As an EU requirement to minimize packaging Is underway, a small Fornebu company has secured world patents that halve emissions and shipping costs. Stian Valentin Knutsen presents what turns out to be a cube divided into six equal pyramidal units. These shapes will help avoid what is essentially ‘transporting air’, as they will get significantly more products on a pallet.
“Our packaging can be used for everything from fruit, vegetables and berries to ready meals and dog and cat food,” Knutsen adds. The 57 year-old has been an entrepreneur since he started an advertising agency as a 19 year-old. Over time, the serial entrepreneur has done everything from selling innovations to Orkla to designing clothes for Adidas.
“When I worked for Orkla and visited their factories, I saw how much air they packed on pallets. For example, a pallet of cylinders will contain between 30 and 45 percent air. Round packaging is not optimal. It is much easier to stack cubes without unnecessary air.“ He got the idea for Q-Bic in 2015, applied for patents and started the company Smart Packaging Industries in 2017.
Bjørn Sloreby came into contact with Knutsen three years ago when he invested in the company. A year and a half ago, Sloreby was asked if he knew anyone who could lead it. “I raised my hand. And so it was.” Sloreby has previously started two own companies, been a manager in several of the companies in the McCann group and had Nordic responsibilities.
“It has taken almost six years and cost considerable sums to get patents approved in the most important markets, such as the patent for the USA that we were recently granted. Due to high volume and long transport distances, we have defined the USA as one of our most important markets,” says Sloreby, adding that the first commercial sale is literally in the works.
“We are having our first commercial batch of Q-Bic for blueberries in-store during February or March. This is for BAMA in Norway- and the blueberries will be delivered and packed by Royal in Morocco. BAMA's pyramid-shaped cup with blueberries is sent from Morocco to Norway. Compared to similar plastic packaging, Bama gets between 50,000 and 60,000 more blueberry cups with our packaging on the same refrigerated transport. With Q- Bic, Bama will be able to reduce the number of trailers/containers by 35- 40 per cent, with correspondingly significant reduced costs and emissions of greenhouse gases throughout the value chain,” explains Sloreby.
For more information:
Bjørn Sloreby
Tel.: +47 916 24 420
Email: bjorn.sloreby@q-bic.com