Welcome to Dordan's blog

Hey guys!

My new article for Packaging Digest, "Sustainable Packaging Insights Ignite Social Sharing," is now live! Check it out here.

I am particularly pleased with this because it provides a snap shot of sustainable packaging conference #SUSTPACK17, a la Twitter! Conferences like SustPack17 demonstrate the value of Twitter as it allows attendees and those interested to have dynamic conversations about the event, though not face to face.

The article begins,

Like any evolving topic, sustainable packaging has gone from singular to multiple dimensions over time. And each added element triggers new thoughts, new discussions.

Last year after the sustainable packaging conference SustPack 2016, I compiled the popular tweets into four categories that demonstrated the four active areas of sustainable packaging discussed. As I began to do the same with this year’s SustPack 2017 tweets (Scottsdale, AZ: April 24-26), the complexity of the task became quickly apparent.

This inability to separate the conference’s tweets into categorical silos demonstrates how the dialogue of the sustainable packaging community continues to become further integrated...

Click here to keep reading.

Hey guys!

Sorry for the super late notice as I was just notified of this free webinar happening TOMORROW and hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center. The speakers are Brent Nelson, Senior Manager, WW Packaging, Sustainability, @Amazon; Elisabeth Comere, Director of Environment and Government Affairs, @Tetra Pak; and, Chris Davidson, Director, Corporate Sustainability @WestRock. Per the eblast from the Chamber, the webinar is 5/31 from 1-2:15 PM ET on "disruptive technology innovations changing the future of sustainable packaging." The bullet points read:

• Learn about emerging and future technologies and innovations across the life cycle related to sustainable packaging – including materials, products, and applications
• Understand the role of e-commerce versus brick and mortar retail and how the e-commerce model is disrupting sustainable packaging
• Explore case studies and examples of companies that are doing this well
• Discuss how to bring consumers along as new strategies and innovations are adopted as part of securing a resource abundant future

I saw Brent @Amazon present at SustPack17 (Phoenix, AZ: 24-26) and it was the highlight of the sustainable packaging conference. Packaging Digest did a pre-conference article on Brent, which you can access here. Unfortunately, we were unable to include his comments/ presentation slides in my SustPack17 Twitter complication (being published soon), as his presentation was proprietary. Thus, I would strongly encourage those in the packaging community to join this free webinar to learn about his perspective on the future of sustainable packaging at Amazon.

Click here to register for free.

Hey guys!

Dordan is located in Woodstock, IL, and is proud to donate to the Woodstock Mural Project, a community-wide project that will memorialize Woodstock's cultural icons. These include Chester Gould, creator of Dick Tracy; producer/actor/playwright Orson Welles; Bill Murray's Groundhog Day movie, for which Woodstock was the setting; and, the stars of the Opera House. This mural is being designed by Creative Designer Michael Stanard of OneZeroCharlie, and painted by hand on Woodstock's Main Street pedway. The project will include a sculpture garden featuring a lifelike statue of Orson Welles. It will be 118 feet long and 15 feet high!

Here are renderings of the mural's sections:

And here is what the mural is anticipated to look like IRL:

Dordan is committed to making Woodstock a desirable place for people, businesses, and manufacturers.

Dordan, thermoforming in Woodstock since 1992.

Hey guys,

Are you familiar with The New Plastics Economy? It's a global initiative led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (think tank) in collaboration with a laundry list of plastics stakeholders. Click here for the participants and partners. The Plastics Economy is a concept based on a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, with analytical support from McKinsey & Company. Titled The New Plastics Economy-- Rethinking the future of plastics, the report provides "the vision of a global economy in which plastic never becomes waste." Click here for the report overview and findings, and to download the report.

In short, the Report illuminates a disconnect between the value of the plastic packaging we produce and use and its associated value after use. Because there is little post-use value associated with plastic packaging, there is little economic impetus to collect, recycle, and reuse it. Thus plastic packaging remains outside the circular economy model, making its way into the natural environment and persisting in our waterways and oceans.

One of the calls to action of the Report is the need for design innovation surrounding plastic packaging; that is, the need to "fundamentally change the way we design and use plastics." To create impetus, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation just announced the New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize. The contest abstract reads:

If we want to free our ocean from plastics, we have to fundamentally rethink the way we make, use and re-use plastics so that they don’t become waste in the first place. To do this, we need better materials, clever product designs and new, circular business models. That’s why we are calling for innovators, designers, scientists and entrepreneurs to find solutions that keep plastics in the economy, and out of the ocean.

Check out the video that summarizes, with pretty pictures, the New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize:

Dordan Manufacturing is Re-Certified by PJR for ISO 9001:2008 for the Design, Manufacture, and Distribution of Custom Thermoformed Products and Packaging

Dordan Manufacturing is an engineering-based designer and manufacturer of custom thermoformed product and packaging solutions.

Woodstock, IL - May 2017 - Dordan Manufacturing is proud to be re-certified by PJR for ISO 9001:2008 for the design, manufacture, and distribution of custom thermoformed products and packaging. Dordan first achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification in 2013 in union with its 50th anniversary. Dordan's re-certification comes just months before the custom thermoformer's 55th anniversary.

Dordan's Quality Manager Daniel Haavig describes Dordan's Quality Management System as more of a corporate management system than a siloed endeavor: "Quality control is like the defense; sales, the offense. When you actually do catch a problem, it shows that the process is working." Haavig explains that ISO 9001:2008 is structured such that process improvement is the main objective. Thus Dordan's Quality Management System, now better understood as Dordan's Corporate Management System, relies on all department cooperation and understanding.

Along with Dordan General Manager John Kreider, Haavig delved deep into each department's responsibilities, challenges, and goals, refining and already sophisticated quality management system into one more integrated in its nature than its predecessor. As ISO aims for company improvement, so too does the quality management system inherently improve over time and execution. Dordan tracks its material lead times, engineering lead-time (time from a project commencement until finalization of production tooling), and on-time delivery. This data provides insights that can be communicated to sales, production, and management, so as to isolate how different projects, customers’ requirements, supply chain issues-- just business issues-- impact Dordan's ability to manufacture high-quality thermoform products that meet its customers' expectations.

Dordan CEO & President Daniel Slavin explains, "ISO basically took my job and made it into standard processes and systems that through monitoring and analysis, provide all the data necessary to make management decisions. So after 45 years at Dordan, I no longer need to be the grease that keeps the company gears moving smoothly; I just oversee the machine that is Dordan and should there be an issue, revise the quality management system accordingly."

Dordan Manufacturing looks forward to continuing to improve the quality and the value of the products and services it provides its customers with ISO 9001:2008 re-certification.

Above: Dordan Quality Manager, Daniel Haavig

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Dordan is an engineering-based designer and manufacturer of custom thermoformed packaging solutions like plastic clamshells, blisters, trays, and thermoformed components. Dordan is based in Woodstock, IL, and offers all design, tooling, and production in-house. Dordan specializes in producing high-quality thermoformed functional parts and packaging that fulfill the expectations of its customers.

Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc. is a full service registrar that carries multiple international accreditations. This means PJR has the authority to register organizations, recognizing them for their quality management system’s integrity.

Download our ISO 9001:2008 certification here.

Hey guys!

As the post title would imply, Dordan broke 1,500 followers on Twitter! Small beans for the likes of our cultural and political celebrities, but not for ME, who's been manning the account for over 5 years. Finally, my efforts for condensing the Big Ideas of sustainable packaging into 140 characters has paid off! Ohhhh the fame and fortune that now awaits me!!!!!

For real though, I am really appreciative of my followers and their interest in sustainable packaging, sustainability, family-owned manufacturers, and custom thermoforming. And I have yet to find anyone on Twitter using the hastag #thermoformingdreams, which I think is hilarious (probably because I came up with it).

Thanks, guys. I promise not to forget all you small birds when I start soaring with the big guys.

Hey, guys!

Dordan is in Woodstock, IL, home of Dick Tracy's Chester Gould, Orson Welles, and Bill Murray's Groundhog Day. I moved here after living in downtown Chicago for 12 years, and I love it. It is a great community with the nicest people doing all sorts of cool things. One such cool thing is happening this Saturday: The 2nd Annual Keep Woodstock Beautiful Community Clean Up Day.

Woodstockians will join together at Matrix 4, a local injection molder, to clean up the community in preparation of summer. After getting geared up, volunteers will disperse to their assigned locations to clean up the trash left behind. After collection, participants will return to Matrix 4 for some summer eats.

Keep Woodstock Beautiful is organized by the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce, the City of Woodstock, Promote Woodstock, The Environmental Defenders of McHenry County, and the Woodstock Jaycees. All members of the community are invited to attend.

See ya there, Woodstock!

Learn more about the community of Woodstock here.

2016 KWB

Hey guys!

I had the opportunity to interview Brent Ostrowski, Procurement Manager at BestBuy, last week at SustPack17 in Scottsdale, AZ, on behalf of Packaging Digest.

Titled "Collaboration empowers sustainable packaging progress," Brent summarizes in 2 minutes the value of attending sustainable packaging conferences for large brands/retailers like BestBuy. Check it out here!

If anything, I hope you at least enjoy my cheese-ball smile in the video still below!

Above: ME and Brent Ostrowski of BestBuy @SustPack17

Hey guys!

I had a blast at SustPack17 in Scottsdale, AZ, last week. Thank you to the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, Smithers Pira, and Packaging Digest for allowing me to report on this fantastic event. Look out for my video interview with Procurement Manager at Best Buy, my article on the most popular #SustPack17 tweets, and, an exclusive interview with the Packaging Sustainability Manager at Nike.

And note to self: Do NOT bring all black business suits when traveling on business to Arizona.

Stay tuned!

Above: Senior Editor of Packaging Digest and ME at SustPack17 close

Hey!

For PACK EXPO this year, Dordan had an exhibit were attendees were invited to vote on which easy-open clamshell was in fact, the easiest to open! Check out the Packaging Digest here and the dorky picture of me below as proof!

It took me a minute, but here is the easy-open clamshell "vote" in presentation form. It includes an overview of the 5 easy-open clamshell designs Dordan developed, with photos of each prototype concept. Click here to download. Enjoy!