Liberty Intercept Blog

From guest blogger Albert Greenhut of EMI.

I recently spent a year working in South Africa. The majority of my working hours were spent navigating the winding streets of townships helping organize and manage HIV/AIDS educational programs for kids. In my free time I tried to put myself in fun adventurous situations, like bungee jumping over the Zambezi River (in which I rafted down the class 5 rapids the day before), island hopping in northern Madagascar, safaris, climbing Kilimanjaro, and hunting in the South African bush.

Today I learned that aseptic milk cartons (invented by Tetra-Pak), which are shelf-stable and do not require refrigeration, have long ago overtaken the old-fashioned glass bottle and, as Web Packaging describes it: "As a result, the aseptic carton, which predominates in Europe and Asia, has also made the refrigerated carton an afterthought in most of the world." The importance of this aseptic milk carton cannot be understated, as it allows people in developing countries to have easy, safe, convenient sustenance in the form of milk that keeps for months without refrigeration. We've mentioned here before that packaging can solve the world's hunger problem - this is clearly a step in the right direction.

By now you may have sensed the recurring theme of our recent posts, that of enthusiasm. This guest post by returning guest blogger Albert Greenhut, of EMI, hits the nail right on the head. Credit Albert for the photo of our enthusiastic sales team, at left.

Going from the high energy, high activity, and steady thump, thump, thump of the bag making machines to the muted skepticism and hushed conversations at the start of a sales meeting was a study in contrasts. The bag machines kept that steady beat going, no interruptions, no thoughts of anything but doing the job, making the bags, getting it done. The sales meeting, by contrast, was designed to see if that same dedication to getting the job done could be transferred to people, instead of transfer of film through the dancer rolls, the goal was training and a transfer of enthusiasm to the people. Joe Spitz and John Murphy both verbalized that at the beginning of the Liberty distributor training session: sales is the transfer of enthusiasm.

I was watching my beloved Patriots last Sunday and, at the risk of alienating football fans dedicated to other teams, I am continually impressed by Coach Bill Belichick’s methodology. Strange as it may seem, his methods are personal for me because of the barrier packaging we represent.  Belichick’s personnel system flies in the face of what is conventional today and this approach is similar to our Intercept Technology barrier packaging. Let me explain.

Most people appreciate a well-tested recipe. For that reason, I'm happy to share the recipe depicted at left, which was submitted to Southern Living Magazine by a Texan named Kathryn Watkins in 1984, and tested to be delectable by me and my dinner guests many times over. It would be a rich and delicious addition to your Thanksgiving (or regular day) table.

We think the invention of the Intercept Technology packaging product line makes for a pretty nifty story. Like so many inventions, Intercept packaging materials came from a project that was started to solve a problem otherwise unrelated to its current use, which is to eliminate the challenges of rust, corrosion, and ESD on metals and electronics.

Intercept Technology™ barrier packaging has found many markets internationally, particularly in Europe. Bell Labs invented Intercept heavy duty barrier bags and films to help them solve problems with corrosion on the printed wire boards (PWB) metals. In the late 1980s, AT&T manufacturing, which later became Lucent and is now Alcatel-Lucent protected their PWB in Static Intercept barrier packaging which also has the properties of perfect static dissipation protection (ESD - electro-static discharge).

When looking at all the Intercept Technology barrier packaging photos across the web, (there are many) as well as on the Liberty Packaging web site, surely it can be a bit confusing.  Why are there dark-colored Intercept films, copper-colored Intercept film, and white-colored Intercept films? How can small, sensitive items and such large items as helicopters and drilling rigs be protected with the same material? One might ask “how can our important products be protected by the same packaging as other products that don’t even look like ours?”

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in her book "This is America" of Main Street in Hingham, Massachusetts, “This is the most beautiful main street in America.”  Historical Hingham was settled in 1633 and as I was driving one of its first roads recently, I realized it would be hard to disagree with her assessment. Big, beautiful, well-manicured homes are recessed from the street; stone walls built by craftsman mold into the contours of the land; old-growth trees shade the neighborhood.

Manufacturers looking to contain costs often consider outdoor storage for unused items: large machinery and vehicles are often stored outdoors so precious warehouse space can be reserved for other items. With the right packaging, outdoor storage is the perfect cost-saving solution for many companies.