The fun part of work

I've been working, as an engineer, with plastics for over 30 years. When you work a job associated with manufacturing, the hours are usually long and you don't always get every weekend off. But the rewarding part of the job is seeing products, that you helped develop or produce, out in the marketplace or used in various industries. Over the years, I've worked with a variety of plastics (polymers, to the technical types) in a variety of shapes and enduses.

Our largest customer is Carestream Health (formerly Kodak Health Imaging), and we produce the base film for their x-rays. The next time you break an ankle, we probably made the x-ray.

My last company made plastic mesh products. I worked on the team that developed the orange safety fence that you see everywhere.

The next time you are in a coal mine, look up at the ceiling. The plastic mesh supporting the rock above you was patented by yours truly. (the longest day of my life was spent a half mile under Bessemer, Alabama, in a coal mine!).

Our team just won an award for the new packaging for the Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookie line. You grab the tab on the top, pull the package open, grab 5 or 6 cookies, and then quickly reseal the package. Amazing!

A few large companies are trying to go 'green' with their packaging products. We are working with a large snack company to convert their snack bags over to a corn-based film to replace the multi-layer packaging currently used. This will reduce the decomposition period of the packaging in a landfill from 40 years to 6 months. Go Frito Lay!

Yes, people still use microfilm (believe it or not)! Thanks to the U.S. government and the Mormon Church for keeping this product line alive.

Your new LCD tv probably has 7 layers of our film inside.

Your bottle of Bud Light or juice drink has our shrink wrap label around it.

A thousand and one uses for plastic!

But the thrill of the above is quickly evaporated when you have to visit customers who aren't fully satisfied with your product. This may be why I don't like to fly anymore, or to make 5-hour drives, after dark, through the storms, like my trip back from Charlotte tonight! Oh well, it's not fun all the time.