In March, JEDA was a grateful recipient of a recycling grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) worth $8,261. With these funds, a baler was purchased and installed at our 40,000 sq foot manufacturing facility in Dyersville IA.

As a plastic resin compounder, we at JEDA know the importance of recycling plastic in our production process. Not only are we able to realize costs savings by using recycling content in many of our products but throughout the years, JEDA has saved nearly 8 million pounds of recycled resin from being disposed in landfills. 
 
JEDA consumes 1.5 million pounds of feedstock (resin and fiberglass) annually thus accumulating packaging waste in the form of cardboard, poly liners and heavy-duty super sacks.  Finding an outlet for the cardboard waste was as easy as calling a few local companies; the large gaylord boxes are sold to local manufacturers for reuse, and all other cardboard scrap is picked up by a local recycler.
 
“Where we ran into issues with our recycling process was with our, it our poly liners(bags) and super sacks,” explained vice-president, Ronda Haskell.
 
JEDA started collecting the liners and supersacks in large gaylord boxes with the hope that one day we would find a recycler for these items.  Due to the overwhelming footprint these boxes were taking up in the warehouse, a solution was needed quickly. Eventually, a local recycler Dubuque agreed to take the liners. However, shipping the liners and supersacks as is would be costly as the boxes were mostly filled with air. From a transportation emissions standpoint, this was not an environmentally friendly choice nor was it the recycler’s preference.

According to Haskell’s calculations, 1 bale of poly liners is equivalent to 30 boxes of gaylord boxes filled with liners. Since installation in late March, JEDA has made 3 bales of clear poly liners and 5 bales of supersacks; that is equivalent to 240 gaylord boxes or the area of 6 full semi-trailers (double stacked boxes)!
 
“We were very fortunate to be awarded this grant from the Iowa DNR; now that the baler is installed, we have gained an abundance of space back in our warehouse and can ship the bales to the recycler much more economically. We are ecstatic to expand our recycling efforts to our waste stream,” comments Haskell.  JEDA’s commitment to waste reduction, recycling and reuse will continue as we fully understand the importance of a greener tomorrow.
 
"This article was prepared with the support of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Agreement Number 21-G550-07FL. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDNR.

Once more, JEDA Polymers LLC, Dyersville Iowa, manufacturer of engineered resins, is pleased to announce our achievement in receiving ISO 9001:2015 Certification. JEDA previously earned this recognition in 2017.  Upon completion of annual supplemental audits, the certification is valid for three years. Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc. is the accrediting body that conducted the audits and issued the certification to JEDA Polymers LLC.

According to the PJR website, “Registration to ISO 9001… provides objective proof that a business has implemented and satisfied all the requirements of a quality management system.” 

The JEDA Polymers team went through an comprehensive audit involving every aspect of our business to ensure our commitment to total quality management. This commitment embodies customer satisfaction, continuous improvement of our processes throughout the organization, the understanding and documentation of critical processes and interactions, as well as a duty to uphold these facets from every level of our organization.
 
“We are delighted to earn ISO 9001:2015 certification for a second time. JEDA’s commitment to total quality management is our pledge to providing the highest quality products and services while ensuring consistency and providing the utmost value to our customers. Decisions we make on a daily basis are subjected to how we can improve our products and processes and not just maintain but improve our quality assurance practices” states Vice President and co-founder, Ronda Haskell.
 
Every aspect of our internal processes such as shipping/receiving, production, research and development, customer service, and quality testing, is scrutinized so that we are able to provide high quality engineered resins with consistency while continually improving our process along the way.
 
President and founder, Jeff Goodwin, states “ISO 9001:2015 is the natural progression of our total quality system.  We are proud of and are deeply committed to the quality of our products and services.  Meeting our customers’ needs is the most important job we have.”
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JEDA’s specialized resins are utilized in numerous industries including agriculture, furniture, lighting, automotive, consumer durables, etc.  Product families including nylons, polypropylenes, PBT, polycarbonates, and other various materials are engineered to the customers’ specific needs.

John Deeken, technical wizard at JEDA Polymers, is our featured employee for this blog.  John will celebrate his 10-year anniversary with JEDA Polymers this year as the Engineering/Quality Management System Administrator. He began with the company while we were still in its infancy and our production facility was located in central Illinois.  In 2015, John and his family moved to Dyersville, Iowa with the construction of the new plant.  His highly analytical and technical skills have been instrumental for JEDA to grow and progress.  In additional, John had spearheaded our ISO compliance certification and continues to manage our Quality Management System.  Here’s what John has to say about his role at JEDA, current projects and the Company culture.

What’s a typical day look like for you at Jeda Polymers and what are you currently working on?
A typical day for me starts by checking with our operations team to address any process or quality issues that need attention.  When the lines are running well, I move on to my project list.  I am currently working on automated data collection and error notification for our processing equipment.  The goal is to gather comprehensive data for analysis as well as to free the line operators from taking hourly logs.  The new automated reporting system will notify the operations team when there is a process issue that requires prompt attention. When fully implemented, this will allow the operations team to focus more on working ahead to ensure changeovers are completed more quickly and spend more time with quality control processes while comprehensive process data is being collected for process refinement and quality assurance.

What is your favorite part of working at Jeda?
Jeff Goodwin, president and co-founder of JEDA, once said to me,” I want the people working for me to be successful, because that is how I become successful.”  This sentiment has been there from the beginning and is only amplified in the culture that JEDA has developed. The commitment of our ownership to not only treat the team members respectfully but to encourage us and provide the tools we need to grow professionally is impressive. They also seek and value the counsel of the entire team. JEDA is a team from the top down and back up again, and working in that type of environment is extremely gratifying.  

 Of Jeda’s core values, which is your favorite?
Mutual Trust and Respect

How has JEDA changed since you first started 10 years ago?
Since 2009, I have watched JEDA go from a single extruder, hand blending material, and production lulls to most recently, needing a third production line due to production demands.  JEDA has also advanced with sophisticated mixing and monitoring systems which have improved production efficiencies.

Further, the culture has changed dramatically by shifting from traditional to a high-performance workplace where the whole team feels valued and acts accordingly. As a high-performance workplace, we all work together for our shared vision of success while constantly striving to do more and perform better.  By implementing the key elements of this high-performance culture, the JEDA team is stronger than it has ever been before and continues to strengthen every day.

What 3 words describe JEDA?
Always moving forward