TEMPORARY GLUE

Last week I keynoted the Contract Packaging Association with a talk on quality as the absence of variation. If you would like a copy, drop a note to johnhenry@changeover.com

One of the other speakers was Dan Altman from Delkor Systems (www.delkorsystems.com). There are hundreds of types of glues commercially available for every conceivable purpose but Dan surprised me with a new one; new to me at least. I now find it has been around for a while. In most cases glue that lost its stick in 24 hours would be unusable. In this system, they use glue that loses its stickiness on purpose.

Delkor is using this property to build systems that eliminate packaging material. One example he showed us was of glass jars packed on a slipsheet and shrinkwrapped. Immediately prior to being collated, glue is applied to the slipsheet where the jars will sit.  This bonds them firmly to the sheet through the rest of the transport and wrapping process. The tight bond prevents movement between jars.

After wrapping and shrinking, the glue is no longer necessary. In fact, it would be undesirable causing difficulty in removing them from the sheet. This is where the special glue comes in. After 24 hours it crystalizes, releasing the jars.

I have a huge knot in my forehead from continuously slapping myself. I see these ideas that seem somewhat obvious in retrospect and say “Why didn’t I think of that?” Obvious in retrospect though they may be, it took one person thinking outside the proverbial box to come up with the initial idea.

This is one more example.