SPI offers the following post by a member of our staff in observance of Memorial Day — a day set aside to honor those men and women who died in the service of their country, protecting and preserving the freedoms we enjoy.

In 1973 I was a junior at Juniata College in Pennsylvania. The Vietnam draft lottery rolled up and, like all my friends, I went to the local radio station – WHUN – to read the telex, carefully watching the scrolling birthday assignments. I did not win.  My number was pretty low. This meant that in a year or so,  I could be “in country”  — and that did not mean in the United States. 

I waited for the letter that would let me know where I should report for my preliminary physical. Some older acquaintances had gone to war and died, some were back in pieces, or perhaps worse, with post shock — what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder.  Emotionally it was a time of high anxiety — something like waiting and hoping to hear that your high school girlfriend was just late and not pregnant. But worse.

And then, suddenly, it was over.  The draft was gone. Poof.  I was released.

As I finished college, (mostly) finished graduate school, found a career and a life, I put all of this behind me.  Well, not so much.

Today I work with these men who are just a little older than me.  I’ve met dozens who served “in country”  and did extraordinary and horrifying things. Despite the shattering experiences, many still walk among us. Guys named Frank, Mike, Joe and Tom — they are a bit worse for wear, but wry and real. 

They did things we cannot comprehend. War is different now: satellites, unmanned drones, robots and distance weapons quite often take the harsh immediacy provided by our eyeballs out of the equation. Not for them.  They were up close and personal. You don’t want to know.

I have tried to say this to each one of them: I am grateful. I am honored to know you and deeply thank you for your service for us all. Sometimes I tell them that I feel guilty.

On Thursday, June 3rd, SPI will host a one-hour webinar beginning at 11:00 am EST to discuss the benefits of the Department of Energy’s Save Energy Now initiative.  This webinar is exclusively for SPI member companies.  Register now!

In today’s current economic climate, companies are looking for ways to save money. But I bet not everyone has heard about the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Save Energy Now program. The goal of DOE’s program is to help American businesses, factories and manufacturing facilities save energy. A key part of the program is that DOE conducts an energy assessment to help manufacturing facilities identify immediate ways to save energy and money. Oh, and did I mention that DOE does this at no cost to the company?

The assessments focus primarily on energy-intensive systems such as pumps, fans, processing heating, steam and compressed air. The program offers several energy assessment options:

• For large plants: The nation’s largest, most energy-intensive plants can apply to receive a three-day system assessment. These on-site assessments are led by DOE’s Energy Experts who use DOE’s software tools and technical information to target a specific system area. Assessments also provide hands-on learning that can help a company’s staff gain knowledge to multiply the benefits of the assessment.
• For small and medium-sized plants: DOE’s university-based Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) conduct one-day assessments at smaller plants. Teams of highly trained IAC faculty and engineering students apply the same DOE software tools and technical resources to identify key savings opportunities throughout your plant.
• For all plants: Contacting the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Information Center is the a great option for any plant, large or small, if you are ready to boost energy savings and improve productivity. Whether or not you receive an assessment, here you will find expert technical assistance and guidance on how to make the most of the Save Energy Now portfolio of resources.

The Save Energy Now energy assessments have helped U.S. manufacturing facilities save an average of $2 million, or 8% of their total energy costs which is pretty impressive. Companies have saved real money with this program, and you can too!  I encourage companies to look into this opportunity by registering  for our upcoming webinar!

Photo courtesy of Lost Media (http://lost-media.com)

Unless you haven’t turned on your TV, read a paper or surfed the Web this past week, by now you know that ABC’s epic television series “Lost” came to a highly anticipated conclusion on Sunday. As a dedicated fan of the show (some may say obsessed), I eagerly awaited this finale with both excitement and sadness—and I even flew out to my hometown of Los Angeles to attend the E! Entertainment finale viewing party (OK, maybe obsessed is appropriate).

The finale itself was amazing—it certainly hit all the right marks for this fan. Many of the scenes were intensely emotional, others were action-packed and others downright funny. Something else that struck me? Plastic! Now, when you work for a particular industry, it is no surprise that you develop radar for honing in on those products. While watching the finale of “Lost,” scrutinizing every scene, it occurred to me that plastics actually played a pivotal role in several major plot developments and essentially saved the day for my beloved characters.

Yes, that’s right—plastic actually helped save the island AND save lives. Toward the end of the finale, time is running out for our main characters to stop the island from deconstructing and for some of them to make their exit by repairing a crashed plane and flying it off the island. Our hero Jack—a man who began the show as a “man of science” and transitioned to a “man of faith”— knows he is about to sacrifice his life to save the island (and all humanity…but I won’t get into that). Before he can undertake this important act, he must quickly appoint a replacement protector of the island by offering a sort-of communion to his selection, the loveable Hurley. Jack needs something to put the sacred water in, and fast! Ben has something they can use—an old beaten up Oceanic Air water bottle he had in his backpack from all their island trekking. Talk about reduce, reuse, recycle! With this water bottle, Jack is able to anoint Hurley as the new leader and proceed to his destiny.

Meanwhile, other castaways are desperately trying to fix up a crashed airplane on the island so that they can get it in shape to fly them away. In a “the clock is ticking” scenario, two characters are frantically wrapping duct tape around a damaged section of the plane. Alpert asks Miles, “Do you think this will work?” and with a classic Miles smirk he responds “I don’t believe in a lot of things. But I do believe in duct tape.” I had to chuckle at this line, as did my fellow watchers, because we all know it is true—duct tape can do pretty much anything. And it certainly worked for Alpert, Miles and the other characters who managed to fly the plane off to safety and the start of a new life off the island.

So, I stand by my assessment that at least two plastic items—a simple water bottle and some duct tape—helped the show’s ’characters accomplish critical tasks when the stakes were high. But, it also turns out that “Lost” itself has helped plastics manufacturing as well! A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlights the economic boom the production of the show has given Hawaii the past six years. “Lost” filmed almost every one of its scenes on the island of Oahu and, as you would expect, required a lot of large-scale structures and props to be constructed. According to the article, “The show consumed so much foam that it prompted a spike in resin imports to Hawaii” with local plastics businesses benefiting.

Could “Lost” have worked without plastic? Well, for one thing, many of the sets I enjoyed looking at the past six seasons would not exist. And as for Jack, Kate, Sawyer and the gang — well, they might have really been “lost” without plastic. As for me, and many others, I feel a bit lost without my favorite TV show.

For once—a lottery that is a win-win for everyone! Today, at SPI headquarters in Washington, DC, a special lottery for an exhibit space “pre-draw” was held for NPE exhibitors with a 15 show history or higher.

You may be asking, “what is a pre-draw?” As you most likely know by now, NPE2012 and NPE2015 will be held in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center. NPE2012 will be the first NPE show to be held in this venue, and with that comes an exciting new location, new opportunities and a new floor plan full of possibilities! Moving from a facility that has housed NPE since 1971 has also raised many inquiries on booth locations of industry sectors and longtime exhibitors.

The pre-draw process was developed by NPE’s committees and staff to help work through some of these very questions ahead of time—well in advance the traditional Space Draw that will take place this upcoming January 12-14, 2011, in Orlando. Exhibiting companies with a 15 show history or higher (the same companies that would have selected first in the January space draw) were offered the opportunity to participate, and 64 chose to enter the lottery.

This is not an ordinary lottery, however, since it ultimately rewards all participants! Allowing longtime SPI Member exhibitors to select their official spaces this summer will provide guidance to exhibitors on their booth selection during the January 2011 Space Draw. All other exhibitors will have the benefit of knowing—well before the Space Draw—where these longtime exhibitors are setting up their booths. This means better advanced decision-making for exhibitors and a well-organized floor plan for attendees.

Drumroll please! This morning, SPI’s Bill Carteaux, Gene Sanders and Phyllis Hortie were joined by exhibitor witness John Roberts of Gala Industries to pull these pre-draw participants from a lottery. In the coming weeks, these exhibiting companies, in order from 1-64, will work with SPI to select their booth space.  The first 10 companies are:

• Sumitomo Plastics Machinery and Demag Plastics Group
• Farrel Corporation
• Canon Communications
• SABIC
• ITW Instron Corporation + Affiliates
• Eastman Chemical Company
• DuPont
• Davis-Standard, LLC
• NFM Welding Engineers
• Gloucester Engineering Co., Inc.

And with this lottery for pre-draw booth selection, NPE2012 is off to an exciting start in a fresh venue.

This time of year, graduation ceremonies recognize young people’s academic achievement, growth and maturity. What better way to celebrate these virtues than to enable graduates to actually show that they are conscientious citizens of the world at these celebratory ceremonies?

In an effort to meet the green demands of students (and, increasingly, schools), graduation gown companies are manufacturing gowns made from recycled plastic bottles that can be reused or recycled.  According to a recent Associated Press article, the gowns are lighter and softer than traditional virgin polyester.   This will be a huge relief to grads who are typically forced to sit through hot and sweaty outdoor ceremonies.

Oak Hall Cap and Gown in Virginia and University Cap and Gown in Massachusetts are two of the companies offering the recycled plastic bottle gowns – the GreenWeaver and UltraGreen lines, respectively. According to the article, the University of Vermont bookstore is displaying an Oak Hall gown next to 23 plastic bottles in order to show students how many were recycled to make the fabric. 

While the green movement is here to stay, currently the standard polyester gowns, which are slightly less expensive, remain the most popular option.  Oak Hall reports that this spring approximately 100 schools ordered the new gowns and 1,500 stayed with the traditional polyester.  The owner of University Cap and Gown says that about 7 percent of his customers ordered the new recycled plastic gowns. (Personally, I think the fact that the “green” gowns currently only come in black may factor into their popularity. So many colleges use graduation gowns that match the traditional colors of the school.)

One key challenge is getting grads exiting the ceremonies to further the sustainability of the gowns by depositing them in specially marked bins so they can be recycled into new fabric. It kind of defeats the whole “recycled bottle” purpose to just trash the gowns. Another option is for grads to give their gowns to a younger friend for reuse.

Recycling or reusing these gowns really shouldn’t be a big deal for these diploma-toting, newly educated, mature citizens of the world, right?