Going Green – Latest steps at PlastiCert

Our march toward increased “greenness” continues at PlastiCert. We have been working on green initiatives for some time, assessing what works best for our customers, the environment, and us.

Our recent efforts in the area of going paperless are going well. PlastiCert’s use of Tablets at our Work Centers has proven to be well thought out and well accepted. Now instead of printing out our work instructions, routers, pick lists, inspection and packaging information, all will be available at each work center electronically. Our Documentation System will govern having the corresponding revision instructions for the applicable work order and our production control effort will have the work order coordinated at each work center. We have recently made advances to allow wireless updating of the Tablets on the floor, reducing handling, improving reliability and increasing timeliness.

Our next big task is to resolve our waste issue. Scrap resin is a part of the business. Having a customer base whose products are in demanding environments means regrind use is not an option. As such, all runners and the modicum of scrap we produce needs to be dealt with. Historically, as a small processor, recyclers are not interested in our volumes, meaning it is not economically viable to arrange shipment. We are exploring alternatives to the landfill and are aggressively researching those options.

Having access to a pool of interns from nearby Winona State University’s Composites Engineering program made implementing these green initiatives a much easier task for Manufacturing Management.