Save the Date

Benefits Fair:

We will be hosting a Benefits Fair Thursday, March 31st in Ashland and Friday, April 8th in Spokane from 11am to 12:30pm for both locations.  You can meet with our Benefit providers and get a better understanding on the benefits offered.  Also meet some other local vendors and see what they have to offer. 

Health Challenge:  

This Slimdown Showdown weight loss challenge is nearing the closing date.  It started Monday, January 17th  and will go until Monday,  March 14th.  Just a little reminder- if you have recorded your weight in myhealthcheck360 every week, you will be in the running for one of the 3 prizes.  Winners are determined by total percentage of weight loss at the conclusion of the challenge.  There will be a first, second, and third place winner. Good luck!

First Place: Gym Membership Reimbursement for one year                                                                                          

Second Place: $200 Dick's Sporting Goods Gift Card  

Third Place:  $100 Nike Gift Card 

Mask Mandate Update

Pearson Packaging Systems has consistently followed the mandates issued by the State of Washington and Virginia.  Governor Inslee has announced the State wide mask mandate for indoor public areas may end on March 12^th if our cases continue to decline; therefore we are scheduling an end to the Mask Mandate at work on March 12^th in the Spokane facility.

On February 16, 2022, the Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board adopted a proposed finding that there is no longer a continued need for the Virginia Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus that Causes COVID-19, 16VAC25-220, based on emerging scientific and medical evidence that the current widespread variants of the virus no longer constitute a grave danger to employees in the workplace under Va. Code §40.1-22(6a), and as discussed in the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision in National Federation of Independent Businesses, et al., Applicants v. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

On February 16, 2022, the Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board adopted a proposed revocation of the Virginia Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus That Causes COVID-19, 16VAC25-220, and further directed that such proposal be the subject of a thirty day written comment period and public hearing prior to any final vote to revoke the standard.

The public may register its comments on the proposed revocation of the Virginia Standard as adopted by the Board by using the comment forum, link provided below. The forum will be open for thirty (30) days, from February 17, 2022 to March 19, 2022. The link to the public comment forum can be found here: https://townhall.virginia.gov/L/ViewNotice.cfm?gnid=2373 .This information was provided by Cristin Bernhardt, Regulatory Coordinator, Virginia Department of Labor and Industry. 

We are scheduling an end to the mask mandate in Ashland on March 19th based on this information. If you have any questions, please see the HR team for more information.                                                                     

Special Dates in March

1^st – Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday

4^th – National Employee Appreciation Day

12^th – Girl Scout Day

13^th – Begin Daylight Saving

14^th - Slimdown Showdown Challenge Ends

17^th - St Patrick’s Day

20^th – Spring begins

March is Red Cross Month – You can join the Red Cross mission by volunteering, giving blood, learning lifesaving skills or making a financial donation.

Employee Spotlight 

Employee: Christine Harlander 

Position: Accounts Payable Specialist 

Hi! My name is Christine Harlander. I have been working at Pearson since June of 2020. When I started at Pearson, everyone was all working remotely. But even with the virtual training and learning how things operate, everyone was so welcoming and very helpful. I was able to come into the office once a week during the pandemic, and every so often I got to meet an employee face to face (which was the BEST!). AZ even gave me the nickname of “Friday”, since she only saw me on that day every week.

A little about me. I was born and raised in Spokane and love living in the Pacific Northwest. I married my high school sweetheart; we have 2 teenage boys who are both Freshman at West Valley this year and are very active in sports and being boys. I usually am very busy running them around to practices, training, and games or tournaments. I also currently am volunteering on the board of directors for their Lacrosse club as well as on the Athletic Boosters for WV High School. In our free time (which is hard to come by these days) we love to camp and play board & card games. I absolutely love watching sports and my favorite NFL team is the Minnesota Vikings, SKOL VIKINGS! My Husband and I have even gotten to travel to Minnesota a few times to cheer them on and watch them play.

If I haven’t met you yet, please feel free to message me or stop by my desk anytime!

Thank you for sharing, Christine!

5 Reasons 2022 Can Be A Game Changer for American Manufacturing

Article courtesy of Forbes Magazine

After decades of roller-coaster dips and upturns, American manufacturing is at a pivotal point. Can 2022 be the year the industry reclaims global leadership status, despite all the curves the pandemic has thrown at us?

Yes. If manufacturers make bold investments in talent, technology, and innovation.

To paraphrase Albert Einstein, every crisis contains great opportunity. The global upheaval of the past two years has upended the board. But for manufacturers ready to make the right moves, grabbing those airborne pieces can lead to significant, long-term wins.

Here are the top five game-changing opportunities for American manufacturers.

1. Taking Back the Supply Chain

Is anyone not talking about the supply chain? A few years ago, you might only see those two words in trade publications. Now, you hear about “the supply chain” everywhere: the grocery store, kids’ birthday parties — you name it. The broken supply chain is the new Big Bad Wolf.

So where is the opportunity in all this supply chain pain? A strategic combination of technology and innovation can help manufacturers navigate massive disruptions — or even find new business.

Think about the incredible pivots thousands of manufacturers made during the pandemic’s early days to produce masks, ventilators, and PPE. In Ohio, hundreds of factories put existing technology to use making these newly in-demand products. As a result, we made things in Ohio that hadn’t been manufactured here in decades. ROE Dental Laboratory, for example, shifted its 3D printing capacity from making dentures to manufacturing face shields and nasal swabs.  

Innovative manufacturing leaders are finding multiple ways to solve supply-chain woes by putting technology to work in new and exciting ways.

2. Riding the Wave of Post-Pandemic Innovation

But to be successful, we need to overcome our industry’s innate conservatism and rethink our entire approach to risk. The real solution is not to avoid it, but to de-risk the process of innovation. And, as I’ve written about before, that starts with asking the right questions, four of them to be exact. One, are you solving a real problem? Two, does your product actually solve the problem? Three, are you the right person to deliver this solution? And four, can you sell it? These questions may seem rudimentary, but 42% of startups fail because they offer something the market doesn’t need in the first place.

In this moment of opportunity, the stakes are incredibly high for manufacturing to get innovation right. To state it bluntly, there is no American manufacturing revival without innovation. Our future depends on investing in big ideas that use smart manufacturing to solve real-world problems.

3. Investing in the Factory of the Future

Fortunately, the market is flush with cash and there’s plenty of money ready to be invested. That’s all positive on the innovation side. But it also means we’re seeing a lot of manufacturing companies being bought up as investments. This poses some risk — none of us wants to see companies stripped for parts. However, new ownership can also lead to fresh insights and much-needed modernization.

To catch up to China, we desperately need more hi-tech, smart factories. And that requires fast-tracking Industry 4.0, the so-called “4^th Industrial Revolution,” and deliver what Bernard Marr calls “the combination of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Systems.” In real words: we need to modernize production with all things digital, connected, and automated.

The good news is the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of these new manufacturing technologies. It’s a smart investment because Industry 4.0 can increase supply chain resilience, boost profitability, and provide a roadmap for reshoring production. With so much capital available, now is the time to build the factories of the future.

4. Automating to Offset Talent Shortages

For most manufacturers, automation is the first step. That’s what helped GOJO, MAKERS OF PURELL™, the family business in Northeast Ohio that invented hand sanitizer, triple its production almost overnight to meet pandemic demand. The company was ready because it had been investing in Industry 4.0 technology for years. “It allowed us to get more product out in the market quicker than we would have if we didn’t have those things in place,” said Stephanie Onderko, automation and systems director for supply chain at GOJO. “It helps with the flexibility and agile manufacturing that are so critical.”

Despite its sometimes-negative reputation, automation usually isn’t about replacing people. For example, GOJO hired 500 new employees in 2020. Automation most often takes over the repetitive tasks and frees people up to do more value-added, technology work – like programming and running the machines. That’s actually a big selling feature that can help attract desperately needed workers to manufacturing, along with reevaluating wages and mapping out attractive career paths. Such steps are a must in an industry that pre-pandemic already rated hiring challenges as a threat to growth and now competes for workers with the likes of Amazon, which boosted starting pay to $18 an hour, and Target, which offers free tuition for qualified staff.

As The Great Resignation continues, growing talent shortages will continue to threaten manufacturing’s recovery and increase wage pressures. Manufacturers can release some of the pressure with automation, but they must also make lasting changes in workplace culture, compensation, and training to make themselves more attractive places to work.

5. Capturing the Infrastructure Boost

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed into law in November is a bit of a wildcard for US manufacturing. On one hand, investments in transportation and public safety will be a boon to the manufacturers who make items to power a national overhaul. On the other, the threat of rising inflation and interest rates are tempering the excitement.

As I’ve written about before, the bill is likely to bring huge spikes in demand in sectors like steel and transportation suppliers; it will provide hundreds of millions of dollars for training; it comes with $17 billion to repair and reimagine port infrastructure and waterways to help fix the bottlenecked supply chain; and it will encourage domestic manufacturing and procurement. A trillion dollars in extra spending is always welcome, but government contracts aren’t easy to capture or navigate. And the specter of inflation is hanging heavy over everything in the year ahead.

Manufacturers who lived and worked through the inflation-rampant 1970s are likely feeling a sense of deja vu. One lesson we can take from that era: Evaluate margins to provide a buffer against the unknown. Another: Make sure you have the technology and talent in place to manage a production surge as projects get underway and demand ramps up. Otherwise, you will miss the infrastructure boost altogether.

Exiting the Rollercoaster

US manufacturers are in a prime position to come out of the upheaval of the pandemic stronger than ever. The past two years have spotlighted gaps that were once too easy to ignore and necessary changes that were too easy to delay. From producing life-saving equipment to mitigating supply-chain woes to shoring up our infrastructure and building stronger communities, American manufacturers can use this moment to reclaim global leadership. And that starts with making the right moves in innovation, technology, and talent. If we do this right, 2022 can be the year we finally get manufacturing off the roller coaster and launch into lasting growth.

Where in the World is Pearson?

Loretto, KY

Maker's Mark is a small-batch bourbon whiskey produced in Loretto, KY. You may recognize them for their whiskey that has hand dipped wax caps.  Recently in 2019, they decided it was time to upgrade their "Line A."   With this upgrade, Pearson Packaging Systems was involved in their final equipment installation - a model CS40-67G case sealer. How cool is that! 

If you want to check out the full article, use this link-  Maker’s Mark Ups Its Packaging Game | Packaging World (packworld.com)

                                                    Intuitive Human Machine Interface (HMI)

Pearson HMIs are designed for ease-of-use and offer continuity across equipment models so users can become proficient quickly and independently.

Birthdays

4^th – Charles Addair & Todd Answine
5^th – Isaac Walton & Zach Zmarlak
6^th – Jonathan Santoro
7^th – Ernest Hilderbrand
9^th – Susann Roeder & Brian Walter
10^th – Jay Lear
12^th – Brandon Raineri
14^th – Anthony Tuttle
16^th – Tripp Griffin                                                                  
20^th – Baran Thompson
23^rd – Shawn Cheney & Robert Mize                                                                      
24^th – Doug Boozer                                                                  
25^th – Jodi England                                                                   
26^th – Eric Simpson                                                                
29^th – Steve Finger                                                                     
30^th – Kurt Alsperger                                                             
 

Anniversaries

1 Year:  Jacob Farr & Skyler Forney
8 Years:  Kellee Prchal
13 Years:  Wayne Price
15 Years:  Alan Niezgocki
17 Years:  Tim Rineman
21 Years:  Brandon Ryan
29 Years:  Jack Mouris
34 Years:  Terry Gaston 

Retirements

                                                                    Dan Ramsdell

                                                                   February 8th, 2022

After 23 years, Dan is calling it quits.  Well.....not exactly.  You'll still be seeing him around.  He will just be working part time even though he is officially retiring.  Dan has been a great asset to the company with his character and demeanor, and he genuinely cares about his coworkers.  Dan has done it all from machine building, quality assurance check, customer FAT's, to traveling to the customer site for machine commissionings.  Please wish Dan a happy, healthy and prosperous retirement.                                                          

New Employees

Alexis White - Sales Support Representative

Tiffany Sarvay - Sales Development Representative

Kao Akana - Engineering Manager

Benjamin Reuland - Sales Development and Support Representative

Anthony Russell - Inventory Specialist

Jeff Ball - Parts Sales Representative

James Egly - Inventory Control Manager

                                                       Welcome, To You All!

          __________________________________________________________________

                                   Cash In A Flash Recipients

Lee Musgrave -  For going above and beyond on the Graham Packaging project, making a total of 6 trips. He stayed focused on solutions and refused to give up despite multiple discouraging setbacks.  Thank you Lee, for being a critical part of the successful resolution of this project.

Nick Trettel - For redesigning a critical mechanism on a machine for the Graham Packaging retrofit.  He went above and beyond by approaching the project with fresh design ideas.  On this project he exemplified Pearson’s value of “Integrity”: we do what we say we are going to do.  Thank you, Nick!

New Baby

          Ryleigh JoAnne Stragier born on Valentine's Day to Travis and his wife Kayleen.                          Welcome to the world baby girl!

Brain Game

The first five people to solve this riddle will receive a $5.00 Starbucks gift card! Email your response to: zhutson@pearsonpkg.com 

         He who makes it, has no need for it.  He who buys it, has no use for it.  He who uses it can neither                     see or feel it.   What is it?

February Blog Brain Game Answer: What can be swallowed, but can also swallow you?  Pride

Winners:  Wayne Price, LuWanna Morris, Burt Gasaway, Michael Norton and Michael Jaynes

Did You Know?

On March 20th the sun shines on the equator for the Vernal Equinox, giving us a near 50/50 split of day and night. 

Quote Of The Month

“A clover that sprouts four leaves, rather than three, is a mutation and is considered ‘lucky’ according to Irish mythology. Why? According to Celtic lore, each leaf of clover represents something special. One leaf represents faith, one hope, one love, and if a fourth leaf is present, that’s luck.”

― Leslie Le Mon

Learn A New Word

Jettison – To throw something overboard to lighten a ship or aircraft in distress.

                                                    Pepper Steak (The Pioneer Woman Recipe)

YIELDS:4 - 6 servings                       PREP TIME:0 hours 10 mins

COOK TIME:0 hours 20 mins            TOTAL TIME:0 hours 30 mins

 Ingredients

• 1/4 c. reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 c. reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 c. sherry cooking wine  
• 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
• 1 lb. top sirloin steak
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. Chinese 5-spice
• 2 bell peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Cooked white rice, to serve
• Sliced green onion and sesame seeds, for garnish
  
  

 Directions

1.  In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, broth, cooking wine, oyster sauce, and cornstarch until               smooth. Set aside.

2.  Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the steak evenly with pepper       and Chinese  5-spice. When the oil is shimmering, add the steak to skillet. Cook until browned on both             sides, about 2 minutes per side.   Remove the skillet from heat. Transfer the steak to a cutting board; let it         rest 5 minutes. Slice the steak against the grain into 1-inch pieces]

3. Heat the same skillet over medium heat; add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add the peppers to skillet;            cook, stirring often, until just tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute. Whisk the soy            sauce mixture once again and add it to the skillet along with the sliced steak; simmer the sauce until it              thickens, 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Serve the pepper steak over cooked rice and garnish with scallions and sesame seeds, if desired.