Employee engagement and unique culture play a pivotal role in educational toy companies’ ongoing success and recognition

VERNON HILLS, Ill., Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Sister companies Learning Resources and hand2mind have been recognized again as two of Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces for 2024, marking the fifth consecutive year each company has independently earned this special title and recognition, nominated purely by their own employees. Founded 40 years ago, Learning Resources is a trusted, family-owned manufacturer of educational toys, games and classroom products. Since 1965 hand2mind has been creating industry-leading supplemental curriculum and hands-on teaching tools that thousands of educators rely on in the classroom and parents have also grown to love.

These two sister companies continue to thrive thanks in large part to their loyal, dedicated team members who create award-winning educational resources and toys for children to use both at home and in the classroom. The teams at both companies have collectively strived to find new ways to help address the learning needs of children everywhere. From fine and gross motor skills development to social-emotional learning (SEL) and the Science of Reading, both Learning Resources and hand2mind provide an array of hands-on resources that bring learning to life. Philanthropy remains a top priority for the two mission-driven companies as year after year each has donated thousands of award-winning educational toys, resources, and more to underserved communities and schools. 

“Earning a Top Workplace Award for the fifth consecutive year is an outstanding accomplishment but one that honestly doesn’t surprise me. We truly have an amazing group of talented employees and committed leaders who genuinely care and live by our values each and every day. Through years of dedication and hard work we can all take credit for creating something very special here” said Sybil Worden, VP of Human Resources at Learning Resources and hand2mind. “This award simply helps us know we’re doing something right, and motivates us to keep going…our employees recognize it.”

Employees chose to speak up and leave comments throughout the survey that support the efforts of the organization as a whole, for example, “what motivates me is how we bring to life our core values, the impact we have on young children’s development, and all the great colleagues and management who make work fun,” and “I always recommend to friends and family that this is a great place to work because it is a truly mission-driven organization with great people and a ton of growth potential day in and day out.”

In the survey conducted on behalf of the Chicago Tribune, employees of Learning Resources and hand2mind were asked “why they love their job,” with responses such as: “growth and development aren’t just talked about, but they are truly supported in this organization,” and “our mission is ultra important, we are inspiring a love a learning in every child from every walk of life.” One employee noted, “I am encouraged to be entrepreneurial, creative, innovative in my day-to-day work. New ideas are always considered and we are encouraged to raise our hand with an idea,” and another employee stated, “because I come to work each and every day, and look forward to being among coworkers who have a similar mindset about creating an ultra high quality product to help children grow.”

When employees were asked “why they would recommend working here,” one employee stated “this place is a gem, and you have to work here to truly understand its uniqueness,” another said, “when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life, I can honestly say I love coming in to work every day,” and “our HR team does an absolutely amazing job focusing on culture each and every day, and always thinking of the little extra things to make each and every one of us feel valued and appreciated.”

Employees also shared things like “working here I know that I have the potential for personal growth, and I have the ability to fulfill a strong purpose-based mission through my work.” Another employee said that “I feel appreciated and like my actual personal life is taken into consideration here, I’m not just a robot performing a task. People care about me and always make a point to say family first.”

Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplace awards are evaluated solely through employee feedback, nomination and assessment. Per the Chicago Tribune, “a top workplace is considered successful because its employees enjoy their work, embrace their mission and feel like valued teammates.”

“In an era where many companies experienced high turnover, we have been fortunate to have turnover at an all-time low. I think the team here knows we are a “People First” place to work, and invest heavily to promote personal growth and development. We owe much of our success to our team and are honored to have attracted so many great people who are committed to our mission,” said Rick Woldenberg, Chief Executive Officer of Learning Resources and hand2mind. “Winning this Top Workplace Award for the fifth year in a row is an amazing honor and testament to our mission, our company culture and our values as a family-owned business.”

ABOUT LEARNING RESOURCES:
We’re Learning Resources®, and learning is where we play. Trusted by parents and teachers since 1984, our award-winning educational toys help kids develop a lifelong love of learning while building essential school-ready skills—from ABCs and 123s to screen-free coding and STEM, we make learning fun at every age, stage, and skill level. Discover countless ways to learn through play with our award-winning, top-selling products including Pretend & Play® Calculator Cash Register, Farmer’s Market Color Sorting Set and Toy of the Year winner Botley® the Coding Robot.

For more information, visit www.learningresources.com, or follow the brand on Twitter @LearningHandsOn, Facebook @LearningResources, and Instagram @learningresources.

ABOUT HAND2MIND:
At hand2mind, we believe children learn best by doing. For over 50 years, teachers and school administrators at thousands of schools and districts across the country have relied on our high-quality, hands-on materials to expand their core curriculum. Offering resources for math, science, STEM, and literacy, our mission is to support teachers, inspire students, engage parents, and champion learning by doing. For more information, please visit www.hand2mind.com or follow the brand on Facebook @hand2mindinc, and Instagram @hand2mindinc. 

Press Contact:
Nicole Curro
Nicole@carvecomms.com

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SOURCE Learning Resources

IDEMIA Public Security continues to assert its leadership with top results for Proprietary Fingerprint Template (PFT), Facial Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE) and Age Evaluation Verification (AEV)

COURBEVOIE, France, Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IDEMIA Public Security, the leading provider of secure and trusted biometric-based solutions, announced today it has delivered top accuracy for its algorithms in multiple categories with the latest National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) benchmark tests, which measure the world’s leading vendors.

The latest release of NIST’s tests, which represents the global benchmark and emphasizes the need for transparent technology solutions among the industry, show that IDEMIA Public Security continues to lead the market with their algorithms, demonstrating its commitment to offering innovative, accurate, and fair solutions. The results for IDEMIA included:

#1 in the NIST Proprietary Fingerprint Template (PFT) on all test datasets with a focus on 1:1 fingerprint comparison

#1 in fairness in the NIST Facial Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE)IDEMIA’s Facial Recognition Technology ranked the fairest, demonstrating that IDEMIA’s technology maintains its outstanding performance in accuracy among all demographics

#1 in the NIST Age Evaluation Verification (AEV), evaluating the ability of an AI system to gauge the age of a person based on a portrait

“I’m proud to share these latest NIST results, which once again point to our market-leading capabilities and commitment to excellence,” shared Vincent Bouatou, Chief Technology Officer, IDEMIA Public Security. “In developing accurate and efficient technologies, we take the importance of keeping equity and fairness at the core of our products seriously as we pledge to create value for our customers and a meaningful impact on society, whether it’s enabling law enforcement to solve crimes more quickly or providing government customers the technology to combat identity fraud.”

For more than 50 years, IDEMIA has worked to provide solutions to government, trans-governmental, and private organizations across the world to safeguard the lives and well-being of citizens. To learn more, click here.

About IDEMIA Public Security 
IDEMIA Public Security, a division of IDEMIA Group is the leading provider of convenient and trusted biometric-based solutions, transforming public and private organizations across the globe. Our industry-enabled and client-specific solutions draw upon decades of expertise in biometrics to revolutionize the fields of public security and identity, travel and transport, and access control. Built on privacy and trust, our market-leading iris, fingerprint and facial recognition solutions top independent benchmarking for accuracy, fairness and scalability. These exacting standards enable our clients to build safer, fairer societies where people can live, interact, and move about freely. Our best-in-class solutions also make us the partner of choice for leading integrators, technology providers, OEMs, and specialized partners. Learn more here.

Media contact:    
Genevieve de Vera       
IDEMIA Public Security
(978) 808-7047  
genevieve.devera@us.idemia.com   

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SOURCE IDEMIA

The control unit delivers enhanced connectivity, real-time diagnostics for valves in food and beverage applications 

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — SPX FLOW, a global leader in automation and process engineering solutions, has launched the CU4plus ASi-5 control unit. This next-generation technology is based on the advanced Actuator Sensor Interface 5 (ASi-5) standard for enhanced connectivity and flexibility. It delivers unparalleled control and monitoring for APV® and Waukesha Cherry-Burrell® sanitary valves, offering greater flexibility, faster installation and enhanced day-to-day processing performance.

To learn more about the CU4plus ASi-5, visit: https://www.spxflow.com/apv/products/cu4plus-valve-control-units 

The CU4plus ASi-5 sets a new standard in valve management by integrating Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities. It is engineered to optimize uptime, efficiency and system interoperability, making it an ideal solution for modern automation needs.

Key features and benefits include:

Increased productivity: Enables control for up to 96 devices in a single network, managing 36% more devices than the previous generation of products.Faster response time: Four times faster than ASi-3, for better process control, enhancing system efficiency and overall performance.Quick maintenance response: Air pressure and valve parameter monitoring alarms indicate service needs in real-time in the programmable logic controller (PLC), enabling improved operating efficiency.More comprehensive data: Each control unit can transfer up to 32 bytes of process data, providing comprehensive information exchange and enhanced system monitoring.Automated configuration: Save and reload configurations within the system deliver fast, accurate system recovery during replacements.Increased sustainability: Advanced seat-lifting pulsation technology significantly decreases water consumption during the Cleaning-In-Place (CIP) process and reduces CIP fluid loss by up to 80% compared with conventional seat-lifting technology.Reduced costs: Double network length reduces installation costs and improves maintenance with less downtime compared to other protocols.

Viviana Rodríguez, Global Product Manager, APV Valves: “We’re excited to introduce the CU4plus ASi-5 as a pivotal control solution for the food and beverage industry. By incorporating IoT, sustainability features and real-time diagnostics, this control unit offers end users more data, faster operations and smarter, more intuitive maintenance than ever before. It’s a true leap forward in valve management technology supported by APV’s global network and engineering excellence.”

About SPX FLOW, Inc.  
Based in Charlotte, N.C., SPX FLOW, Inc. improves the world through innovative and sustainable solutions. The company’s product offering is concentrated in process technologies that perform mixing, blending, fluid handling, separation, thermal heat transfer and other activities that are integral to processes performed across a wide variety of nutrition, health, and industrial markets. SPX FLOW has operations in more than 25 countries and sales in more than 140 countries. To learn more about SPX FLOW, please visit www.spxflow.com.  

Media Contact:
Melissa Buscher, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer
Melissa.Buscher@spxflow.com

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SOURCE SPX FLOW, INC.