On Tuesday, September 1st, 2009, the Institute of Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, announced that the manufacturing sector of our economy grew in August. The index rose from 48.9 in July to 52.9 in August. A better than expected increase since economists predicted it would only rise to 50.5. In the same report, ISM states that new customer orders jumped 10% in August reaching their highest level since December 2004. Norbert Ore, chair of ISM said production should grow at “reasonable rates” for the rest of this year. Here is a link to the actual report: http://www.ism.ws/ISMReport/MfgROB.cfm
We did see evidence that this report is accruate, right here at our plastic fabrication facility. Orders picked up in August, and are still coming in during these first few days in September. We are seeing not only increased orders from our key customers, but new customers are also requesting quotes and placing orders. Business slowed down this summer, which is not unusual in this industry. However during the Summer months of 2009, it was just more disturbing to us, due to the state of our economy.
We are glad to see the manufacturing sector of our industry show an increase over last month. The manufacturing sector of the US Economy may be small, but it is strong and provides well paying jobs for our skilled worforce. We hope this upward trend will continue. Here at Connecticut Plastics, Inc, we manufacturer precision machined plastic components for our OEM customers across all major industries. Please visit our website for more information about plastic machining.
Connecticut Plastics, Inc is proud to announce the re-certification of our Quality Management System under ISO 9001:2008 Standards. Our facility was audited in May by Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. Our re-certification expiration date is June 2, 2012. Connecticut Plastics, Inc is a premier supplier of high precision CNC machined plastic parts, components and fluidic manifolds, that we machine to our customers exact specifications. We serve the following industries: Medical Device Manufacturers, Semi-Conductor Industry, Nuclear Industry, Electronic Industry, Instrumentation, Aeronautics and Robotics.
ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and is administered by accreditation and certification bodies. The rules are updated periodically, as the requirements motivate changes over time.
Some of the requirements in ISO 9001:2008
- a set of procedures that cover all key processes in the business
- monitoring processes to ensure they are effective
- adequate record keeping
- checking output for defects, and applying appropriate and corrective action where necessary
- regularly reviewing individual processes and the quality system itself for effectiveness
- facilitating continual improvement
Customers can contact us for a copy of our new certificate.
Connecticut Plastics, Inc provides plastic machined products to the medical device industry. With a large portion of the company’s manufacturing in this sector, health care legislative reform is of interest to us.
In July 2009, European Plastics News reported that some medical device manufacturers are expecting growth of about 6% this year. Along the same line, Scott Burns, editor of Morningstar ETF Investor, stated in August 2009 that investors would be smart to have stocks from medical device OEMs in their portfolios. His rationale is based on the fact that medical device manufacturers generally are dealing directly with individual hospitals and not the larger health care system. This according to Burns, “gives the manufacturers a bargaining advantage because there are only a limited number of device makers.”
Connecticut Plastics, Inc. believes that medical device manufacturers will not be adversely affected by changes in health care legislation, no matter what form it takes. While Connecticut Plastics, Inc. still feels it is important to diversify our manufacturing capabilities, it is promising that health care reform will have minimal impact on medical device OEMs. Tom Rohlfs, VP of Connecticut Plastics, states, “We hope that health reform legislation strengthens our nation and our company. It fits in with our future plans of growth.”
For more information on precision plastic machined components, please visit our website at www.connecticutplastics.com
