Manufacturers, distributors, retailers: GROW your
business by flipping an industry-wide problem into your opportunity
In any established market, the only realistic
growth potential is through customer preference. The plastic
bag business is no different. Customer movement follows
a better
product.
SFT's technology (U.S. Patent 7,223,016) can
improve and differentiate your bag products over those of your
competition. It solves the well-known problem of bags
being hard to open.
Manufacturers can improve their products, and
let the market see
the potential to save labour
costs, reduce waste, and improve hygiene. This implies a migration
of customers to Licensees. A limitation on the number of Licenses means
some companies will lose
market share to others.
The problem of bags being
hard to open is industry-wide. The problem of interlayer
cling is however
a part of the nature of thermoplastics. It cannot be completely
eliminated without losing other key properties. Managing
interlayer cling adds quality-control (QC) expense, and
even if your QC is excellent, there will usually be variability
in ease of opening. That variability generates complaints
because customers always want the good end of the variability.
If some of your bags are hard to open, this
is not a problem with your QC, it is in the nature of a thermoplastic
to have some degree of cling.
SFT however has
a devastatingly elegant patented solution that shifts the
problem from "managing
cling" at the manufacture stage to "overcoming
cling" at the user stage. SFT's solution is mechanical,
simple, efficient, and economical. It is illustrated in
the examples on this site. It has
already been
used
in Norway and the far East.
This can liberate QC resources, can increase tolerance
for off-standard manufacturing and storage, and increase buyer appeal because
it gives
users
a
bag
that
will
open "first
time, every time". That is a powerful way to differentiate your products
in
the market. |
The problem of interlayer cling, causing difficulty
in opening bags, resonates with virtually all users. That means
a receptive market is waiting to hear about your new products that
will eliminate a headache that users typically thought was unavoidable
in an economy bag.
The new bags open readily and reliably---one light
outward tug at the edges, and it's open.
Because this is a patented technology (U.S. patent
7,223,016, pending elsewhere, and other filings), only
Licensees can use it; so a License can tilt the playing field
in
your favour (as a Licensee).
This Licensable technology can improve and differentiate
your bag products, so you gain
market advantage.
License the solution, from ...
SNAP Film
Technologies (SFT) owns patent and trademark intellectual
property (IP) that eliminates the "hard-to-open" problem
in common plastic bags. We do not sell bags, thus our focus
is on helping our Licensees do well. Read about our Licensing
system here.
Our core patents were approved (2007) in the EU,
USA, and elsewhere.
SFT Licenses this IP to
manufacturers.
We can also License suppliers and major users such as retail chains
or
corporations
or governments,
etc.,
so
they
can
commission the improved products either for in-house use or for
further sale.
compatible with existing machinery and materials
SFT's IP is compatible with standard machinery and
materials, and the improved bags come at virtually zero incremental
cost of manufacture. For example, to switch a line making conventional
side-gusseted bags to making Zbags™, the change is
a simple adjustment that can be made even while the machine
is running.
The Xbags™, made in a side-weld process, require only punches
to be added.
applications,
products, kinds of bags:
Most conventional bags fall into one of two types: side-gusseted and side-welded.
Both are improved by (respectively) our Zbag™ group and Xbag™group.
The IP brings reliable-ease-of-use™ to
a wide range of applications of simple plastic bags --- e.g. bags
for produce, carry/shopping, utility, bakery, sandwich, bin liner,
trash/laundry, diaper, mini-cleanup/doggie-doo---in short, virtually
any side-gusseted or side-welded bag you can think of.
We also have an AUTOpack™ group
suitable for machine handling, for which we are seeking machinery
partners.
BENEFITS
benefit to users and customers
The improvement directly results in savings of time/wages,
elimination of waste of bags discarded in frustration, and smoother
workflow.
Hygiene is improved because users no
longer need to spit on fingers, or remove protective handwear,
to open bags. Especially relevant to food,
health, and tourism sectors.
benefit to manufacturers and suppliers
These bags are a way to gain market share. The benefit
to users and customers creates a market advantage for Licensed
manufacturers and suppliers.
As customers discover these bags, we expect
a market
shift whereby
Licensees will take a large part of the market away from non-Licensees.
How SNAP™ bags
work
All SNAP!™ bags operate on the same,
easy, quick, 'grip and snap' method: grip the grasping points,
and tug lightly -- it's a "snap": the bag opens because
the back and front are pulled against each other and the cling
lets go (no need to tug hard ... a small easy motion will do it).
If it doesn't open, you have the wrong end.
... Physics
of why they work
Most people grab the top of the bag and squish. It
is an empirical approach; we don't think about it, we just do it.
Why should it work at all? By squishing, we are really trying to
slide
one panel against the other.
If
it
slips,
a
bulge
or small
beginning
opening is formed. The problem
is, however, that the squishing action also presses
the panels together. It increases
what physicists call 'the Normal force' that multiplies
friction, making it harder to slip. Often,
if the
fingers are dry, the fingers will just keep slipping.
SFT's
architectural approach creates the slipping action without
increasing the normal force. SFT simply puts "grasping points" where
you can grip each panel independently of the other. It works
like a charm
because
it doesn't waste energy by increasing the normal force.
SFT takes a problem that used to be a pain in the
neck for quality control and puts it instead in the realm of structure---puts
the solution right into the hands of the user.
