Stradivarius... in Ohio?

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A Stradivarius is a stringed instrument built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (okay, there's our 360-year-old Italian.) These instruments have a reputation for a superlative quality of sound that defies comparison. The name "Stradivarius" has also become a superlative applied to designate excellence. To be called "the Stradivari" of any field is to be deemed the finest there is. There are fewer than 700 genuine Stradivarius instruments in existence today.

Today, music experts still discuss theories about how these extraordinary instruments produced their special sound. (There's our passion for the violin!) What we do know is that the most prominent theories trace it back to the species of wood – which included spruce, willow, and maple – as well as how the wood was coated. The coatings included potassium borate (borax), sodium, potassium silicate, and vernice bianca, a varnish composed of Arabic gum, honey and egg white.

Recently Jeff Siegel, president of Mica and current TAPPI Board Chair, and I had the privilege of visiting the Michelman corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio (the company I hint at in my opening riddle, of course.) Our gracious hosts included Rick Michelman, VP Technology and Flexible Packaging; Bob Poletti, VP Marketing and Paper; John Homoelle, Director of New Technology; Don Hoesl, Marketing Manager, Paper; and Ginger Cushing, New Business Development Manager, Flexible Packaging.

Michelman has been a TAPPI Sustaining member since 1992. The company was established in 1949 as a specialty chemical supplier. Today, Michelman is a global concern with more than 200 employees (over 10% work in their labs). The company is family-owned and professionally managed. Michelman technologies include surface modifiers, polymer dispersions, and coatings. Its three business units are Chemical Specialties, Paper Coatings, and Flexible Packaging. The company serves a range of markets including paper packaging, flexible packaging, specialty coatings, graphic arts, fibers & composites, and floor care.

One of the most unusual and refreshing characteristics of Michelman is the walls-down approach between divisions. This allows cross-divisional communications, which equates to cross selling their product lines. "We connect the dots between divisions," says Rick Michelman. Michelman's stated values include Integrity, Respect, and Success, with the slogan "The story of our past, the foundation for our future."

The firm also recognizes that sometimes two heads are better than one when it comes to providing customer solutions. Michelman has formed several alliances with other companies, which gives both firms the capabilities to co-develop commercial solutions that they may not have been able to offer by themselves.

Oh yes, I almost forgot the riddle at the beginning of this article. How do all these things tie together?

Well as fate would have it, Rick's grandfather, Joseph, was a very inquisitive person. He set out on a quest to discover the secret of the sweet sound produced by a Stradivarius. He sided with the coatings speculators, and was convinced that his tests with varnishes and coatings would lead him to discover the "Secret". I don't know if his experiments with coatings solved the mystery -- but his quest led to the founding of one of our industry's "Stradivari" coating solution providers. For more information on Michelman please go to www.michelman.com.

A final thought: There are two types of people in our industry: TAPPI members, and those who should be. For more information on TAPPI please go to www.tappi.org.

Until next time!

Larry Montague, TAPPI President