Author: david.mcelroy@barry-wehmiller.com

In September, the BW Papersystems Southern WI leadership team celebrated team members’ hard work and dedication over the past months by handing out gift boxes at BWP’s Sheboygan, Madison and New Berlin locations. The leadership teams filled the gift boxes with locally sourced items and were present to thank each individual when they picked up their boxes. “We have been overwhelmed with the positive responses from our associates who appreciated the recognition gift to share with their families, appreciated the leaders being on hand to thank them personally, and appreciated that we supported local small businesses,” said Molly Holzrichter, BWP’s Director, Culture & People Development – Wisconsin.

Crescent Design, headquartered in San Diego, CA (USA), designs and manufactures hydraulic burst leak test equipment, accessories and auxiliary equipment used in the manufacturing of medical devices. “Crescent Design’s Hydraulic Burst Leak Tester is the standard for testing in the catheter manufacturing industry,” said Machine Solutions President Brian Strini. “We are excited to add another best-in-class technology to our testing equipment catalog and look forward to the additional capabilities we can bring to our customers.” READ MORE

An article in Forbes this week featuring an interview with Bob Chapman highlights the value of our culture and the success of our business. “Machinery can increase productivity in measurable increments, and new processes can create significant efficiencies. However, only people can stun you with quantum leaps….” says Bob in the article. Please take a moment to share the article with your networks—business contacts, friends, family, on social media, etc. Let’s see how high we can push the views to share our important message with the world!

In Spring 2020, when pharmaceutical company Sanofi entered the race for a COVID-19 vaccine under Operation Warp Speed, Design Group was quickly tasked to help them develop and execute the equipment, cleaning, and process testing documents needed to manufacture Sanofi’s vaccine candidate. The team of DG professionals pulled together and continues to meet the aggressive deadlines and demands of the project, exceeding Sanofi’s expectations. Said Dawn Contreras, DG-NYC, who is leading the project team: “DG is in this life-saving vaccine journey with Sanofi for the long haul, and we look forward to the day when we can say no more family members have to pass away due to this dreadful and relentless virus… To know that we have played a part in that is fulfilling and humbling all in the same breath.”

In May, a new eCon sheeter was scheduled for installation at BWP customer Ibratec’s facility in Sau Paulo, Brazil. To ensure a successful project launch, BWP Project Manager Rafael Restrepo spent time at the BWP manufacturing facility observing completion and testing of the two-web folio sheeter. Rafael and the BWP team then shared critical information with BWP Service Engineer Carlos Silva who was onsite at Ibratec during the installation. Daily online meetings with the customer, project leadership and engineers were key to its successful launch. Ibratec is very satisfied with cut and stack quality, especially with their more difficult product of metalized paper.

Thanks to the Sheeter Value Stream team, including Casey Lense, Matthew Plath, Erik Paulson, Brent Henney and Gerald Bourgard for their remote engineering support, and to Edney Fernandes for his sale and teamwork with Rafael to build the customer relationship.

With travel restricted due to COVID-19, CEO Bob Chapman began holding Virtual Listening Sessions with team members across the globe to stay connected and hear how things are going during these challenging times. Thus far, Bob has held sessions with BW Papersystems, CPD Directors, BW Integrated Systems field service technicians, BW Papersystems’ team in Asia, and PCMC team members. Future sessions are being scheduled. Said BW Senior Learning Facilitator David VanderMolen, who is moderating thesessions, “…one of the cool things we are experiencing right now across the enterprise in response to the COVID-19 issue is people engaging in ‘intentional interaction’ which is having a really positive effect on teams, performance and relationships. Intentional interaction makes for strong interconnectivity and that fuels all kinds of good stuff…” After the recent PCMC session, one participant shared, “I’ll be honest, I was nervous, being a newer team member, but what a powerful session…Thank you for letting me be a part of it!” Another said, “It was good to see that we are all pulling in the same direction and caring for others.”

In June, Baldwin Technology expanded its reach in global ultraviolet lamp markets by acquiring certain assets of Western Quartz. Baldwin CEO Joe Kline said, “We are excited to welcome Western Quartz, along with its customers, to our global UV technology arm and our broad portfolio of products that improve processes for printing, packaging and industrial markets.” READ MORE.