Recycled Gelatin and Adhesives

Posted on February 21, 2012 by LD Davis Industries

One raw material that L.D. Davis uses in its animal glue products is pharmaceutical scrap gelatin.  Before the 1970’s, most gelatin used in animal glue, or protein adhesive, was extracted from the bones and hides of pigs and cattle.  Today, a significant portion of the gelatin used in protein adhesives is from pharmaceutical and nutritional scrap gelatin, either in soft gel netting or hard capsule form.

Recycling Gelatin

One of the components of the L.D. Davis Green Advantage is the company’s recycling of pharmaceutical waste.  The gelatin we use is what’s left over in a sheet of gelatin after a soft gel capsule, like a Vitamin E capsule, has been manufactured.  We also recycle scrap hard capsule gelatin. Both the hard cap and soft gel netting are ground and cleaned before use in our adhesive, which is non-toxic and biodegradable. 

Reducing Gelatin Waste

L.D. Davis purchases this scrap material from pharmaceutical and nutritional companies, and then formulates many protein adhesive products that are widely used every day.  We are the largest purchaser of recycled pharmaceutical gelatin in the United States.  We go through a lot of scrap gelatin.  We help reduce pharmaceutical companies’ waste stream by utilizing their waste gelatin, and they help us by providing us with the necessary materials we need to manufacture our gelatin adhesives.  Everybody wins!

Gelatin and LD Davis Adhesives

The technical gelatin we produce from the netting goes through a few steps before it is turned into our glue.  It is inspected for quality as part of L.D. Davis Advantage Number 11, which is our implemented 12-point quality control system for all incoming raw materials and outgoing finished products.  In our lab, we mix in a special chemical that removes all color from the netting, which is usually colored with natural, water-soluble colors. The coloring must be natural and water-soluble because this netting is what’s left over after a pharmaceutical company produces gel caps that contain nutritional supplements such as Vitamin E.  The netting is then melted down into a mixture from which we produce our gelatin-based adhesives.

Questions? Comments?

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Gelatin

Soft Gelatin Netting

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in adhesive products, Animal Glue, Book Binding Adhesive, Environmentally-friendly, Gelatin, glue manufacturing, Hide Glue, L.D. Davis, Protein Adhesive | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy Valentine’s Day from LD Davis

Posted on February 13, 2012 by LD Davis Industries

It’s Valentine’s Day…. what do you love?

(Well, tomorrow is at least!)

At LD Davis, we love manufacturing and distributing a wide variety of animal glue, liquid glue, and hide glue to our valued customers.  Our adhesives are used in a wide variety of applications such as book binding, packaging, box making, and more!

It might seem cheesy, but we really do love glue manufacturing and our customers.  LD Davis’s mission statement is “building life long bonds.”  We strive to meet this goal every day with our vendors, customers, and employees.

We have extremely solid, long-standing relationships with our vendors and raw materials suppliers.  LD Davis also has an AAA credit rating, which means our suppliers always get paid on time-making sure you can get your animal glue on time as well. Raw materials for animal glue/hide glue include:

  •  Water
  • Gelatin
  • Glycerin
  • Sugars
  • Epsom salts

We always ensure that we have the materials we need in house to manufacture enough animal glue so that our customers can get the adhesive they need from us, when they need it.  We go to great lengths to meet customer deadlines, even in extreme situations.  Click here to read a blog about how we recently went above and beyond to help out a customer in need.

We value our customers more than anything and know that the relationships we have developed with them enable us to have customers that purchase animal glue from LD Davis year, after year, after year.

Without our dedicated staff to manufacture the animal glue, sell the animal glue, and control the company’s finances and marketing, we couldn’t provide the quality adhesive and service our customers have become accustomed to.  We have many staff members that have been with the company for ten, fifteen, even twenty years!   That really says something about the team spirit and the love that LD Davis employees have for the great company we work for.

 

It’s Valentines  Day…Spread a little love around!

Leave a comment or communicate with us via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+  <3

Posted in Animal Glue, glue manufacturing, Hide Glue, L.D. Davis | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Animal Glue Manufacturing Safety- Part Two

Posted on February 9, 2012 by LD Davis Industries

Big congratulations to our Monroe, NC animal glue manufacturing plant! When we wrapped up the 2011 Hazard Communication Report (with no recordable incidents for the past year) we also hit a milestone of 8.5 years at LD Davis’s manufacturing plant without any lost time accidents in the workplace.  Safety protocol at our animal glue manufacturing plant is key to keeping everything running smoothly.  The responsibility (and congratulations) for this mostly falls with Barry Barto, our Operations Manager of 17 years.  Meet Barry here on our YouTube Channel!

If you read our blog on Monday, you already read part of Barry’s interview on safety in our animal glue manufacturing plant.  Here’s the rest below!

What’s your “secret” for getting LD Davis’ animal glue production facility through these last 8.5 years without a lost time accident?

I had the opportunity to begin my career with US Steel in their Chemicals Division. Being a union shop and a hazardous chemical manufacturer our Safety program was next to none. The adage used in the USS plant was “Train, Tolerate, or Terminate.” There was very little toleration with respect to unsafe conditions or practices.  We have in-house testing procedures that must be passed before an individual is allowed to handle certain chemicals used in our animal glue plant.  In sixteen years I have only had to fire one employee for not following the procedure he was trained on.

What safety checks do you perform daily?

My guys see me on the floor, and talk to me.  None of them would not hesitate to come to me and say “come look at this,” say if they see an issue with a piece of our animal glue equipment.  I immediately know something needs attention and it gets it. They are my source of intimate knowledge of the animal glue plant.

What we do is not to unlike you taking your car in for a service. We look. The guys check oil levels, grease fittings, nuts and bolts are tight, guards are in place. They take care of their equipment because it protects their job, and themselves. If the animal glue kettles are running they know they will be working. Safety is more attitude than programs and it comes from the top down. Tripp Davis, our president, doesn’t want anyone hurt and neither do I.

The workers see I care about what and how they do things and if someone knows you care, it goes a long way in getting them to do things properly, meaning correctly and safely.  That way we can continue to manufacture quality animal glue for years to come!

 

Have a question for Barry? Please visit our website, leave a comment here, or communicate with us via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+

Posted in Animal Glue, glue manufacturing, L.D. Davis | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Animal Glue Manufacturing Plant Safety

Posted on February 6, 2012 by LD Davis Industries

Big congratulations to our Monroe, NC animal glue manufacturing plant!

When we wrapped up the 2011 Hazard Communication Report (with no recordable incidents for the past year) we also hit a milestone of 8.5 years at LD Davis’ manufacturing plant without any lost time accidents in the workplace.  Safety protocol at our animal glue manufacturing plant is key to keeping everything running smoothly.  The responsibility (and congratulations) for this mostly falls with Barry Barto, our Operations Manager of 17 years.  Meet Barry here on our YouTube Channel!

Barry Baro

Barry Barto, Operations Manager

What are some of the risks/dangers associated with animal glue manufacturing?

“This would be a very broad list, as in most manufacturing applications.  Animal glue manufacture is no different. Our compounders and packers work in close proximity to electrical equipment, heavy items, sharp tools, pinch points, forklifts, slippery floor areas and hazardous materials, and other people, which may or may not be paying attention.  Also, when we pour the animal glue mixture out of the kettles into the trays to dry (click here to see a video about this!) the glue comes out at a very high temperature, which adds a burn risk to the process. Our plant is not unlike other facilities that mix or process things and everyone has to pay attention to safety.”

What are the most common injuries?

“The most common accidents in manufacturing are ‘Slip / Trip and Falls’ or back injuries.  Slipping is one we need to watch carefully due to the nature of our animal glue materials; once they mix with water the mixture makes the area something like an ice arena. We spend a lot of time, effort and water cleaning our floors at least twice a day.”

Can you tell me about the safety measures you have in place in the animal glue manufacturing plant?

“My guys in the glue manufacturing plant are my best assets. They know I do not want to take chances, which might lead to someone getting hurt. They bring maintenance items to my Supervisor and me daily so that we can keep our plant running properly and safely. We also have routines laid out for a daily and weekly check on the equipment used to produce our animal glue.”
Come back to our blog on Thursday for part two of Barry’s safety interview!  Have a question for Barry in the meantime? Leave us a comment or communicate with us via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+!

Posted in Animal Glue, glue manufacturing, L.D. Davis | Tagged , , | Leave a comment