The N.C. State engineering students who gained national media attention after inventing a unique, twistable jar are moving forward with their product in the hopes that it will hit the shelves soon.
According to Michael Bissette, a senior in chemical engineering and co-inventor of the jar, the JWAT team is negotiating a licensing option agreement with a multi-billion-dollar corporation. In other words, if a deal is reached, the corporation will pay the team an incentive to give them exclusive research and development rights for the JWAT technology so that they can grasp a timely advantage in the market.
“[The corporation’s] expertise in the market and knowledge of all things packaging will add value to JWAT,” Bissette said.
The JWAT team is also negotiating a deal with “C-level” executives from another major corporation to move push forward with designing and manufacturing the jar, according to Bissette who said the company has “vast networks” of people who are knowledgeable about the consumer-packaged goods industry.
The group, which includes Stephen Smith, a senior in computer, electrical and mechanical engineering, Spencer Vaughn, an N.C. State alumnus and Sean Echevarria, a senior in mechanical engineering, has been experimenting with different forms of production while waiting to hear back from potential investors.
“The design of JWAT has not changed, however the methods by which it might be manufactured certainly have,” Bissette said. “We are looking at different ways of injection molding, blow molding, extrusion molding, extrusion blow molding and combinations of these methods to achieve the cheapest and most efficient mode of manufacturing.”
In addition to researching ways to manufacture JWAT, the team has brainstormed design tweaks that would alter the design but not how the jar functions.
“Depending on the manufacturability of our current design, these design tweaks could manifest themselves in the form of additional 3D printed prototypes if the need arises,” Bissette said. “However, assuming we figure out how to make the current design work, the next generation of prototypes would be production-ready, looking and feeling like they will on grocery store shelves.”
Bissette also said the JWAT team has been approached by other news stations, such as PBS’s North Carolina Now, as well as media companies from Europe and Japan who are interested on doing T.V. specials about the Entrepreneurship Initiative and The Garage at N.C. State.
Though the group has modified the wording in parts of their patent application since filing it, Bissette said there has been no threat of anyone designing around their patent.
“Legally, we are protected based on the fact that we were the first to file, and we expect the patent to be granted within two or three years, which is typical of utility patents like the Jar With a Twist patent application,” Bissette said.
