Year: 2013

We recently had another unique and innovative shrink wrap application that we would like to share.  In the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan (located about two hours south of Manistee, MI) there is a replica of all five Great Lakes where children can launch a boat and observe as it flows from one lake to the next.


This water feature needs to be shrink wrapped every winter to protect from weather damage. Brett McPherson, positioned in Facility Maintenance at Meijer Gardens, and his team spend about 2-3 days shrink wrapping the lakes every year at the end of October. First, the lakes are drained and then a custom PVC frame is put in place to rest inside the lakes, which provides the framework to shrink wrap around. The PVC frame is basically one long spine running down the center of the lakes with angled legs going down the outside edges. Brett also installs eyelets around the base of the lakes to tie the perimeter band to.
Brett states, “This process takes about 2-3 days depending on the weather. We usually remove the wrap in April/May; basically when we’re not worried about freezing anymore. We use Dr. Shrink’s 12’ x 149’ white 7-mil shrink wrap and it works well for us.” Meijer Gardens have been shrink wrapping the water feature in the Great Lakes Garden for the last 8 years. Take a look at the before and after pictures. This is a terrific example of the various and unique applications for our shrink wrapping products. Thank you for working with us, Brett and thanks for sharing your application!



All photos courtesy of William J. Hebert and Brett McPherson

With a reputation for high-quality products and service, Dr. Shrink was awarded Distributor of the Year by Shrinkfast Marketing. The international premium shrink wrap supplier was given this honor not only due to its high volume sales, but also its unique approach to marketing and training. Dr. Shrink also serves as an authorized heat tool repair center.
“Dr. Shrink offers marketing programs for its customers and Shrink Wrap University, a hands-on training workshop that not only shows the proper way to wrap assets, but also gives tips on smart business practices, insurance and other know-how,” said Chuck Milliken, Shrinkfast director, sales and marketing. “They really understand how our product works and have the ability to train others. Their unique and all-encompassing approach to business really sets them apart.”
“We’re thrilled with this honor,” said Dr. Shrink president Mike Stenberg. “Shrinkfast has the best heat tool on the market and we’re proud to offer it to our customers.”
With 212,000 BTUs of power, a person can shrink wrap a 40″ x 48″ x 60″ pallet in less than two minutes with the Shrinkfast 998. Its ergonomic design and fan-shaped combustor offer an even and steady heat pattern. Shrinkfast 998 extensions are also available in 2′, 4′ and 6′ lengths.
Check out the Shrinkfast 998 [wpsc_products product_id=’205′]

Andy Gale can find a use for just about anything. Used fryer oil? Convert that into biodiesel fuel, and that’s just the beginning.
Gale is the founder of Bay Area Recycling for Charities (BARC), a nonprofit organization whose net profits are donated to local charities. The company, which operates in Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Antrim, Leelanau, Benzie, and Manistee counties, was founded by Gale in 2008. Gale, who moved from Chicago to Traverse City in 2008, had little knowledge about recycling, but was passionate about environmental sustainability.
“I didn’t know anything about recycling but I wanted to learn more about it,” says Gale. “And I wanted to be a better recycling and so I started the organization to learn about how it works, and how it functions, and what markets are there, and how those systems all work together.”
What started as a small operation with Gale driving a pickup truck and collecting recycled material from businesses and residences has quickly grew into an operation employing ten people with a fast-growing line of new products and services.
As business grew, Gale had to hire more drivers to meet the demand for collecting recycled material. Once collected, the recycling is taken to a processing plant in Maple City; there, materials are sorted and then sold to brokers. According to Gale, BARC processes fifteen tons of cardboard, 3-6 tons of compost, 2-4 tons of recycling, and one ton of e-waste each week.
Soon BARC began offering a composting service.
“It involves carbon and nitrogen,” says Jordan Byron, who is manager of products and promotions at BARC. “The carbon comes from leaves, branches, and wood chips, so we started picking up yard waste from residents. The nitrogen comes from food, so we pick up food waste from Oryana, Great Wolf Lodge, the Little Fleet, and other places. You combine that and you keep turning it, and pretty soon within 200 days you’ve got some soil.”
Gale had more ideas for making sustainability a marketable enterprise, so he forayed into selling compostable plates and silverware, a venture that’s paying off already.
“For just the month of June this year we did a little over twenty five thousand dollars in compostable sales, and July is on its way to being somewhere between thirty and thirty five thousand,” says Byron.
Other new products involve converting used fryer oil into biodiesel fuel, and compostable product packaging made from mycelium, or mushroom “roots.”
“Say your new Vizio TV comes and you open it up, and take off all the packaging. That packaging, you can just throw that right out in your front yard and three days later it’s nothing. It’s back into the soil,” Byron says.
BARC has also expanded into doing zero-waste events.
“First was Film Fest. Andy probably started with that about three years ago. [Now we] handle the whole waste stream so that there’s virtually no trash and it will all be composted and recycled,’” says Byron.
BARC has done twelve zero-waste weddings this summer, and 2013 was the first year the company handled waste from the National Cherry Festival.
“In years past, that eight day event generated around 30 to 33 tons of pure landfill waste and so we came in and said, ‘well do it; we’re going to start changing the culture.’
Now Gale and BARC are looking into a social project to make Traverse City the “greenest” city in Michigan by 2020 — something he believes is attainable.
“We’re trying to change the culture and it’s pretty easy in this town to do that. Traverse City is like a mini Portland or Burlington or Seattle; the culture that is now coming into town is much younger, much more vibrant.”
 Andy and BARC have worked with Dr. Shrink, Inc. for four years with their Recycling Run program.  This program is an inexpensive way to recycle shrink wrap covers that come off in the spring and summer months.  For more information, please visit www.recycling-run.com.  
Sourced from: The Ticker News, Jack Hagen
Publish Date: August 3, 2013

Golf for charity again this year! Mark your calendars for August 23, 2013—our 3rd Annual Benefit Golf Outing for LOVE Inc of Manistee, MI. Registration for the outing is open— if you register before August 9th, you will receive our Early Bird special of $10 off your registration fee. The cost is $75 for Manistee Golf & Country Club members and $85 for non-members.
If you are coming from out of town, we have set aside a limited number of hotel rooms at the Little River Casino & Resort and the Manistee Inn & Marina for your convenience. These rooms will only be held until July 26th, so please make sure to book before then. Please email travis@dr-shrink.com or call 800-968-5147 for more information to register for the event or to inquire about lodging.
To all of our Dr. Shrink customers—you don’t want to miss this! We are giving one lucky customer a spot on the Dr.’s golf team this year! If you place an order of over $2,500 between July 1st to July 12th you are automatically entered into the drawing. The winner will be selected at random and will be given a $500 travel credit to come to beautiful Manistee, MI which will also include a paid-entry onto Mike’s golf team at the historic Manistee Golf & Country Club.
**Travel credit will be used for flight, hotel, car rental, etc. Good luck and we look forward to seeing you for a great time of golf—all for charity!!!
Take a look here for pictures of the beautiful course– right on Lake Michigan!
 

Premium international shrink wrap supplier, Dr. Shrink, Inc. is proud that its president/CEO/founder Michael Stenberg is a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2013 Award in Michigan and Northwest Ohio. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Award recipients will be named at a black-tie gala this Thursday, June 20 at the MGM Grand, Detroit.

Dr. Shrink, Inc. is a small company that was started by Michael and his wife Jill Stenberg in Manistee, Michigan in April of 1992. They had a related shrink wrap installation business in Traverse City, Michigan that they started in 1986. They sold that in early 1992 after seeing a niche in distribution of shrink wrapping products rather than installation. Dr. Shrink, Inc. has grown into a full circle company that offers the highest quality shrink wrap and installation accessories on the market, selling its products to over 80 countries worldwide. Dr. Shrink, Inc. recently celebrated 21 years in business and is still located in Manistee.
Now in its 27th year, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Inc., Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Fred Smith of FedEx, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Richard Schulze of Best Buy, Andrew Mason of Groupon, Mindy Grossman of HSN, Inc., and Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn. Local award recipients include Florine Mark of the WW Group, Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans and Art Van Elslander of Art Van Furniture.
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the United States by SAP America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In Michigan and Northwest Ohio, local sponsors include RBS Citizens/Charter One Bank, Foley & Lardner, Steelcase/Turnstone, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Tanner Friedman, Grand Valley State University Seidman College of Business, New Paradigm Promotional Marketing, Crain’s Detroit Business and WJR News/Talk 760.
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries.
Dr. Shrink will post pictures of the gala on their Facebook page.  Congratulations to Mike & Jill!