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UK hygiene testing company is looking for a manufacturer of swabs that can include their innovative colour-change technology

Country of origin:
Country: 
UNITED KINGDOM
Opportunity:
External Id: 
BRUK20210713001
Published
20/07/2021
Last update
02/08/2021
Expiration date
03/08/2022

Keywords

Partner keyword: 
Detection and Analysis methods
Food Microbiology / Toxicology / Quality Control
Other Consumer Related (not elsewhere classified)
Technical testing and analysis
EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST

Summary

Summary: 
The UK hygiene testing company is active within the food & beverage, hospitality, and healthcare industries. The company is looking for a ISO9001 standard manufacturer to manufacture a fully inclusive swab that includes their colour-change chemistry that may require multiple steps: -liquid blending -swab filling & sealing -swab tip wetting -packaging The company is seeking partnership either under a manufacturing agreement or supplier agreement.

Description

Description: 

A UK company founded in 2015 has developed a colour-change swab for detecting bacterial contamination on surfaces. They are used across multiple industries, but primarily in the food, hospitality and healthcare industries to provide a record of good hygiene. The swabs are currently being sold under their own brand, and may be available to larger companies for white labelling.

The team is dedicated to creating affordable hygiene verification tests to improve the standard of hygiene across the board. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how critical preventative measures are, and the team are looking for a larger manufacturing partner to blend chemical formulations, procure and fill enclosed swabs. A picture and schematic of the swabs can be seen attached below.

Exact measurements are not required, but the blending, filling and packing process must be ISO9001 accredited. The company requires a manufacturing partner that is able to scale manufacture to meet demand. Starting at 10,000pcs (packaged into 100x 100pc boxes) per month and scaling to 1mn pcs and up.

In particular, the company prefers a partner with experience in manufacturing sustainable plastics or renewable plastic alternatives. As the company develops, they will move away from plastics and towards renewable solutions.

The company is seeking partnership either under a manufacturing agreement or supplier agreement. The company is also seeking to gain knowledge of the upscale process and specific component procurement, and are open to discussion on other forms of partnerships including licensing their technology to relevant partners.

Advantages & innovations

Cooperation plus value: 
The company's innovation improves on the state of the art. Currently, the market’s standard for testing hygiene are: -Expensive: £1.20/test. -Requires a reader: Costs £1,000. -Slow: >1 minute for results. -Needs professional training and calibration. -Temperature-sensitive and must be kept refrigerated. -A short shelf-life makes it difficult to buy in bulk. The company's swab is designed to remove these issues and is: -Affordable: <£0.40/test, aiming for £0.10/test. -Self-contained: The colour change means no readers are required. -Simple: The colour change is intuitive, removing the need for professional input. -Stable: Room-temperature stable, with a long shelf-life for easy storage and transportation. -Rapid: Results in under 30 seconds.

Technical Specification or Expertise Sought

Cooperation sought: 
The company is looking for a partner who can procure the swab components, blend the chemical solutions and subsequently fill and manufacture the final swab product. The swab requires two different solutions to be blended, one is present on the swab tip and the other is filled at a specific volume in the encapsulated housing sealed with the snap valve. The style of swab envisioned is commonly used within the pharmaceutical and food industry for a variety of on site testing processes. Different commercially available swabs have different styles, which share the same property of separating the two solutions. Swab manufacturers which are unable to provide separation between the two solutions will not be suitable partners for this project. All the chemistries utilised by the company only require mixing with no need for high temperatures or pressures for their blending. Most manufacturers would be equipped for the blending process. The main requirement would be ensuring the partner is able to readily scale with product demand as sales grow.

Stage of development

Cooperation stage dev stage: 
Available for demonstration

Partner sought

Cooperation area: 
The company is looking to partner with a manufacturer of any size from the industry to manufacture swabs containing the company's patent-pending colour-change technology. The company is seeking partnership either under a manufacturing agreement or supplier agreement. The company is also seeking to gain knowledge of the upscale process and specific component procurement. The company are also open to discussion on other forms of partnerships including licensing their technology to relevant industry partners.

Type and size

Cooperation task: 
SME 11-50,SME <10,>500 MNE,251-500,SME 51-250,>500

image.png

A picture and schematic of the swabs can be seen here.

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