Southern Congressmen Learn First Hand About Plastics Processing

The tireless efforts of SPI's Government Affairs staff in coordinating Congressional plant tours of plastics companies in the South is laying a foundation of greater understanding in Washington of our industry's challenges. During the plant tours, the lawmakers received an ear full from industry representatives candidly shared their concerns about issues affecting their ability to do business. Among the issues cited at numerous plant tours were global competition, transportation issues, rising energy and healthcare costs, high taxes and the need for additional tax credits, as well as a variety of local issues.

Dart's Plant Manager, Steve Ridgill, and Rep. Coble examine plastic drink cups for quality as they come off the line.

The Southern region plant tours began on June 29 in Monroe, LA, with U.S. Representative Rodney Alexander (R-LA-5th) touring Mid South Extrusion, Louisiana Plastics Industries and Louisiana Plastics Converting Corporation. U.S. Representative Howard Coble (R-NC-6th) toured Dart Container Corporation's PET cup manufacturing facility in Randleman, NC, on August 11, and Wexco Corporation welcomed U.S. Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA-6th) on August 23 to its manufacturing operation for high-performance bimetallic plasticating cylinders for plastic injection and extrusion machinery.

More plant tours are in the works for SPI's Southern region in the coming months. If you are interested in hosting a tour at your facility, please contact Natha Freiburg, (202) 974-5216; email mfreibur@socplas.org.

The SPI/OSHA Alliance Yields More Fruit

Keeping plastics industry workers safe on the job starts with solid employee safety training. Realizing the importance of providing accessible and easy to use safety resources, the SPI/OSHA Alliance has rolled out another train-the-trainer machine safety training course for plastics processors. Developed by a team of OSHA and plastics industry experts, the new Machine Safety for Plastic Sheet and Roll Stock Extrusion Training Course consolidates critical information on machine guarding and lockout/tagout for plastics extrusion equipment. The course's two PowerPoint modules, which can be downloaded as a zip file from the following locations:

• Machine Guarding for Extrusion
• Lockout/Tagout for Extrusion

The inaugural train-the-trainer course developed by the SPI/OSHA Alliance, Machine Safety for Injection Molding Machines Training Course, is also available on the SPI website in a downloaded zip file from the following locations:

• Machine Guarding for Injection Molding
• Lockout/Tagout for Injection Molding

Machine safety is only one part of an effective safety and health management system. Plastics company's wishing to develop or improve their workplace safety and health programs will find OSHA's Safety and Health Management eTools helpful when they go to: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/safetyhealth/index.html. For more information on the SPI/OSHA Alliance, click here.

The Facts on Politician Voting Records Are A Click Away

As the November elections draws near, plastics companies are encouraged to remind their employees to educate themselves on their state and federal officials' voting records at SPI's on line Political Action Center. This informative, interactive tool makes it easy for visitors to identify and contact their state and federal representatives, and to compare their elected officials' records against commonly held pro-manufacturing positions. The web site also provides a host of other grassroots tools.

Disaster Assistance For Florida Companies

Enterprise Florida's new disaster recovery Web site connects Florida businesses with government resources. For information on state bridge loans, low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aid, and Disaster Relief Center's (DRC) employment assistance and relief fund donations, click here.

In order to meet the needs of Florida's business community, Enterprise Florida and its partners are collecting information about businesses' hurricane-related issues. These surveys are also available at the eFlorida.com Web site.

SPI Molders Save Big On Freight with Yellow Transportation

Members of the Society of the Plastics Industry's Molders Division are now eligible for special shipping discounts with Yellow Transportation. Once enrolled in the new SPI Molder / Yellow program, members of SPI's Molders Division will save up to 62 percent on outbound and inbound shipments, not to mention several other cost saving benefits for various types of shipments. To enroll in this discount program, go to www.enrollhere.net or call (800) 678-9023.

With SPI Assistance, Plastics Companies Receive Thousands Of Dollars in Workforce Training Grants

Collaborating with Workforce Investment Boards around the country to uncover state and federal training funds for the plastics industry is a special knack of SPI's Workforce Development Manager, Barbara Darby. Since 2001, Darby has been instrumental in securing over $435,000 in government funding for training and certifying plastics industry workers in the Southern region alone. That climbs to over a million when you factor in plastics training funds she has raised in the other SPI regions.

Before coming to SPI, Darby spent eight years with the North Carolina Mountain Area Job Link Career Center in Asheville learning to navigate the national workforce system. At SPI she continues to maintain her valuable contacts with members of the National Association of Workforce Boards and the Department of Labor, which have been instrumental in her efforts to promote the training needs of the plastics industry.

"Workforce training has such a positive impact on a company's bottom line as it helps reduce waste and employee turn over costs," says Darby, "But the most rewarding part is going to a company's graduation ceremony and seeing the pride employees take in receiving their National Certification in Plastics certificate and knowing their company cared enough to invest in them."

If your company is interested in saving money by training and certifying its plastics machine operators, please call Barbara Darby at (864) 239-2939, ext. 4 or email her at bdarby@socplas.org.

For more information on SPI's National Certification in Plastics (NCP) program for machine operators, go to www.certifyme.org.

SPI South Regional Report is published by The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI), Copyright© 2004, as a service to our members. It is provided as a service and is made without warranty, expressed or implied, as to merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or any other matter. Mention of a product, service or concept does not constitute its endorsement by SPI.