Swift idea turns into innovative business

By Carolyn Sloan

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

It began five years ago with a lobster claw.

Roland Swift was talking to his cousin, a local lobster fisherman, when he suggested that Roland invent a machine that would make it easier to band claws.

“I kind of took him serious,” says Swift. “I found out that it was possible and started working on a prototype.”

It was from that first banding machine that Morswift Machines was born. It wasn’t long before Swift realized that the same technology could be used for a variety of product packaging. With the help of three angel investors, he started his own business, beginning with a machine that would band broccoli, and then developing another model that would bundle other types of materials.

“There’s three different models,” Swift explains. “It started out with a model that banded lobster claws, but we soon found out that rubber bands were on a lot of other products that were sold, so we decided to develop a machine that puts rubber bands on broccoli. And, of course, we developed another model that would bundle anything like moldings or florescent bulbs…anything that would be bundled by tape or vinyl strapping.”

The guest speaker at the Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency’s Tech Social on May 15, Swift is now an award-winning innovator who is revolutionizing product packaging around the world. With 17 million potential customers, his machines are under development constantly.

“We have [research and development] going on in our shop everyday,” says Swift, who employs five full time staff at his shop in Digby where the machines are manufactured. “Mostly, right now, we’re selling them in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. There’s not so many sales in the Maritimes, but in the States it’s crazy.”

He adds that with four to five thousand potential customers across the boarder, there’s more business than he and his staff can currently handle.

There are a couple key benefits to using the machines, the first being that it reduces the labour required for packaging. At one point, Swift went to fish packing plant that bands crab using corrugated plastic. It took two women to do the banding – one to hold the crab, the other to put on the band. Then one of the women started banding with one of the Morswift machines.

“They had 18 people on the line,” Swift says. “One machine with one woman did 67 per cent of their product.”

While some may not see the savings in labour as a good thing, the inventor has a different point of view.

“People in Canada, people in the US, don’t want to do menial jobs anymore,” says Swift, noting that many companies are flying in workers from developing nations to fill these kinds of seasonal positions.

“It’s a big labour issue,” he adds. “They fly Jamaicans here or anybody from a third world country…just for the simple reason that they can’t get local people to do a menial job.”

The other major benefit of the machines is the reduction in wasteful packaging. With packaging like vinyl strapping or tape, not only is the amount of packaging variable with no fixed cost per bundle, but it all ends up in the landfill. With rubber bands, on the other hand, there is a fixed cost and less waste created. Rubber bands are also something that people often collect and reuse as a household item.

Swift was to speak on May 15 at 7 p.m. at the End of the Line Pub in Bridgetown. All are welcome to attend.

“I want to say thanks to everybody that’s really been there for me,” he says. “The staff at Morswift Machines has been so supportive in this thing, when times are good and when times are bad. They’ve all stuck with me. The local support has been great as well.”