Kickstart: A companywide approach to diversity

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have become something of a hot-button issue recently, but that doesn't mean it's not important.

A more welcoming workplace helps companies attract workers, workers that can provide a fresh perspective on end markets or best practices on the manufacturing floor.

Consulting group McKinsey & Co. says its research shows that companies in the top 25 percent of firms for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns that are better than their competitors. And companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to top the industry median for financial returns.

Plastics News has profiled individuals as part of its annual diversity report for the past few years. This year, we're making a slight shift to focus only on companies or plastics-oriented divisions of larger corporations. We'd like to recognize what goes into a companywide effort to reach out to more people.

You can find a link here to a survey asking for nominations for the 2024 Diversity Issue, which will run in PN the week of Feb. 26. We'd like to hear more about initiatives those businesses have taken, hurdles they've faced and best practices they've developed to become more inclusive — as well as revelations they've found on their journey.

The deadline to nominate a company is Jan. 26.

Laundry pod ingestion is back in the news and this time it has nothing to do with kids following an internet challenge.

The Associated Press notes that a campaign giveaway from Hou Yu-ih, the Nationalist Party presidential candidate in Taiwan, included brightly colored laundry pods. At least three people — two of them identified as a man and woman in their 80s — ate the pods, thinking they were candy. They were treated for the ingestion and released from the hospital.

The party had given out more than 400,000 of the pods. It has since halted the giveaway.

The combination of bragging rights and 3D printing landed in the spotlight at the NCAA college football championship on Jan. 8 when members of the University of Michigan team were able to hoist not only the trophy but a very, very large championship ring.

Our sister paper Advertising Age writes that the sports network ESPN wanted to create a one-of-a-kind prop to mark the game. It ended up with what it termed "The Big Ring," a massive 3D printed version of a championship ring measuring in at nearly 12 inches high.

The creative team began by shaping a proposed ring out of foam balls, Ad Age wrote.

"We looked at the prototypes and we were like, 'We should go bigger, right?'" Andrew Kong told Ad Age. That decision led creators to Raven Lake Studio LLC, a Warwick, N.Y.-based maker of custom signage and graphics to 3D print a final version that duplicated the shape of NRG Stadium, the site of the game, that was then covered with artificial jewels.

Each ring took 65 hours to 3D print, Raven Lake noted on its Facebook page.