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Dordan Manufacturing has been nominated for the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation's (MCEDC) Business Champion Awards!

The MCEDC is a private/public partnership that works to support and develop the economic vitality of McHenry County, which includes 10 cities located in the greater Northern Illinois region.

Dordan was nominated for the award by anonymous members of the local business community and has since been reviewed by an independent board of business and educational professionals. The Business Champion Award recipient will be announced at MCEDC's Annual Gala on November 1st.

When asked what makes Dordan different during the nominee screening process, President & CEO Daniel Slavin comments:

"We are a third generation family owned and privately held company. Since 1962, Dordan has made continuous investments to allow for sustainable, long-term growth. This is contrary to the plastics industry, which has witnessed market consolidation fueled by private equity, favoring short-term results over long-term growth. As a privately held company, Dordan maintains the corporate culture, values, and priorities of its founding; and, is able to focus 100% on its core capabilities of package design and custom thermoforming. This is in opposition to those entities resulting from M&As that re-prioritize and modify products and services to gain more market share, compromising quality and reputation."

On October 19th, Dordan celebrated its 60th anniversary, making 2022 a special year for the custom thermoforming company. To meet the growing demands of its customer base, Dordan hired another packaging engineer and quality control technician to support the company's engineering and quality control departments.

Looking ahead to 2023, Daniel explains that the company has committed to achieving ISO 13485 certification for medical product and component manufacturing. As an existing supplier of medical tray packaging with an ISO class 8 cleanroom, Dordan’s dedication to implementing this new quality management system reflects its adherence to long term and sustainable growth. The certification will allow for increased market penetration, further positioning the thermoformer as a premier medical packaging manufacturer. 

Dordan is grateful for the opportunity to be considered as this year's Business Champion and eagerly awaits the award ceremony. Pictures to follow!

Siblings and company principals, Chandler and Aric, in front of Dordan Manufacturing

Dordan Manufacturing, a custom thermoformer of packaging, gears up this week as its 60th anniversary fast approaches. Daily games reward winners with tokens of the company's affection, like gift cards and baskets. The anniversary on October 19th and the following celebrations are timely, as all need a period of levity after this years' manufacturing challenges.

Below are some photos from the daily festivities. There are many smiling faces, so enjoy!

Quality Manager holds spinner for Tooling Technician to determine his good fortune.

Dordan GM prepares to draw the winning raffle ticket

On Tuesday, August 30th, Dordan joined four other women-owned or operated manufacturing companies at a round table discussion with Congress Representative, Lauren Underwood, and USTR Ambassador, Katherine Tai.

Woodstock's Chamber of Commerce's celebrated its city's retailers, manufacturers, leaders, volunteers, non-profits and more at its Annual Awards Gala at the Woodstock Opera House last week.

Dordan was nominated for manufacturer of the year by the community for manufacturing plastic face shields for healthcare workers, reported here by the Woodstock Independent. While Dordan did not win 😔, our most sincere congratulations to winner, Rush Creek Distilling, for retrofitting their operations to provide hand sanitizer to combat the spread of COVID. Fellow Nominees included:

COVID halted business travel, including trade shows and conventions. Dordan has not exhibited since 2019, but looks forward to showing off its new medical packaging at MD&M West (Anaheim, CA, August 10-12, 2021).

In the meantime, visit Dordan's digital booth, in this product photo gallery.

Step inside third-generation and family-owned custom thermoforming company, Dordan Manufacturing, in this photo slideshow.

Watch this video for an introductory discussion of sterile medical packaging types, supply chain scenarios, quality considerations, and pricing structures. Video script pasted below.

The face shield that Dordan fashioned for Woodstock Willie in preparation of Groundhogs Day was featured in Plastics News, alongside other plastics manufacturers that are helping their communities during the pandemic. While Dordan's efforts pale in comparison to the others profiled in the article, we're glad that we were able to offer some humor to our community, along with the readers of Plastics News.

Here's some pop culture trivia for you:

Dordan's Woodstock, IL, is the 'Punxsutawney' of Bill Murray's 1993 classic, Groundhog Day. Every year, Woodstock celebrates this legacy by reliving the movie's events, which commence with the Groundhog's prognostication and continues through the day. Read more about Woodstock's social-distancing Groundhog Day in this Woodstock Independent article.

Bill Murray's 1993 Groundhog Day was filmed in Woodstock, IL, which is where Dordan Manufacturing is located. Woodstock has long prided itself on being the setting of Punxsutawney, commemorating its role in the movie with week-long Groundhog Day celebrations. This year was particularly exciting, because Bill Murray HIMSELF was in Woodstock filming a Jeep commercial that aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday. You can learn more about his visit to Woodstock here.