Durex Industries

Celebrate National Manufacturing Day #MFG24 #innovative #inspire #manufacturing

Improving Biodiversity by Removing Invasive Plant Species at Local Park On Thursday, September 12th, twenty-four (24) employees from the Durex Industries’ campus volunteered to remove invasive plant species in cooperation with the Cary Parks Department, located in Cary, Illinois. Under the direction of Cary Park Staff, the Durex volunteers were led to various locations within Hoffman Park to perform brush cutting and removals to improve site biodiversity. District staff members teamed up with each Durex group to help with questions and volunteer assistance. The area where the group worked is a prairie that was considered in critical condition due to the invasive species. Through the removal efforts, the prairie will now have the opportunity for the local biodiversity to flourish. The main goals of these efforts were to: ·        Free the prairie areas of exotic brush and trees that are choking out the prairie and reducing biodiversity and sustainability of this prairie space. ·        Free up existing remnant prairie from exotic brush and trees and increase biodiversity and sustainability in the area. Hoffman Park is 265 acres which is mostly farmland, but also features a prairie pothole wetland and forty acres of woodland, savanna, and remnant prairie. In 2010 the Park District added other amenities, which included an off-leash dog play area, accessible fishing pier, nature observation shelter, accessible community garden plots, demonstration worm-farm, picnic shelter, restrooms, 4,000 linear feet of trail, and wind and solar alternative energy sources. In 2018 the Park District also added a Disc Golf Course. Appreciation goes to all our volunteers who participated in this biodiversity event, and to the leadership of Mathias and Rocio for coordinating these efforts with the Cary Parks Department. #biodiversity #nature #community #teamwork

International Day of Charity The International Day of Charity is celebrated every year on September 5th. This day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 to raise awareness and create a common thread for charity events around the world. To honor this day in September, Durex Industries participated in a tree planting event onsite to do our part in improving environmental sustainability. A total of sixty-five volunteers from our campus joined together and planted six trees in various locations across our campus landscape. This collective effort is our contribution to habitat restoration and enhance biodiversity. We are excited to watch these trees grow and flourish in the coming years. The trees will not be the only things growing around here, Durex employees are growing as well. As we continue to volunteer as a group, we grow as people. We learn more about each other, the environment, and other human beings. Expanding our minds to diversity and reflecting on how we can help others in need. Watch us grow! Together we can make a difference.   #biodiversity #teamwork #wecare #volunteer

Turning Aluminum Pop Tabs into $$$$ To Help Families in Need We weren’t just collecting scrap metal for the fun of it, we were on a mission, collecting for the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). In August, Durex Industries’ employees enjoyed having a little friendly competition to see which building on our multi-facility campus could collect the most aluminum pop tabs. Our company goal was to collect 1000 tabs, which we thought was a hefty goal. However, under the leadership of Rocio, Liz, Monica, Michelle & Mathias, who encouraged all employees to participate, we ended up collecting over 80,000 pop tabs! Amazing! These pop tabs were given to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois (RMHC). Every year RMHC collects about 40 million tabs from volunteers and companies from surrounding communities and receives market value for the metal & also receives a charitable match. This turns into big cash, approximately $10,000 for their charity. RMHC’s purpose is to provide families a safe and supportive place to stay while their child is receiving medical care for a serious illness or injury. RMHC has been helping families in need for many years, the first Ronald McDonald House opened in Philadelphia in 1974. Today there are more than 300 houses in 30 countries around the world, which is truly inspiring. #donate #makeadifference #support #teamwork

Happy Labor Day!

Providing Fundamental Supplies to Young Students in Our Community Do you remember what it was like as a kid, getting all new supplies for the first day of school? The excitement of having a brand-new box of unbroken crayons, pencils to sharpen and getting your backpack filled up and ready for the first day of school? Unfortunately, there is a high percentage of school-aged children not only in our local communities, but in the entire country, who do not get to experience that same excitement. Sadly, families from homes below the poverty level have difficulties buying their children the necessities to go back to school, even basic items such as paper and pencils. In partnership with the United Way of Greater McHenry County, Durex Industries is proud to have recently participated in a school supply drive to help the less fortunate children in our surrounding communities get a jump start on the new school year ahead. Under the leadership of Deborah Gonzalez, Durex employees rallied together to provide the United Way with a collection of school supplies, such as backpacks, folders, crayons, pens, pencils, markers, paper, notebooks and $150 in monetary donations. These resources will be shared with CAA Head Start, which enables children at or below the poverty level to attend pre-school, and The Salvation Army which helps families in need in a number of ways, including goods like winter coats and school supplies. These items will help make a difference in the lives of families in our local communities, as well as enhance a child’s opportunity for a better education. The United Way of Greater McHenry County, a non-profit organization, dedicates their time and resources to help improve the health and well-being of all people in need of support. #communitysupport #education #backtoschool #contribute

Providing a Helping Hand to Our Furry Friends During the month of July, Durex Industries participated in a company-wide pet drive in efforts to help our furry friends at two local non-profit no-kill animal rescue shelters. Durex Industries collected over three hundred items, such as both wet and dry foods, waste bags, litter, cleaning supplies, collars, bowls, grooming products, cages/crates, and other pet related supplies. In addition, collected over $300 in cash donations! Donations will be given to both Animal House Shelter, Inc in Huntley and Furever Loved Rescue located in Crystal Lake, IL. Animal House Shelter rescues and cares for all breeds of dogs and cats until they are matched with loving homes for either adoption or foster care. Over the years, they have placed over 65,000 animals in new homes. Furever Loved Rescue is a feline rescue shelter, caring for the cats & kittens until they are adopted by someone who will love and take care of them. A big thank you to all our generous warm-hearted employees & their families. #animalrescue #volunteer #givingback #donate #communitysupport

Electric Process Air Heaters For Better Air Quality Recently, a company who wanted to take measures to be more environmentally conscious and reduce emissions in their processes approached Durex Industries for assistance. They currently were using natural gas to heat process air going to industrial dryers through ductwork, however they wanted to switch to a clean electric heating method to decrease the consumption of fossil fuel and reduce greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. The challenges that Durex Industries faced was that the electric duct air heaters needed to heat a variable flow rate and reduce air humidity for a more efficient dryer system. As there were several different dryers operating simultaneously with a range of different materials being dried all with different amounts of energy absorbed by the parts inside the dryer. The key to the success of the project was to offer a multiple heaters each with multiple circuits to be controlled and regulated with the Customers Control package. In addition to a cold-weather duct heater that pre-heated the gas stream to minimize the strain on the main process heaters, Durex Industries’ engineering team designed several electric flanged duct heaters with various kilowatts and circuits, which easily integrated into the customer’s existing control scheme system. This allowed the power to the heaters to vary, based on the required process temperatures.   #electricheaters #processairheaters #cleanair #engineering #manufacturing

Keeping Our Community Roadsides Clean Durex Industries recently adopted a section of road through the McHenry County Adopt A Highway Program. In the intense heat, a group of Durex volunteers spent hours walking the roadside collecting trash to help keep our local community cleaner and safer. We thank all our volunteers for their hard work. The McHenry County Adopt A Highway Program is in effort to eliminate litter along sections of County Roads, which is an important environmental issue This program brings citizen volunteers into partnerships with the local county to pick up trash and keep our roadsides clean. Volunteer groups adopt a one-half mile to two-mile section of highway for a two-year period, with a minimum of four trash collections per year. The Adopt A Highway Program started in McHenry County in 1995, with the goal to have all 213 miles of roadways adopted. The importance of keeping our roads clean: ·       Provides a cleaner environment. ·       Makes our roadways safer due to less roadside debris. ·       Saves tax-payers money. ·       Provides civic pride to the community. ·       Reminds others not to litter. If you would like to get involved in environmental clean-up efforts, reach out to your local city or county to see how you can help. #volunteer #makeadifference #environment

Have a safe & happy 4th of July! #IndependenceDay #america #redwhiteandblue