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Sylvie Vervoort: Challenge Brings Reward 

“It encouraged me to think about Standards more, and the value they bring to the industry. Even representing different technical fields, Standards help us communicate in the same language about material properties across the value chain.”                                                       

To approve a Standard, 51% of the SSIG must vote for the ballot and in this case, only 33% had responded on the T 702 om-14 uses rheological measurements for characterization of polyolefins, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) ballot. Vervoort discovered that some of the non-respondents included individuals no longer in the industry. Reaching out to her internal research and development network at Dow, she was able to recruit willing SSIG participants eager to learn something new, but she was still shy of the necessary voting percentage. Turning to LinkedIn, Vervoort posted a message to the extrusion community inviting them to get involved since participants need not be members of TAPPI. As a result of her creative outreach, the amount of votes received for the ballot jumped from 33% to 75%, with nine new members added to the SSIG. With all votes affirmative, the Standard is now on its way to confirmation and publication as a new version in 2022.

As a first-time participant, Vervoort notes, “it encouraged me to think about Standards more, and the value they bring to the industry. Even representing different technical fields, Standards help us communicate in the same language about material properties across the value chain.”

Would she take up the challenge again?  Absolutely, says Vervoort. “Now, when I see something that I really believe can be improved, I know I can reach out to TAPPI to discuss. I would not have thought of that before getting involved. As a professional community, we all use Standards and have a personal interest in them being correct, accurate and relevant.”

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