MonoSol Blog

Merrillville, IN – July 7, 2011 – MonoSol, LLC proudly announces that the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) certifies that MonoSol MonoDose™ films are halal and thereby suited for use by Muslims. Under Islamic dietary guidelines, halal products are deemed ‘permissible’ for consumption and contact by practicing Muslims.

“We’re pleased to achieve this distinction,” said MonoSol CEO P. Scott Bening. “IFANCA’s certification acknowledges our products as conforming to the halal dietary and contact standards of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims.”

Although halal is a universal concept applied to all facets of Islamic life, halal certification is compliance of consumables meant for Muslim use. Halal certification is granted only when a product demonstrates alignment with Islamic dietary guidelines. Restrictions include prohibition against contact with pork (and their by-products), alcohol, intoxicants, as well as carnivorous and improperly slaughtered animals. Additionally, halal products must not be processed in a manner that allows contamination with any prohibited items. Continue reading →

MonoSol LLC, the world leader in water-soluble delivery systems, is proud to name Hanna Necel as Sales & Technical Support Agent for the territory of Poland, Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia and Ukraine.

“We are very pleased that Hanna will represent us in Eastern Europe,” said Woody Eaker, Director of Global Sales for MonoSol. “She displays a great depth of knowledge about the water-soluble film industry and will put that understanding to good use for our clients and partners.” Continue reading →

MonoSol, LLC proudly announces that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes MonoSol as a partner in their Design for the Environment (DfE) Safer Product Labeling program.

Four MonoDose™ films are currently recognized through the DfE program. These films are formulated with environmentally preferable chemistry to have a more positive health and environmental profile in line with the basic goal of the DfE initiative: to seek and promote innovative chemical products, technologies, and practices that benefit human health and the environment.

Each of the MonoDose films carrying the EPA’s DfE logo is a polyvinyl alcohol-based thermoplastic film that is soluble in cold water. They are excellent for detergent and disinfectant packaging as well as for many specialty chemicals such as agrochemicals, pigments, dyes, and additives. The list of MonoDose DfE-approved films includes: Continue reading →

Article Credits: Post-Tribune, By Colleen Sikorski May 27, 2011

Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman toured MonoSol’s Portage plant Thursday afternoon to congratulate the company for hiring employees and increasing operations during the recession.

“Oh, I’m a customer,” Skillman said as she pointed at the Cascade dishwasher detergent bags in MonoSol’s product display.

MonoSol, which opened in 1954, is known for making water-soluble plastic film that Cascade, Tide and Oxiclean use to package dishwasher and laundry detergents.

One of the company’s newer products, TerraLoc™, is a biodegradable spray that keeps dust clouds from billowing up and has been used at military training facilities and in Afghanistan.
Continue reading →

Full Article on P.Scott Bening, MonoSol LLC available at NWI.com – P. Scott Bening has led MonoSol LLC, Merrillville, to become the world’s leader in water soluble film advanced manufacturing. This CEO is the co-inventor of at six least patents … Continue reading →

Moving beyond the TV show, the growth of polymer chemistry in the 20th century spawned the invention of a variety of plastic materials, including polyvinyl alcohol, one of the most important synthetic water-soluble resins used in a variety of applications from textile sizing to MonoDoseTM water-soluble packaging films – more connections.
At MonoSol, we count on “connections” every day to provide the seeds of ongoing innovation in all facets of our organization. Our technical teams are working diligently to develop new film products with new and improved properties, while our marketing teams are gleaning opportunities in the unmet needs of our current and future customers. To better innovate, collaboration with customers and material suppliers fosters the development of the right product for the right application.
Through our MonoVationTM Awards Program, MonoSol formally recognizes the important innovations of our team members. Significant and valuable contributions emerge not only from the Manufacturing and Technical teams, but from the Marketing, Financial, Logistics and Sales teams as well.
While we certainly stand on the shoulders of those that have gone before us, we will most assuredly create new Connections that will shape the generations to come. Continue reading →

In our society, making money is an essential driver for any individual or for-profit organization. Without this, our global economy wouldn’t exist. Sometimes it seems that our day-to-day tasks, which surmount to making company and ourselves profitable, consume our activities and thought processes. While these are important for our prosperity, it is most important to remember our philanthropic responsibilities, as we start the new year.

Companies have a responsibility to give back to the community and helping it thrive. MonoSol does nothing short of that.

While we associate ourselves with the generosity of the company we work for, it’s also our individual responsibility to donate our resources to charitable causes. Below are a few interesting and respectable causes to get involved in:

* Chicago Marathon – Marathon platform to raise money for your specific charity
* Food Pantries – Volunteer with a local food organization
* Holiday Giggle – Comedy show in which raises money for a local boys and girls club
* Movember – Mustache growing event during November to raise money for prostate cancer
* Opportunity Enterprises – NPO supporting uniquely challenged individuals

Money and talent are like manure. If you keep them in a pile for too long it starts to stink, but when you spread it around it helps things grow. Help things grow in 2011. Continue reading →

‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through MonoSol
Not a creature was stirring, a nice respite for all.
The Lines were all running, making film for the trade
With the hopes that the sales would keep coming in spades.

The casters on deck watched solution being spread
While visions of perfect rolls, danced in their head.
With the REACH deadline met and budgets turned in
The business was ready for what 2011 might bring. Continue reading →

The light speed pace of the progress in communication technology requires a very strong focus if we do not want to miss the boat and be labeled as “stone age”. I still remember the first cell phone I had. It was a Motorola MicroTAC with a retractable antenna and batteries that looked (and weighed) the same as bricks. I had to have several batteries with me just to make sure I could get through the day w/o being “out-of-service”. The red crystal display looked like fluorescent advertising signs. The ring could not be customized and therefore you never knew whose phone was ringing when several people were together in the same room. That model was one of the few available on the market.

That was in 1992, almost 20 years ago. During that summer, I came to the US on a business trip (I was living in Europe at the time). I rented a cell phone at the Hertz counter. I remember the cost of the phone was higher than the cost of the car. I had to purchase a special insurance policy in case I lost the phone, which I did. I left it on the roof of the car while I was taking my jacket off. Thank God for that $20 insurance…. Who knows how much Hertz would have billed me for that light gray Motorola MicroTAC?

Fast forward to 2010. Cell phones are almost as abundant as detergent containers. iPads, iPhones, WiFi and BlackBerrys have transformed our lives by changing the way we communicate. Texting is replacing dialogue. Emailing is replacing meetings. Twitter is replacing chatting. I remember back in the early days of e-mail when an answer was requested within 24 hours. Today, if you do not respond to an email within 10mins, it feels like you missed the boat. Nowadays, after 24 hours, an e-mail seems so obsolete that you want to toss it in your “old e-mail” folder.

In my daily job at MonoSol, I find myself wondering if the “decision making” quality is still the same as it was years ago, before the world got crazy with all these communication devices. When I stop to ponder the multiple problems that a typical corporation is faced with, I wonder if we should start to have “technology free” zones – places to immerge and think without the aid of WI/FI, iPads, cell phones, e-mail, etc. Continue reading →

What made you pick up the cup of coffee from Starbucks this morning? Why did you choose that ENERGY STAR laundry machine model? It probably has something to do with the caffeine kick or that saving energy saves you money, but whether we realize it or not, the opinion of our peer group also influences how we buy.

We are all “individuals,” but our family, friends, and peers influence us and, in turn, we influence them. If you value a friend’s opinion on anything from style to knowledge about a product, you store that for future buying decisions.

Social media platforms such as Facebook are honing in on this and these platforms are enablers for users to speak their mind about products and services. This means that word of mouth isn’t only one speaker to one listener anymore; it’s more like one speaker to thousands of listeners.

Let me offer an example. A few months back my friend Marco posted on Facebook that he likes www.uncrate.com, a website for “guys that love stuff.” Marco has his ear to the ground when it comes to new technology and always knows about the latest gadgets, so I decided to give the site a try. After checking the site out, I too, made a few purchases through www.uncrate.com and now visit the site most days of the week. I’ve also shared this link with my friends and Uncrate has turned into a source of knowledge for new, innovative, and-many times-useless products.

I would not have discovered Uncrate if my friend had posted something bad and, as a result, the viewing chain reaction we started with our friends wouldn’t have happened. Individual views are a drop in the bucket for these sites, but the ability for a single user to influence their friends to view a site or try a product is essential to their success.

What does this mean for our businesses? All interactions with customers throughout the supply chain are now more transparent and more important than ever. This translates into everything from the quality of our products to the tone of our voice when we answer the phone. Perception is reality. If your customers perceive you as great, you are great; and they’ll share their positive experience by the thousands.

How has social media increased your customer base or turned potential customers away from your door? Continue reading →