, mentioning BPA in a commercial message about foam cups is like putting "no trans fats" on a water bottle label. Of course there's no bisphenol A. There's none in polystyrene cups, either.
So he added this review to the company's website, in the consumer comments section:
BB&B misinforms us. The cup material may be compostable, but who does this at home, and how many cities do it? As for petroleum, it takes plenty of petrobased energy to grow the corn and convert it to the compostable plastic (yes, plastic) PLA. As for carbon dioxide, by far the biggest producers are heating, cooling, lighting and transportation, and all this greenwashing is really a distraction from having to deal with room temperatures, lighting waste, and capricious car use.
He did some more checking and found that the cup maker, Repurpose, said this about itself:
Repurpose was founded in 2009 by a group of young environmental entrepreneurs, looking for quality solutions to the problem of single-use petroleum-based plastic products ... its mission [is] to replace all single-use disposable plastics with high quality, innovative, plant-based alternatives. Repurpose makes products from plants, not petroleum, using Ingeo resin.
Its FAQ section sometimes calls the cups polymers, but stresses the differences between PLA and plastic. For example, it says: "Repurpose products are now available to consumers and to businesses allowing everyone the opportunity to lessen their dependence on oil, lower their carbon footprint, and find non-toxic, safe alternatives to plastic."
Looking further, Griff found more information that he considered misleading.
One section says: "The revolutionary new insulated cup requires no sleeve, uses 65 percent less CO2 than a traditional cup to produce, and can be composted in 90 days."
Griff wrote to me: "But what are they talking about? We don't use CO2 to make cups. And we want to get it out of the atmosphere, not leave more in!
"What's a "traditional cup" now? Do they mean the foam cup, or the Starbuck Standard -- a paper cup with PE coating and a paper sleeve? If they mean that the manufacture of the cup uses less energy and production of energy creates CO2, that's creating less, not using less! And if they compare with paper as traditional, doesn't paper degenerate in composting as well?
"And if they compare [Repurpose cups] with foam cups, I'm not sure it takes more energy to produce them. The biggest energy impact of the foam cups arises from their lightness and volume, which means fewer cups per truck and thus more truck fuel per cup to ship it to its point of sale/use. I don't think they think that way. They got the words "less CO2" together, that sounds green and that's enough for them."
Did I mention that Griff is a pit bull when it comes to defending plastics against misinformation?
What's the next step? Griff is sharing his correspondence with the American Chemistry Council's plastics division, and he's also including it in his file of topics to discuss in a course he teaches at the University of California Berkeley Adult Extension program, "Plastics in the Environment."
That's not a typo -- Griff is teaching a course on plastics in the environment at Berkeley. Plastics Blog readers in California should consider enrolling -- it's sure to be both informative and entertaining.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to share Griff's efforts to shine the light on some companies that are using "bolonium" [one of his favorite terms] to prey on public plastophobia.
Well done, Allan Griff. Keep up the good work.
]]>But in commercials that ran last weekend during the football playoffs, Glad Products Co. chose to highlight source reduction achieved by its its Tall Kitchen trash bag line.
According to the ads, the bags are stronger, yet use less plastic, allowing the company to save 6.5 million pounds of plastic per year.
Or as the company puts it, the equivalent of keeping 140 million extra trash bags out of landfills annually.
Seems like a simple, clear message. But will the public understand? Can consumers be convinced that source reduction is a legitimate path to product sustainability?
It might be a tough sell, since many consumers are pre-programmed to think that the only way for a product to be sustainable is for it to be biodegradable or contain recycled content.
But Glad Products deserves credit for this very high profile attempt at educating customers about source reduction -- a strategy that's widely used by plastics processors.
]]>That's the perspective of a Fortis Plastics LLC worker who sent this message last night:
"I am a current employee at Fortis Plastics in Carlyle Ill. I would like to send my thoughts and prayers out to those employees who lost their jobs in the recent plant shutdowns.
"Since the closing of the Ohio plant, we are now mandated to work 60 + hrs a week -- [we] went from 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts and we have no [human resources] department, and yet we are still being told our jobs are safe.
"We have probably around 200 employees who all fear for their jobs. But our eyes are open -- we see what happens on a day-to-day basis and know it's just a matter of time before our mold injection equipment hits the auction.
"People: these big corporations do not care what happens to us men and women working 60 hours per week to support our families. ... Thank you, good luck and God bless you all."
The worker added some information about operations at the plant that I won't include here because I can't confirm them -- the company has not commented on our extensive coverage the past few months.
I imagine the workers and the managers in Carlyle are in a tough spot. How do they keep up morale?
Fortis formed in 2008 when Monomoy Capital Partners acquired and combined the custom molding divisions of Leggett & Platt Inc. and Atlantis Plastics Inc. As recently as 2010 the company was a major injection molder -- Fortis tied for 13th in Plastics News' 2010 ranking of North American molders with estimated sales of $280 million.
But 2011 was a difficult year for the company. First came word that it was closing plants in Poplar Bluff and Fort Smith, then its corporate headquarters and molding plant in South Bend. Some of the closings were tied to shifting work at Whirlpool Corp.
Now auctioneers are in the process of selling more than 130 injection presses and 20 extruders at four closed Fortis plants -- and workers in Carlyle are wondering what the future holds for them.
]]>For the upcoming Plastics News Executive Forum, this subject is at the forefront. The keynote address will be delivered by Gardner Carrick, senior director of strategic initiatives with Washington-based Manufacturing Institute. His address will be based on MI's 2011 Skills Gap study done in conjunction with Deloitte Consulting LLP.
Now, a manufacturer within the plastics industry is doing its part. Machinery maker Milacron LLC of Cincinnati, has announced its own initiative to attract and cultivate talent. For college students, Milacron has announced that it will offer up to 10 $1,000 scholarships each year to help new Milacron employees pay for continuing with their postsecondary technical education. Milacron also is reinstating a program to provide co-op and apprenticeship training for high school seniors. The company is focusing on co-op programs with vocational schools in Southwestern Ohio, such as Great Oaks Career campuses, a system that serves 35 school districts in that region.
The Manufacturing Institute also recently announced a partnership with the University of Phoenix to develop the next generation of highly educated and competitive manufacturing workers. Through this program, the groups will offer 20 full-tuition scholarships for undergraduate and graduate degrees.
If you're a manufacturer, are you taking any steps in your company to address this need? We'd love to hear your comments.
]]>CTV News in Winnipeg claims the currency -- specifically the new $100 bills -- are not as durable as old-fashioned paper money.
The report cites Charles Shepard of Brandon, Manitoba, who noticed that when the bills are folded, they can develop cracks that can turn into rips.
Shepard ... put a full can of Coke on top of a new $100 bill.When he pulled on it, he said the plastic bill ripped in half.
"It's similar to thin tin foil or plastic food wrap. "You pull on it but as soon as it's got a mark or tear on it, it just peels apart," he said.
I'd like to think a $100 note can stand up to a can of Coke. And the next time I find myself with a wallet full of hundreds, you can be sure I'll give it a try.
]]>The big new is that Jon Huntsman Jr. decided to drop out of the race for the Republican presidential campaign.
Huntsman, son of plastics Hall of Famer Jon M. Huntsman, entered the race six months ago, putting his efforts into the New Hampshire primary. But he finished third, and today he endorsed Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination.
Insiders don't expect this will end Huntsman Jr.'s political career. Perhaps we'll see him on the presidential campaign trail again in 2016.
The other big plastics-in-politics news comes from Missouri, where Dave Spence, the former president and CEO of St. Louis blow molder Alpha Packaging Inc., is running for governor.
Jake Wagman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported this weekend that Spence's website contained some misleading biographical information.
The site said Spence earned a degree in economics from the University of Missouri. But he actually earned a bachelor of science degree in home economics.
Spence has changed the website, and he deflected the story with a bit of humor about his academic performance in college.
Is this all just a tempest in a teapot? Stay tuned to see how voters respond. Spence faces an opponent in the GOP primary.
]]>Now the names are public: Apple Inc. last week released a list of its suppliers (PDF).
Apple released the list as part of its Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, which includes details on the company's efforts to improve worker protections and factory conditions -- tracking things like worker safety, environmental goals, and use of underage labor.
Here are links to a handlful of Apple's plastics-related suppliers:
Flextronics International Ltd.
Jin Li Mould Manufacturing Pte Ltd.
Check the full list for more familiar names, as well as suppliers of competiting materials and other products.
And here's a link for companies interested in information about becoming a supplier to Apple.
]]>But private equity isn't all bad. We can even find other examples in the plastics sector where PE owners helped save companies -- and jobs.
The Wall Street Journal recently was looking for a PE success story for a report on Mitt Romney, whose record at Bain Capital has become an issue in the Republican presidential primaries.
Interestingly enough, the WSJ chose to feature a plastics-related company for its example of a positive PE investment: Gloucester Engineering Co. Inc.
The story, "Appetite for (Creative?) Destruction," opens with the story of how Gloucester was on the brink of failure during the machinery downturn in 2009-2010, until private equity firm Blue Wolf Capital Partners stepped in.
Here's what the WSJ's Gregory Zuckerman and Ryan Dezember had to say about Blue Wolf's experience:
Blue Wolf, which manages a $118 million fund, invested in Gloucester just as it went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and bought the entire company when it re-emerged from bankruptcy in late 2010. "If we could fix the operational issues, there was no reason we couldn't see this grow," said Blue Wolf managing partner Adam Blumenthal.Blue Wolf brought in a new management team, installed a computer system that helped better manage inventory and estimate job costs, and built up a business to service Gloucester equipment around the world. It also struck a deal with union workers that Mr. Vartabedian says kept pay and pensions unchanged but mandated employees perform a wider range of tasks than their previous job descriptions allowed.
"The one goal we had was to make the company successful," said Joe Orlando, who took on multiple roles, including maintenance and truck driving under the new union agreement. "There were a lot of people that live in Gloucester and wanted to keep the jobs here."
.Gloucester now employs about 100 workers, up from 30 at the time of the bankruptcy. Mr. Blumenthal said he expects substantial job growth over the next several years.
There are plenty of other examples -- both good and bad -- of what PE ownership has meant for the plastics industry.
Plastics News will have more to say about PE trends on Jan. 23, with one of our annual special reports on mergers and acquisitions.
]]>I included some insight into the news in the story posted on PlasticsNews.com last night:
- Metabolix reported a loss of $29.2 milliion for the nine month period that ended Sept. 30, on sales of $567,000. ADM considered the business one that was "not delivering sufficient results now," and it was "not expected to deliver sufficient results within a reasonable timeframe."
- Despite the steady news coverage of biopolymers in recent months -- remember Coke's commitment to using more bio-based resins? -- I differentiated the activity in making conventional resins made from plant materials vs. making corn-based polymers like PHA.
This morning I asked PN's two authorites on plant-based polymers, Frank Esposito and Mike Verespej, for their thoughts on the news. Here are some of our additional observations:
Metabolix and ADM started production of their Telles-brand PHA last year at a 110-million-pound-per-year plant in Clinton, Iowa. Typically that's the point where a resin takes a big step forward, when high-volume production brings down prices.
But PHA is still substantially more expensive than polylactic acid -- its main competition in plant-based resin. And lower prices for conventional plastics like polyethylene and polypropylene hurt prospects for bio-based materials, too.
Metabolix's stock price has fallen more than 40 percent today, to about $2.60 per share, following ADM's announcement.
Metabolix said it is conducting a strategic review of its business plans for 2012, and that it will restructure its bioplastics business and downsize its operations. CEO Richard Eno said the company is still "committed to successfully commercializing PHA bioplastics."
Going forward without ADM will require a major change in strategy, though.
]]>Earlier today, National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" did a report on Shell Oil Co.'s plan to build a new petrochemical cracker in Ohio, West Virginia or Pennsylvania.
(As an aside, my guess is they'll pick West Virginia).
The report quotes a Case Western Reserve University geologist about the importance of the cracker to the domestic plastics industry. Unfortunately, the interview is boiled down to a point where it sounds like she believes plastic resin is no longer made in the United States.
"Plastic was made overseas, and that's because there wasn't enough natural gas," Beverly Saylor said. "But now with all the shale gas development, the price has come down on that, and so it's now worth it."
NPR tends to do good work, but I think they left listeners with the wrong impression on this story.
What they meant to say is that until recently, when companies started to tap into natural gas in the Western Marcellus and Utica Shale regions, there have been few investments in new polyethylene capacity in the United States.
Plastics News said as much last month, in a story by senior reporter Frank Esposito that started: "Cross this one off the list of things that were never going to happen again: New polyethylene capacity is headed for the U.S."
But that doesn't mean that no one has been making resin in the United States for the past decade. The truth is that the U.S. is consistently a net exporter of plastic resin. Even as the U.S. has racked up big trade deficits, plastic resin has been a rare bright spot.
For a while it has looked like at some point in the future the U.S. would become a net importer of resin. The experts had predicted that low-cost feedstocks in the Middle East would encourage manufacturers to make resin there and ship it around the world.
But the new natural gas discoveries in the United States seem to be giving new life to the domestic industry.
I hope this helps to set the record straight. Shell's new cracker will be big news. But it would be hyperbole to imply that it marks a return of resin manufacturing to the United States. Because it never really left.
What's actually returning is the investment in new capacity.
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