New Pig did a good thing this week, if I do say so myself, in giving away 35 pallets of our wipers to be used in Red Cross cleanup kits.

If a flood or other emergency has to befall you before you to get to use these particular wipers—then I hope you never get to use them!

Well, we did it for the 20th, 21st and 22nd times.

Yep, we won three more Product of the Year Awards from Plant Engineering magazine! Click here to read about all of this year’s winners, including these three PIG® products:

Maintenance Products, Gold Award

PIG BLUE® Absorbent Mat uses its polypropylene and cellulose blend to increase absorbency and disperse liquid evenly. Containing 70% recycled fibers, the mat’s FiberFusion technology adds strength to the cellulose and absorbency to the polypropylene. The mat meets the NFPA 99 standard for static decay and won’t burn when exposed to flame.

Maintenance Tools and Equipment, Silver Award

PIG® Sheet allows a user to form custom liquid control and containment devices for areas where space is awkward or limiting. The steel mesh core is coated with pliable PVC that can be reshaped without cracking to provide the moldability of metal and the corrosion resistance of plastic. PIG® Sheet can attach to magnets for connection to metal surfaces.

Fluid Handling, Gold Award

The PIG® Vapor-Control Latching Drum Lid helps to convert a 55-gallon drum into a safe collection container for hazardous waste. A nitrile gasket lid with a 5-inch port reduces vapor and odor emissions during and after waste disposal. The lid features latching handles that open with one-hand operation.

All right!!!!

What can you say? Hats off to our Product Development Piggers BUT they are the first to point out that these successes demand snout-standing efforts from across the company: Purchasing, Manufacturing, Customer Service, you name it.

We don’t care about awards just for the sake of winning awards. We appreciate them because they help tell us when we’re on the right track in serving customer needs. And they help us tell our story—that we’re the world’s leading experts in addressing workplace leaks, drips and spills. So if you have a workplace leak, drip or spill, seek us out!

Now we have to find some shelf space for these new additions to our collection. It’s a good problem to have!

P.S. Quick quiz: Which company has won more Plant Engineering Product of the Year Awards than New Pig? Watch for a future post with the answer.

I’ll try to get a report next week from our team who attended the Nightclub & Bar Convention & Trade Show in Las Vegas March 8-10 to show our foodservice products. Sounds like a rough time, huh?

Here’s the booth description from the exhibitor list:

PROFILE
Spills in restaurants cause unsafe conditions and your staff and productivity can hit the floor. Don’t spread the mess around - absorb it! PIG® Absorbents soak up dangerous oil and water spills fast and dry the floor so you can Keep on Cookin. See PIG® Absorbents in action at booth #841.

CATEGORIES

• Cleaning
• Health
• Safety/Safety Products

Below are illustrations of the booth and a shot of one of the booth staff.

When life hands New Piggers lemons, New Piggers make lemonade.

When life hands New Piggers outrageous amounts of snow, New Piggers do what you see in the video below.

(Watch this twice! Once for the sculpture, once for the clouds.)

Click here for photos

New Pig’s address has been One Pork Avenue from Day One, but now it feels more official than ever. The county 911 system has been gathering street and road names lately (and changing some, and sometimes getting dramatic reactions) and fortunately they accepted “One Pork Avenue” from us.

That’s data that Google uses, and after only (!) two months, we’re now showing up on Google Maps with our semi-famous address! We’ve arrived!

I’m going to link to a episode of Hoarders, the eye-opening TV program about people whose homes become crammed with things that they can’t throw away, and let me first express sympathy for those profiled. They and their loved ones suffer. This clip shows two hoarders seeking improvement and therapy. I respect that and wish the best for them and their families.

Having said that, my fellow Pigger Dan noticed that the PIG® logo makes a brief appearance at the 6-minute mark. It’s always nice to be in the middle of cleanup operations.

New Pig was asked by Saint Francis University to participate in Science Day 2009. This is a day where approximately 450 local high school students come to Saint Francis and attend various activity sessions of their choice that involve scientific principles. Jason of Customer Service  and I represented New Pig at Science Day and created a Spill Drill Obstacle course for some of these students.

The session began with discussing New Pig, how it got started, an overview/explanation of our absorbents and core products, and then the students were asked to apply this knowledge in an obstacle course.

The students were split into teams and each student had to suit up with appropriate protective clothing (goggles, gloves, and apron) for each of their tasks. Each student participated in the obstacle course, which provided hands-on learning for a safe work environment. After each event, the team was given a puzzle piece; at the end of all the events they had to put the puzzle together and use a decoder to reveal the message: “Safety is Everyone’s Business.”

The first event was a simulated oil spill on water. The teams had to select the correct absorbent mat and remove as much oil as possible from the water and retrieve a puzzle piece which was fastened to the bottom of the pan.

The next event involved the students making their way through an obstacle course of absorbent socks on the ground to get to a simulated spill of “Chemical X” (which was really colored water). There were mock drains on the tiled floor where the students had to deploy samples of the Drainblocker® Drain Cover and select the correct sock to contain and absorb the chemical spills. Their puzzle piece was found under their drain.

During the third event, the teams had to sort through various gloves that had questions about personal protection equipment inside of them. One of the gloves contained a piece of the puzzle they needed. They had to correctly answer all of the questions before proceeding to the final event. They were allowed to ask the rest of their team for help during this event.

During the final event, the students had to properly dispose of the spent absorbents by placing their absorbents using the proper disposal method. Several bags were labeled with different disposals, which aided in the understanding that absorbents take on the properties of whatever is absorbed into them. They then were given the final piece to the puzzle and the decoder to unscramble the message.

Prizes (promotional items) were awarded to the winning teams, as well as students who could answer questions about New Pig, our products, and their applications.

At least two times a year, New Pig hosts the American Red Cross Bloodmobile so Piggers have an easy and convenient way to donate blood.

During today’s visit, New Pig surpassed its goal by 4 pints by donating 24 pints of blood to the Red Cross.

Cheryl, a loyal, blood-giving Pigger, waits patiently to donate.

By the way, if any of that blood should spill … here’s how to be ready.