Packaging Plant Research Articles

A PROCESS‐ORIENTED INVESTIGATION OF RECRUITMENT SOURCE EFFECTIVENESS1

Two hypotheses explaining the causes of differences in recruitment source effectiveness, the realism of job information provided and the characteristics of individuals recruited, were tested on a sample of packaging plant employees. Seven recruitment sources used by the plant were found to differ in effectiveness as measured by attendance, performance and tenure. The hypothesis that recruitment sources differ because they reach individuals from different applicant populations received strongest support. Implications of the findings for future research and for organizational recruitment programs are discussed.

Microbiological and Sensory Evaluation of Fresh Fish Packaged in Carbon Dioxide for Retail Outlets in the Midwest

Fresh fish obtained from a commercial packaging plant were evaluated for microbial content and sensory changes during 3 weeks of storage. Fish were packaged in (a) nylon-Surlyn bags and backflushed with approximately 80% CO2, (b) in nylon-Surlyn bags with no alternation of gaseous environment, or (c) over-wrapped with polyvinyl chloride film. After packaging, fish were stored at 1°C. Two types of fish (ocean perch and sea trout) were analyzed. The data indicate that fish packaged in the nylon-Surlyn bag with CO2 had the smallest increase in microbial numbers followed by the fish packaged without CO2. An increase in the bacterial lag phase was observed for the fish packaged in CO2 when compared with fish packaged without CO2 or over-wrapped. The fish packaged in CO2 maintained a lower pH during storage compared with fish packaged without CO2. The highest microbial load was found in fish packaged with the polyvinyl chloride over-wrap.

Systems Approach Toward Implementation of a Multiassembly, Multilot-Size, Multitechnology, Manufacturing Facility

This paper deals with the systems engineering of an electronic packaging plant for printed-circuit cards. The facility is designed to efficiently and concurrently build an assortment of product part-number assemblies of differing complexities and of varying lot sizes. A flexible, manufacturing-system architecture with modular elements providing for rapid movement of individual units between operations is key to improved productivity. Component verification and visual inspection with closed-loop feedback are included in the system. The concept of shared physical queues is discussed as it relates to scheduling mixed assemblies into the line for optimal machine utilization with minimum time through the process. Various algorithms for optimizing machine setup, as well as an extensive modeling tool, are addressed.

Investigation of Possible Sex Differences in the Prediction of Job Performance in an Industrial Setting

Male and female packaging plant employees were examined for possible test validity differences by concurrently correlating four employment tests with absenteeism and job performance ratings. Subgrouping by sex produced two significant results for females and none for males. Moderating each group by using three job in volvement factor scores (low vs. high) helped clarify the differences in prediction by producing 12 significant validity coefficients for fe males and only one for males. Nearly all test validities for females occurred for those low rather than high in job involvement—an out come suggesting that females high in work identification are not ap praised by supervisors at a level commensurate to their abilities. Abilities for females least involved with work were much more likely to be associated with both absenteeism rate and supervisory evaluations. This finding would suggest the importance of investi gating test validation strategies separately for each sex when com parable work is involved.

Job involvement, internal motivation, and employees' integration into networks of work relationships

In the study reported here, hypotheses regarding social determinants of internal motivation and job involvement are generated and tested against data gathered from 522 employees of an assembly and packaging plant. Specifically, it is hypothesized that integration into networks of work-based relationships will be positively associated with internal motivation and negatively associated with job involvement. It is also hypothesized that the strength of these relationships will vary with the employees' orientation toward growth and development. Consistent with the hypotheses, it is found that integration is associated with internal motivation; however, isolates who are growth oriented are more internally motivated than isolates who are not growth oriented. There is no main effect of integration on job involvement; however, isolates who are not growth oriented are more involved in their jobs than are isolates who are growth oriented. It is concluded that internal motivation and job involvement can be alternative sources of meaning and identity, particularly for people who are isolated from work relationships and therefore are unlikely to be highly involved with the organization.

Use of Sealed Polyethylene Packages for Marketing Potted Plants1

Abstract A simulated marketing system was designed to test the effect of light intensity and duration of packaging (conditions similar to those of warehousing, transportation, and retail marketing) on packaged and unpackaged potted ornamental plants. No significant differences were recorded in quality between plants held at 525 and 1600 lux when stored in packages for 14 or 28 days. Six days of darkness did not reduce the time plants could be kept in packages. Packaging duration and plant species were the chief factors affecting the marketability of the plants; the various simulated market conditions had only minor effects. Packaged Pilea cadierei Gagnep. & Guillaum, Philodendron cordatum (Veil.) Kunth, Fittonia verschaffeltii (Lem.) Coem. var. argyroneura (Coem.) Nichols, and Plectranthus australis R. Br. were marketable for 60 days, Gynura aurantiaca (Blume) DC. for 30 days, and Catharanthus roseus L. for 18 days. Plants in sealed packages did not require watering.

Acute Hemorrhagic Cystitis

An outbreak of hematuria occurred from May 20 to May 23,1975, among employees of a chemical packaging plant. Nine of 22 workers who packaged the insecticide chlordimeform in a separate shed became severely ill with abdominal pain, dysuria, urgency to void, or hematuria. None of 18 persons who worked in other areas of the plant were affected. Four additional workers who had packaged the chemical during the previous year had a history of similar symptoms. Bladder biopsy specimens from three affected persons showed severe hemorrhagic cystitis; chlordimeform and 2-methyl-4-chloroaniline, a metabolite of chlordimeform, were present in urine specimens collected three days after exposure. The illness lasted from one week to two months; the workers recovered completely. Chlordimeform that was injected subcutaneously into three cats produced similar, though less severe, changes in the bladders of two animals. (<i>JAMA</i>239:1052-1055, 1978)

Carbon Tetrachloride Toxicity Potentiated by Isopropyl Alcohol

Fourteen workers in an isopropyl alcohol packaging plant became ill after accidental exposure to carbon tetrachloride. In four, renal failure or hepatitis developed. Isopropyl alcohol potentiation of carbon tetrachloride toxicity has been shown previously only in rats. Acetone, a product of isopropyl alcohol metabolism, is a major potentiator of carbon tetrachloride toxicity. Workers had elevated levels of acetone in samples of expired alveolar gas and thus were metabolically predisposed to carbon tetrachloride injury. Stricter limits for industrial carbon tetrachloride exposure should be established where concomitant isopropyl alcohol use occurs.

Automated packaging for pigments

A £150,000 automated packaging plant has been commissioned at the Paisley pigment works of CIBA‐GEIGY (U.K.) Limited. The system will package all milled powder output of azo and phthalocyanine pigments distributed on a world‐wide basis for the company, and is capable of handling a throughput of nearly 140 tons per day.

Camphor exposures in a packaging plant.

Abstract Exposures to camphor were evaluated in a synthetic camphor packaging plant where workmen were exposed for eight hours a day, five days a week. Symptoms of camphor exposure—irritation to the eyes and nose, and loss of the sense of smell—were not observed when the concentration was approximately 2 parts per million parts of air. Two parts of camphor per million parts of air, approximately 12.4 mg/m2, is proposed to supersede the present threshold limit value of 2 mg/m2.

Camphor Exposures in a Packaging Plant

Camphor Exposures in a Packaging Plant

SUNRAY'S NEW LUBRICATING, BLENDING, PACKAGING AND SHIPPING PLANT

LOCATED AT the company's Tulsa, Oklahoma refinery, the multi‐million dollar plant of the Sunray DX Oil Company has one of the world's most modern and complete lubricating oil blending, packaging and shipping plants.

Cities Service Opens House af $4 Million Packaging Plant in Cicero, Ill.

Cities Service Opens House af $4 Million Packaging Plant in Cicero, Ill.