Young Professionals Plant Tour Scheduled at Thogus Products
On June 20, MAPP’s Young Professionals will visit Thogus Products, Avon Lakes, Ohio, for a full-day event focused on how plastics companies can create a culture of continuous improvement. Thogus has a dedicated focus on culture and employee engagement that fosters continuous improvement across the organization. From its monthly communication meetings that highlight ongoing initiatives and recent successes to the company’s unique manager alert cards that allow employees to identify opportunities for continuous improvement, there are no shortages of great ideas being generated. Employees at Thogus are trained to seek out opportunities for innovation and improvement and are rewarded and recognized for their efforts.
Attendees will network with one another, discuss opportunities to improve the practices in their own facilities, hear from the team at Thogus Products about their experiences in creating this dynamic culture, as well as gain training from industry experts.
Learn more and join other plastics industry young professionals by visiting www.mappinc.com.
Drugs in the Workplace Report Available
Published in mid-April 2018, MAPP’s 2018 Drugs in the Workplace Report is a 193-page document that includes analysis of inputs from more than 110 US manufacturers in regard to their organization’s drug policies. Topics highlighted include legality of marijuana, type of testing conducted, drugs screened during testing, accident documentation, company EAPs and adaptations due to the current opioid crisis. Along with an analysis of findings, the report includes 48 unique drug policies submitted by manufacturers. These policies have been scrubbed of company-identifying information and serve as a benchmark and inspiration for those organizations looking to update, improve or implement a drug policy in their establishment. To learn more and purchase this report, visit www.mappinc.com/resources.
MAPP Plant Tour at Par 4 Plastics Scheduled for July
Join MAPP’s staff, board of directors and industry executives at MAPP’s summer plant tour at Par 4 Plastics, Marion, Kentucky, on Thursday, July 26. Par 4 Plastics is a family-owned company with family values, established in 1990. The team at Par 4 has a strong belief in partnerships with people, community, customers and suppliers. Serving the automotive, electronics, sporting goods and construction markets, the company has 200,000 square feet of manufacturing, molding and assembly processes at two facilities located on 30-plus acres. The facilities and equipment are modern, clean and world class. All of Par 4’s equipment is automated with various poke yoke technology for quality performance, and the facilities have been retrofitted with LED lighting and air conditioning. To learn more and register for the tour, visit www.mappinc.com/events.
Association Welcomes New MAPP Members
MAPP is proud to welcome the following plastics organizations into the MAPP network:
- Ambrit Engineering Corp., Santa Ana, California
- Blue Ridge Industries, Winchester, Virginia
- Davalor Mold Company, Chesterfield, Michigan
- Fabrik Molded Plastics, McHenry, Illinois
- Flex, Manchester, Connecticut
- Imperial Plastics – Heron, Lakeville, Minnesota
- Imperial Plastics – Mora, More, Minnesota
- ITW Deltar Fasteners, Frankfort, Illinois
- P&P Industries, Sterling, Illinois
- Plasti-Coil, LLC, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
- Polymer Contours, Allentown, Pennsylvania
- Revere Plastics Systems, Jeffersonville, Indiana
- Revere Plastics Systems, Poplar Bluff, Missouri
- Triangle Rubber & Plastics, Goshen, Indiana
2018 Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Summit: Leading to Zero
The 2018 Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Summit is a unique event focused on helping manufacturing companies achieve world-class safety records. Scheduled for July 18-19 in Columbus, Ohio, this year’s EHS Summit will feature keynote speaker David Sarkus and will provide safety professionals with implementable ideas they can take back to their facilities. This event is designed to facilitate best practice sharing, build leadership skills and give attendees practical and innovative solutions to their largest safety challenges. Visit www.mappinc.com to learn more about this event and register.
MAPP Best Practices Awards Submission Deadlines Announced
Awards season has arrived, and MAPP has recently announced the schedule for its annual Best Practices Awards Series. Each year, MAPP celebrates innovative practices across all areas of plastics manufacturing. Hard work and commitment always are crucial to success, but being competitive means working smart. Across the hundreds of MAPP member companies, there are stories about small improvements that are implemented on factory floors by employees who make their work faster, safer and more efficient. To celebrate that commitment to innovation, MAPP instituted its annual Best Practices Awards series, dedicated to honoring companies that are doing the “small” things that it takes to get ahead in an increasingly competitive marketplace and elevate the industry as a whole.
- Safety Best Practices Awards: Accepting submissions through May 25, 2018
- Innovation Award: Accepting submissions June 25 through July 31, 2018
- Educational Outreach Award: Accepting submissions Aug. 13 through Sept. 7, 2018
For more information about these awards, visit www.mappinc.com/resources.
MAPP Introduces New Cost-Reduction Program
MAPP is excited to welcome Carbon into the MAPP organization. Carbon works at the intersection of hardware, software and materials to empower manufacturers and producers to evolve beyond basic prototyping to producing digital 3D manufacturing at scale by revolutionizing how they design, engineer, make and deliver their products. Carbon hopes to educate members on their technology and to provide them with new revenue opportunities though tool-less end-use production parts. Carbon makes this vision possible by combining engineering-grade materials with exceptional resolution and surface finish from a pool of resin in a process that eliminates the shortcomings of conventional 3D printing. From aerospace, automotive, electronics, industrial components and highly customizable medical devices, Carbon makes it possible for creators to design the parts and products of the future. Carbon is pleased to offer a $500 resin credit to all MAPP Members.
Operator and Entry-Level Employee Training – a MAPP YP Project
As part of its founding mission, MAPP’s Young Professionals Network is working on its first annual project. Each year, the Young Professionals Network is charged with developing and delivering a project that positively impacts MAPP members and/or the industry as a whole. This years project focuses on operator and entry-level employee training. The project, with a planned release date of October 2018, will include a structured outline for the skills new operators and entry-level employees need to be successful. This outline also will include specific topics and curated resources available exclusively for MAPP members on the MAPP website.
Anyone interested in helping with this year’s annual project should reach out to Ashley (Turrell) Burleson at [email protected].
Plastics Industry Fly-In to Take Place Sept. 12, 2018, in Washington, DC
For the third year in a row, MAPP is proud to support and sponsor the Plastics Industry Fly-In. The Plastics Fly-In allows plastics industry professionals the opportunity to show up in Washington, DC, as a group and educate those on Capitol Hill about how plastics help change peoples’ lives for the better. Attendees will have face-to-face meetings with lawmakers and key decision makers, giving them the opportunity to share their real-world stories. These meetings help lawmakers understand how legislative issues will impact the health and viability of plastics’ businesses, their employees and their customers.
MAPP invites its members to join MAPP’s staff and board of directors at this event. Visit www.mappinc.com for more information.
Benchmarking and Best Practices Conference – Registration Now Open
Mark the calendar for Oct. 10-12, 2018. Early bird registration now is open for the 2018 Benchmarking and Best Practices Conference, to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana. This year’s theme – BE EXTRAORDINARY – will inspire, motivate and educate processors on how to continuously improve every day. Good leaders continually work to make themselves better, and attendees of the 2018 Benchmarking & Best Practices Conference will accomplish that goal! For more information and to register for the plastics industry’s only conference focused on plastics processors, visit www.mappinc.com.
