Category: Dean Trombetta

Is There a Replacement for Polycarbonate for Food Contact?

img_1360

I was walking through a local store the other day when I came across a new line of Rubbermaid food storage containers that intrigued me. What caught my eye was the fact that these containers are crystal clear. They can’t be made of polycarbonate, which is a big no-no for food storage containers because of BPA. The recycling code on the container is #7 which is “other”. Polycarbonate would fall under the 7 recycling code also but so would many other materials. What is this material?

I had to buy one to find out.

Continue reading “Is There a Replacement for Polycarbonate for Food Contact?”

Of Cheap Oil and Fracking

oilrig

A new geological survey performed in Texas has revealed the largest oil discovery in US history. An area that encompasses Lubbock and Midland Texas is now estimated to have 20 billion barrels of oil and 1.6 billion barrels of natural gas according to CNN. This discovery of shale oil is 3 times larger than the discovery in North Dakota that lead to the oil boom there that started in 2006 and ended in 2015.

You might think that this discovery is really good news for the United States. But there is one problem.

Continue reading “Of Cheap Oil and Fracking”

Vegan Automotive Interiors?

vintage-photo_papier-mache-cow-australia-1944

Recently, the former front-man of the band The Smiths and well known vegan activist, Morrissey, sent a letter to GM CEO, Mary Barra, suggesting that General Motors offer a vegan interior option in their two electric vehicles, the Chevrolet Volt and Bolt.

This got me to thinking. Are automakers missing out on a market by not offering specific animal product-free vehicle option packages? The only auto company that currently offers a package like this is Tesla. The now defunct soon to be reborn Fiskar used to offer a vegan interior with their “Ecochic” option package in their car which was called the Karma.

Continue reading “Vegan Automotive Interiors?”

Helping Your Customer Pick A Color

monsanto-ad

Editors note: This article is not sponsored by Pantone LLC®.

What do you do when you have customers that are trying to pick colors for a new product? You can send them to the website of a color concentrate manufacturer to look at the stock colors that they make but that won’t provide many options.

I would suggest that you have them look at Pantone® colors. If you are not familiar with Pantone colors, let me explain.

Continue reading “Helping Your Customer Pick A Color”

All About ABS

charles-atlas
Not those kind of abs

While everyone reading this has at least some familiarity with ABS, I wanted to take a more in depth look at ABS and how it’s made. As it turns out, there are several methods for making this commonly used material and knowing how it’s made might help you recommend the right material to your customer.

Continue reading “All About ABS”

About Those Safety Data Sheets

vintage-motivational-posters-12175

In 2012, OSHA revised what they call the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS). The HCS establishes a standard for creating Safety Data Sheets (SDS) which were previously called Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).

The goal, according to OSHA was to establish “a consistent user-friendly 16 section format” for Safety Data Sheets. This is a worthy goal as the purpose of safety data sheets is to provide valuable safety information in case there is some type of emergency such as a fire or chemical exposure.

Have you ever really looked at the MSDS or SDS that you receive? They are anything but user friendly. I looked at one for a polycarbonate that said if you have skin contact with polycarbonate the affected area should be washed with soap and water for 15 to 20 minutes minimum. I’m not sure what negative health effects that you could have from touching polycarbonate but washing with soap and water for 20 minutes will certainly cause some adverse health effects. And, what exactly does sweet aromatic smell like any way? If there is a fire at my facility, do I call 911 and tell them to have the fire department bring carbon dioxide or water fog? What the hell is a sold extinguishing agent?

How about some information that ordinary people can use in an emergency and real advice for people to use to prepare their facilities for emergencies?

Continue reading “About Those Safety Data Sheets”

How Hot Should The Nozzle Be?

processing-temps

Many material manufacturers and suppliers provide processing guides for the materials that they sell. Often, these data sheets are so general as to almost be useless. However, I see a mistake on a great number of processing guides and I think should be corrected. It relates to the nozzle temperature.

Continue reading “How Hot Should The Nozzle Be?”

Let’s Talk About Significant Figures

huge-blackboard_o_91630

In this post, I want to talk about the proper way to express test results on certificates of analysis. To explain this, I am going to talk about the concept of significant figures (or significant digits). What are significant figures?

According to Wikipedia:

“The significant figures of a number are digits that carry meaning contributing to its measurement resolution.”

Confused? Let me explain.

Continue reading “Let’s Talk About Significant Figures”

ISO 9000 Has Gone Off The Rails

train-wreck

When I first started hearing about the ISO 9000 quality system in the 1990’s there was a lot of resistance to it. A lot companies were unhappy about being pressured or required to adopt the ISO 9000 system by their customers. It was not looked at as being a benefit to their businesses; it was looked at as a giant hoop that you had to jump through in order to be able to get business opportunities from some larger companies. I never agreed with this viewpoint. I saw the benefits of at least some parts of the ISO 9000 standard pretty early on.

Since the 1990’s, the ISO 9000 standard has gone mainstream. Numerous industries have adopted it. No one more vigorously than the auto industry which has their own version which they call TS 16949 (basically ISO 9000 plus some specific auto industry requirements).

However, since then, some cracks have developed that are causing the ISO 9000 system to not only become just a hoop that companies have to jump through, but a series of flaming hoops. Some changes need to be made in order for this system to achieve its goals and actually work for the companies trying to adopt it.

Continue reading “ISO 9000 Has Gone Off The Rails”