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MARCH 7, 2006 - - Two Department of Corrections employees will receive the March 2006 Blue Granite Recognition for their creativity and inspiration that has saved hundreds of dollars, S.C. Sen. Phil Leventis announced today.
Bert Dew, the department's branch chief of agriculture, and Ronny Riddle, the program coordinator at MacDougall Egg-Laying Facility, will receive the recognition at 9 a.m. March 14 at the department's headquarters office on Broad River Road in Columbia. During the construction of the new egg-laying facility at MacDougall Institute, these gentlemen realized that an enormous quantity of plastic egg flats were required to process the 90,000+ eggs per day the facility produced, Leventis said. "At a cost of approximately 75 cents each for a minimum of 75,000 crates to sustain full production, they realized that this could become quite costly. Mr. Riddle began obtaining quotes for tooling and production machinery, while Mr. Dew explored options for the best location to set up a manufacturing process. The egg-laying facility began operation in December 2004 and reached full capacity in March 2005. As of the beginning of this year, the injection molding operation has produced 65,000 egg flats and continues to produce 500 daily. Of the flats produced, 45,000 were produced from recycled sporks, and 20,000 from purchased material. The total resulting savings as of the start of this year are approximately $40,000.00 -- which has effectively paid for all of the tooling and equipment purchased by the state at the start-up. Mr. Riddle determined that by constructing a one-cavity injection mold, purchasing used production equipment and recycled molding materials, the flats (which had been purchased at a minimum cost of .75/each) could be made for approximately .35/each. Sporks were then collected from all SCDC facility cafeterias and recycled into usable plastic molding material for producing the egg trays. With inmate labor, trained by Mr. Riddle operating the machinery, the cost of the egg flats was reduced to pennies. Excess production of these egg flats will be sold to other egg producers, with all generated income used to defray the cost of equipment, etc. "These exceptional employees took the initiative to find an innovative solution for an environmental problem that has saved SCDC and the State of South Carolina money," Leventis said. "They developed a project that trains and equips inmates with skills that will enable them to be productive citizens when they re-enter society. Their spirit exemplifies the best of what our hard-working state employees can accomplish, even when budgets are limited, and deserve to be recognized for the commitment to their agency and to the citizen taxpayers of South Carolina." The Blue Granite Recognition, which is sponsored by the S.C. State Credit Union and the S.C. State Employees Association, is a monthly program highlighting excellence and personal commitment by South Carolina state employees. Past winners and information concerning the recognition can be found online. Please contact 803.212.6000, if you have any questions or need additional information.
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