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PPAI Suppliers’ Forum Brings Product Safety, Issues Into Focus

Issue: 2008jun

Eighty-seven PPAI supplier members spent a day and a half in advance of PROMOTIONS EAST this week to learn more about product safety, social responsibility and other issues at the 2008 PPAI Suppliers Forum.

Starting Sunday afternoon and wrapping up mid-day Monday, the annual education program, designed exclusively for suppliers, included an overview on the Golden Age of Promotional Products by past PPAI chair Paul Kiewiet, MAS,CIP, panel discussions on product safety, global strategies and PPAI issues, and a candid Q&A with four distributor principals. On Monday evening the group broke into roundtables for a 90-minute discussion on a variety of topics from China to tradeshow strategies.

This year’s program was designed and produced by the PPAI Suppliers Committee. “Our goal was to help bring suppliers up to speed on some of the most critical issues we’re facing today—product safety and social responsibility,” says committee chair Terry Brizz, MAS, EDM, of Cleveland, Ohio-based supplier Galaxy Balloons (UPIC: GALACTIC). “There is a lot of frustration and confusion because it’s a complex issue. This forum helped shed some light on solutions.”

“The world is changing rapidly. To keep up, one needs to be exchanging ideas with other suppliers and also with distributors—the distributor’s perspective is really important,” says attendee Lex Sloot, MAS, president of supplier Reflectix. “The distributor panel provided me with many new insights. This [experience] has been invaluable.”

Michelle Mitchell of supplier Fey Industries, Inc. also said the forum helped put the issues into focus. “This conference helped me crystalize information on Prop 65 and prepare to set up clear expectations for our staff. We have a lot of information on the issue and now I realize we need to make it available to our customer through the web and other means.”

In addition to a wealth of ideas, resources and insights from product safety experts including attorney Roger Carrick, author of the Proposition 65 Handbook and Tom Harney, Specialized Technology Resources, Inc., takeaways from the forum included a brochure, Key Questions For The Supply Chain, and reference to The Guide to Managing Responsibility For Product Safety, Social and Environmental Standards and many other sources of information available to suppliers on the PPAI website.


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