An exciting acquisition for DUKAL Corporation

Written By: Stephen Stack (Senior Graphic Artist)

Earlier today DUKAL Corporation announced another milestone! See below for more details on this exciting news! What a great day to work at DUKAL!

DATE: February 29th, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DUKAL CORPORATION TO ACQUIRE CERTAIN ASSETS OF DONOVAN INDUSTRIES

RONKONKOMA, NY, February 29th -- DUKAL Corporation (www.dukal.com) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Tampa, FL-based Donovan Industries Inc. (www.donovanindustries.com). Both are privately-held companies.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

DUKAL President Gerry LoDuca commented, "This transaction will expand our existing product line and customer base, is well-aligned with our aggressive growth strategies and supports our objective to be a preferred provider of high quality products used in healthcare. We are looking forward to utilizing this acquisition to strengthen our existing business and expand our global reach into the primary and long-term care markets."

Jim Donovan, president of Donovan Industries said he was pleased to link his company to DUKAL. “I am very confident that our customers and the industry in general, will be well served by this acquisition."

ABOUT DUKAL

Since 1991, DUKAL Corporation has been a privately held supplier of disposable medical products based in Ronkonkoma, NY. The company produces its products through strategic manufacturing partnerships with a focus on high quality and is dedicated to providing best in class products and supply chain solutions to its customers. DUKAL products are used every day by healthcare professionals in Acute Care, Primary Care, Long-Term Care, Dental and Veterinary settings, and can be found in Consumer, Industrial and Safety outlets throughout North America and Europe. Additional information may be found at www.dukal.com.

ABOUT DONOVAN

Since 1979, Donovan Industries is a recognized name as a quality provider of healthcare products. Family-owned and operated, Donovan Industries is a supplier of Skin Care, Baby Care, Oral and Shaving Care and many other products. Donovan Industries offers an extensive line of products that meets the needs of the Acute Care and Alternate Care markets under the names of DawnMist and Redi + Wash. Additional information may be found at www.donovanindustries.com.

CONTACT:

Rick Kinsella CFO, DUKAL Corporation

631-656-3800

RKinsella@DUKAL.com

Have a Safe and Happy Independence Day !

Written By Richard DeJoseph (Marketing Coordinator)

As our country’s Independence Day approaches this Monday, fireworks sales have sky rocketed, pun intended. Here in New York and many other states, casual firework use is illegal; however there are a number of areas where it is still legal. If you are going create your own fireworks spectacular, be sure to put together a 4^th of July First Aid Kit. Safety first! You should put the same amount of time into picking out sparklers and Roman Candles into the medical products that can come in handy in case something goes wrong. 

For starters, most home health stores and pharmacies carry a variety of medical products. Start with the basics like gauze sponges, tape, burn ointment or aloe, and adhesive strips. If your local pharmacy has a larger selection, emergency pressure dressings and conforming gauze are great items to have on hand as well.  

Once you are ready to start the show, make sure to read all instructions on your fireworks packaging. Despite what you may think, your novice pyrotechnic skills aren’t enough to rely on. In the event something goes awry, consult a first aid booklet or call 911. Burns leave scars, so be sure that you treat the initial wound with care; continue to care for the wound as it heals to lessen the chance of scaring. Better to remember the festivities with pictures instead of scars from a sparkler mishap; there’s nothing patriotic about that.

We hope that your Independence Day celebration goes swimmingly and without a hitch. But, a few minutes spent at the pharmacy can prove to come in handy in the event something does go wrong. DUKAL wishes everyone a great holiday weekend, happy birthday America! Land of the free, home of the brave!

DUKAL Teaches the leaders of tomorrow

By Heather Llorca-Kropp (Director of Martketing)

     DUKAL had the unique opportunity to participate in the St. Johns University Executive in Residence program this spring.  The program is a semester long class where 3 teams of students were given real business strategy projects by various companies.  The students would meet with us periodically during the semester and conduct strategy sessions where they would learn our business and be given advice on the project by our Marketing, Operations and Finance Executives.  At the conclusion of the program they came to our board room to present 3 different business plans.  We were very impressed with the outcome of their efforts!

    We entered into this expecting a fun experience and ended up having a rewarding and meaningful time with the students.  We looked through their eyes at the work that we do every day with renewed energy and excitement.  Sometimes in our career we become so accustomed to doing things a certain way, working with the students reminded us of the potential that can come by looking “outside the box”.    The experience made me feel very positive about the caliber of young leaders that will be entering the workforce this year and leading us all into tomorrow.  I genuinely enjoyed meeting them all and being a mentor to such a fantastic and enthusiastic group of young people.  Who knows?  Maybe one of them will go on to create and run the next innovative and progressive company of our time! If we gave some inspiration for them to do so, that will be the greatest reward of all.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Written By: Maggie Karl (Manager Contract Manufacture)

Annual DUKAL St. Patty's Day Lunch

 Yesterday Gerry treated his Irish and Irish food loving employees to a traditional feast of Corned Beef and Cabbage, so I thought I would treat our blog readers to my Irish Soda Bread Recipe!

We lovingly refer to this as our “Irish Soda Brick” because it’s a very heavy bread, a sweet and dense treat that’s delicious straight from the oven or toasted with your morning coffee.

Maggie’s Irish Soda Bread   

3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Bread Flour*
1 cup Granulated White Sugar Zest of 1 Large Lemon**
1 Tbsp Baking Powder

3 Large Eggs
1 cup Milk***
¼ cup Buttermilk

1 cup Raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a standard loaf pan.

Combine dry ingredients and lemon zest in a large bowl.
Lightly beat 3 eggs, add milk and buttermilk, then mix in dry ingredients until just combined.  Mixture will be thick, but if it looks too dry add another splash of buttermilk.
Stir in raisins, then pour mixture into greased and floured pan.  Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when knocked on. 

Notes:
*This was the first year I used bread flour and I really liked the texture.  This bread was still dense but was slightly spongier than the other loafs I made with 4 cups of all purpose flour.  That being said, you can certainly use all non-purpose flour if you don’t happen to have bread flour on hand.

**The more lemon zest the better.  You can add some orange zest if you like, too.

***We only ever have 1% milk in our house, so that’s what I use, but any percent will work.  You could also use all buttermilk, or all regular milk, as long as the total volume of wet ingredients remains the same.

Support for Breast Cancer Research

By Dianne Tuzzolino (Sales Administrator)

Support for Breast Cancer Research comes in all different sizes, shapes and colors…

Just ask the folks at Body Stylz Tatoo and Piercing Studio in Avon Lake, Ohio….seems they are running “Tattoos for a Cure” October 19^th – 23^rd. 

Get a tattoo of a cancer ribbon for $10.00 and the proceeds go towards Breast Cancer research…That’s for the people who really want to shout out their support for this great cause. Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve!

Don’t want a ribbon but still want to help? 10% of any other tattoo is donated as well…

What a great unique idea… 

DUKAL was asked to make a donation of product for the event and we were glad to help. Many of the DUKAL employees have friends or family affected by cancer…and in many cases breast cancer. Anytime we can help we try to do so…we wish everybody at Body Stylz much success during the event! 

Check out their Facebook page or website for even more information

Body Stylz

If you live in the area of Avon Lake~ stop by and say hello! Maybe even get a tattoo for this important cause!

Some of the ladies at DUKAL are big fans of “ink” as well...they proudly show of some their art in support!