Kickstart: Making k'nexions for swabs

The Rodon Group is best known as the company that molds K'Nex toys. But it's a different kind of k'nexion that has the injection molder making flexible swabs used in COVID-19 testing.

Sarah Kominek has the story about how Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia was having problems sourcing swabs for COVID tests because there was so much demand for them. So Eric Horwitz, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, reached out to Rodon CEO Michael Araten, a family friend of 20 years, to see if Rodon would be interested in designing a COVID-19 testing swab.

"As the world started shutting down in March, we looked at a variety of our capabilities in injection molding and started to center in on testing," Araten said. "We wanted to see if there was something we could make that met an entire need."

Rodon developed the mold and Fox Chase has helped it get FDA certification. The molder now has capacity to make 1 million swabs per year and will gear up to make as many as 50 million per year.

And a quick reminder that Plastics News is planning special coverage of the plastics industry's response to the coronavirus pandemic in late October. Please swing by www.plasticsnews.com/response and fill out a short survey to help us find companies who aided in the Rapid Response.

There are still a lot of things about the impact of Hurricane Laura that aren't quite clear, with the big question for the plastics industry being how long it will take resin makers in and around Lake Charles, La., to recover.

As Frank Esposito noted in an Aug. 28 update on the storm, the Category 4 hurricane spared most companies from direct damage, but power and transportation lines were still down at the end of last week.

The power outages were impacting a range of businesses. Flat die maker Cloeren Inc. notified customers it had to temporarily close both because of a lack of electricity at its headquarters in Orange, Texas, and also a mandatory evacuation order still in effect in the area.

Our sister paper Sustainable Plastics has its July/August digital edition now available. (You may need to register to access it.)

Editor Karen Laird takes a look at a company making a "greener" artificial turf as sustainability moves further into sports and the advance of recycled and bio-based material in sports shoes.

For all you frustrated poets out there, let's hear it for Alpine Advanced Materials — or at least one of their marketing people — who found their muse at work.

With apologies, I assume, to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the company posted an "Ode to Composites" via social media on Aug. 27.

"Composites, how we love thee," begins the poem from an uncredited writer. "Let us count the ways."

You can see the full poem above.

So who's on for a challenge?

"Forgive me if I sound boastful,

but my straw is backyard compostable."

(Needs work.)