Pleas in a crisis … Plastics community answers calls for help

It was Thursday, March 26 at roughly 10:31 a.m. when the call for help occurred.

Evan Berns, president and CEO of Seitz LLC, a company on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis providing essential molded parts for equipment utilized in hospitals and care centers, locked and loaded an urgent email:

We are a line down for a medical customer due to a screw/barrel issue.
We need a 35mm screw and barrel assembly for a 1998 Demag 120-ton press.
We haven't found a quick solution. Please let me know if you can help directly or can point me to anyone in your network who might be able to help.

Within minutes, the urgent plea for help was sent to thousands of plastics industry professionals across the United States through MAPP's emergency alert system. Almost as quickly as the message was sent, Berns began receiving replies.

Some responses acknowledged the problem but ended with, "I'm sorry I don't have one in stock at this time so I can't help you." Others were new emails generated by the receiver that sounded like: "Hey Paul, Evan of Seitz needs a screw and barrel assembly for a '98 Demag, can you help?"

But more importantly, were the replies, "I know where to find one," and "I have the exact machine; I have what you need in stock, how should I send it?"

"I just joined the MAPP organization a couple of months ago," stated Berns. "This was my first time pulling the 'help chain' and the support from the MAPP network was amazing! We received over 40 responses in four hours! Based on the very first email response, we were able to find a source — problem solved!"

As executive director of the Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors, I can tell you that we have worked for years to perfect this outreach system.

"In times like these, nearly every professional in the MAPP network, even direct competitors, will put aside competing issues to do what they can to help a peer in need," stated Tim Capps, who is the current president of the MAPP organization and the president of injection molder Par 4 Plastics, Marion, Ky.

"If you've been in this business long enough, you've most certainly found yourself in a catastrophic situation where a critical repair part is needed for a machine, essential raw materials must be found, or a specific technical expertise is needed to resolve a substantial challenge. Many of these problems are often big enough to put a customer at risk, or the future of an entire business in jeopardy if not resolved. This is why MAPP is a critical element of my business and a critical resource for MAPP's 450 member companies," stated Capps.

MAPP's industrywide network has been extensively tested in the COVID-19 crisis. I am proud to say that U.S. plastics industry executives have stepped up on so many recent occasions to support one another in the greatest times of need!

Right now, it is more important than ever to come together as an industry. MAPP's COVID-19 Resource Hub at www.mappinc.com is filled with critical information, links and FAQs to help the industry find what it needs, quickly and efficiently.

One company or one person may not have all the answers, but together, we can lean on a community and a network to connect us like never before. MAPP is humbly honored to be a part of those connections and the plastics community that is aggressively fighting to win this war against the COVID-19 crisis.