As experts in engineering and manufacturing, Custom Technologies is always looking to work with innovative brands that want to create and distribute their products to the world. That’s why we are more than excited to work with Switch, helping the brand develop and distribute its reMarker.
This sustainable writing utensil is just one of Switch’s products that has the power to make a normative change for the billions of people that call Earth home. As Switch likes to say, “we can’t switch planets, so let’s Switch everything else.”
Custom Technologies is proud to work with Switch to help heal our planet and ensure a bright future for future generations.
Read on to learn more about Switch, the reMarker, and our partnership with a company dedicated to positive change.
What Is Switch?
With the belief that sustainable business starts with making things closer to home, Switch helps consumers live a zero-waste work life with its everyday circular products made in the U.S. Their goal is to raise consumers’ expectations of the goods they purchase and the companies they choose to purchase from.
Landfills are full, and our trash ends up in places where it doesn’t belong. The over-production of plastics contributes to high carbon emissions, increasing the harmful effects of climate change.
Switch believes that every company should be responsible for the lifecycle of its product(s) and take steps to produce as little waste as possible.
Switch Founders, David Gillespie and Nicholas Collins, have a combined 30 years of experience in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry. With their expertise, the two saw an opportunity to create sustainable solutions for the tools they use in their everyday lives, namely the markers they used during daily client workshops.
Thus, began their journey of designing and producing the reMarker.
What Is the reMarker?
The reMarker is a reusable permanent marker made from recycled aluminum. Fun fact, Switch offsets twice the carbon used to manufacture the reMarker, making the reMarker a carbon-negative product. But that’s not the only reason these markers are good for the environment.
Once you purchase a reMarker, you never have to throw it away. Purchase refills to replace the empty reservoir inside and continue using the same marker forever. Switch also takes back the empty reservoirs to use as ingredients in future products.
How the reMarker Refill Works
Partnering With Custom Technologies
When David and Nic began their search for a U.S.-based manufacturer, their drawings and plans for the reMarker still had some kinks to work out.
They needed a manufacturing partner that could ideate and design engineer solutions to overcome the remaining challenges in building an economically feasible and working prototype for testing and that would ensure that the design was optimized for mass manufacturing efficiencies before moving to large-scale production.
In August 2021, the Switch founders contacted Custom Technologies after reading about our Minimum Viable Launch™ approach. After just one meeting with us, David and Nic knew that they had found the partner they were looking for.
Creating The reMarker
- Prototyping & Testing
Custom Technologies’ team of engineers immediately began problem-solving operational and design challenges, and by November 5, 2021, we delivered the first reMarker prototype for independent testing.
After the initial testing, we further refined the product until we released the reMarker prototype 2.0 for testing on December 20, 2021. This process of testing and refining continued for several months until all criteria points were satisfied.
- Finish & Etching
We explored many options until the final design for the reMarker came together in June 2022, and by August, we completed the first beta run production of 350 reMarkers.
After experiencing the ease of working with Custom Technologies to create a premium product, Switch is looking to branch out to additional zero-waste, sustainable products, like fine-point pens and whiteboard markers.
Custom Technologies
At Custom Technologies, we are always eager to work with new and innovative companies. Innovation drives humanity to keep moving forward; to constantly improve ourselves in one way or another.
By choosing Custom Technologies as its full-spectrum product launch and manufacturing partner, Switch could reduce its product launch development time and ensure components were designed for manufacturability from the start, avoiding costly, time-consuming mistakes while increasing quality control.
Do you have questions about our operations? Are you looking to get your product manufactured? Contact us today!