People & Culture

Jun 5, 2024
Manufacturing Production Supervisor Supports Sustainability by Reducing Plastic Waste

Manufacturing Production Supervisor Dale Kallal recently identified an opportunity to reduce plastic waste in the production of Arthrex’s FiberTak® inserters.

In his current role, Dale oversees the Laser, Molding and Cleaning departments at Arthrex Manufacturing Inc. South Carolina (AMISC). Molding is where the plastic handles of the Knotless 1.8 FiberTak® soft anchor inserters are formed on the ends of nitinol rods. And, in Cleaning, the inserters go through a final clean in preparation for the Clean Room.

While in transit from Molding to Cleaning to the Clean Room, where the suture assembly is attached to the inserter, silicone straws protect the nitinol shaft.

“The straw’s function is two-fold,” Dale explained. “The silicone protects the metal from being damaged while being moved from one stage of production to another, and it also protects employees from the sharp end of the inserter.”

Once the inserter comes out of the injection molding machine with its handle in place, the Machine Operator slides a silicone straw onto the metal shaft. From Molding, the FiberTak inserters move to Cleaning, where the silicone straws are removed before being loaded into racks that will go through either the COC10 cleaning machine (at AMISC) or a UCM precision cleaning machine at Arthrex Manufacturing Inc. East (AMIE).

Up until recently, the straws that were removed before cleaning were being thrown away.

“We refer to those straws as ‘dirty’ when they leave the molding area, although they’re not actually dirty,” Dale said. “It made me ask, 'Why do we throw those away?’”

So, Dale took his idea of reusing those silicone straws to AMISC Director of Quality Assurance Robin Sellars, who agreed it sounded like a great idea for the straws that are taken off before cleaning to go back to the Molding area to be used again.

After verification with stakeholders from functions such as QA Engineering, Design Engineering and Product Management, Dale was able to confirm the change was acceptable without causing any unwanted risk to the product, and work instructions were updated to implement the change.

QA Engineer II Alan Marionneaux describes reusing the straws as a “recycle loop.”

“Making this change in our process,” Alan said, “not only supports Arthrex’s sustainability efforts but also results in cost-savings.”

Taking the idea even further, Dale suggested reusing the straws that are put onto the FiberTak inserters for their transport from Cleaning to the Clean Room, thus creating another recycle loop and doubling the initial anticipated cost savings.

“From a savings and sustainability standpoint, this is much bigger and better than I originally thought it would be,” Dale said.

While evaluating the silicone straws, it was also determined that the silicone tip protectors previously attached to the end of the straws prior to packaging for sale were not necessary. The team discovered the straws were long enough to protect the end of the FiberTak inserter. AMIE had already stopped using the tip protectors but eliminating them from AMISC will result in even less plastic waste.

AMISC’s Senior Operations Manager John Skojec says he is happy with the efforts that have gone into implementing these changes.

“It’s always rewarding to see great ideas be realized,” he said.

“FiberTak is a very popular product,” Alan added, “which is why this project has been so impactful—and so exciting.”