High schools and colleges throughout the country pay tribute to Rube Goldberg’s legacy every year though The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. According to the contest website “The Rube Goldberg Machine Contests bring Goldberg's cartoons to life as a way of helping students transcend traditional ways of looking at problems, taking them into the intuitive chaotic realm of imagination. The resulting inventions are collections of bits and pieces, parts of now useless machines, cobbled together to achieve an innovative imaginative, yet somehow logical contraption to meet the annual contest challenge.”
There is no better time than the Fourth of July to begin a "Buy American-made" tradition. It's starts by checking the labels. Nutrition labels on food tell you what contents are in a product. Country of origin labeling tells you where the contents came from and where they were assembled. With a few exceptions, the government does not require this labeling; however companies are typically proud to display their "Made in the USA" origin. More than ever, American consumers want to purchase products made here and support jobs throughout our country.
Sustainability in Manufacturing
Each year, we stop to remember the humble beginnings of Earth Day and how the movement has grown over the past forty-four years since its inception. Back in the early days, the Vietnam War nearly consumed the American conscious. Not much room remained for environmental causes.
Below are a few common questions and answers in regards to plastic injection molding. You can view all of them at our FAQ section.
Excerpts from a report by an advisory council of Team Pennsylvania Foundation
Following the challenges brought by the Great Recession, the manufacturing sector in Pennsylvania is undergoing a renaissance. With gross state product (GSP) now reaching $71 billion, manufacturers in Pennsylvania account for over 12% of the total output in the commonwealth1. Pennsylvania remains the 6th largest manufacturing state in the United States (utilizing GSP as a benchmark). Pennsylvania outranks other historically industrial states including Michigan, Indiana, New York and New Jersey2. Pennsylvania is now producing more products than at any time in its history. For each of the last two years manufacturing employment has increased significantly and in 2011 alone 12,100 new jobs were created3. While employment continues to grow, the sector continues to experience measurable leaps in productivity driven by technology adoption and process innovation. Manufacturing productivity outpaces all other sectors with a staggering 259% increase over the last 40 years4.
With nearly 15,000 manufacturing establishments across the commonwealth, the outlook is bright for continued growth. Pennsylvania firms are building upon a proud heritage in manufacturing and have demonstrated new and creative approaches of integrating innovation into both products and processes. Recognizing the dynamics of the global marketplace, Pennsylvania hosts scores of multinational facilities exporting at record levels around the world accounting for more than 90% of all Pennsylvania exports.
American Manufacturing and Products
When I first arrived at K’NEX in 2006 I was asked to outline a vision for growth. As president and CEO, I had to find a way to blend the culture of the toy business with our manufacturing business, The Rodon Group.
The two companies never really had a joint vision before so, in order to encourage growth in both organizations, I realized I would have to create a strategic plan that would move both companies forward yet maintain their separate agendas.
As I sought input from our nearly 200 employees and received advice from outside agencies, I realized that the key to a successful plan was to carefully craft objectives and then monitor progress towards them to ensure that our actions were effective.
Plastic Injection Molds and Presses
Get an insider's peek at the Rodon Group facility with the inventor of K'NEX, Mr. Joel Glickman.
Take a tour of our plastic injection molding factory with the inventor of K'NEX toys, Mr. Joel Glickman through our YouTube channel.
In this video, you'll learn how we're able to make millions of parts per year using our state of the art technology operated by our experienced plastic injection molding professionals.
