Long Beach, Calif. — John Manuck is going on the road to deliver his warning and express his concern about improper material substitutions and certifications.
Manuck is CEO of Techmer PM LLC of Clinton, Tenn.
“Someone has to beat the drum,” Manuck said in a March 1 presentation to the Molding 2018 Conference in Long Beach.
As a material design company, “We get involved in a lot of [Food and Drug Administration] issues,” he said.
Using a current fad term, he said some “fake news” is intentional to spread influence or enhance an issue, and other “fake news” unintentionally disseminates unconfirmed or incomplete information.
What bothers Manuck is more insidious.
He cited falsehoods in a prominent material supplier's acquisition and also in Techmer PM's purchase a of Philadelphia-area company.
A product failure involving Techmer PM's new entity led to finding that a certificate of analysis to a customer did not match information in the company files.
A material checking person from the acquired company dumbfounded Techmer PM officials in saying, “Oh, I changed the numbers to meet specs.”
Among other identifiable discretions, Manuck discussed the unauthorized substitutions of cheaper non-compliant resins, the rampant existence of incomplete and missing compliance letters and the omission of cancer-warning labels on some polymers and additives subject to California's Proposition 65 regulation.
“We run tests all the time,” Manuck said, displaying his collection of a series of falsified letters of compliance. He redacted sensitive details.
In one example, “Someone created a certificate of analysis, put it on our letterhead and sent it out,” he said. A proper certificate “can be simple but must cover the code.”
In suggesting a fix, Manuck said, “everything must be checked up and down the supply chain.”
He added, “Audit and see the testing capability [and] be suspicious of 'cheap prices' that are too good to be true.”
Techmer PM offers a product liability service to its customers, retains product samples for five years and, as needed, can produce a questioned part to demonstrate the material's validity.
Manuck said the Molding 2018 talk is the first in a series he plans to give at every upcoming opportunity. In early March, he will present his views at a Fibertech annual conference in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Gardner Business Media Inc.'s Plastics Technology magazine organized the Molding 2018 Conference in Long Beach.