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This innovation initially came to life when…

Dean Cameron was given a challenge. Four plastics experts told him that it was impossible to transport plastic sewerage tanks in parts and assemble them on site. “Inventors don’t like accepting ‘no’ for an answer. So I set to work to come up with my own solution. I was intrigued by the way clams and other molluscs were able to use filaments – called byssus threads – to attach themselves securely to rocks. That’s when I realised that the way these threads work could be used to solve my problem of joining plastics and other materials.” The solution was Joinlox.

WHAT & HOW

The purpose of this innovation is to…

Provide joining, locking, and sealing solutions across a wide selection of materials to a broad variety of global industries. It is unique as it is simple, strong, safe, secure and requires no specialist tools, consumables, or intensive technical training.

It does this by…

Adapting the core Joinlox concept of intermeshing, Joinlox castellations, and locking key sections to enable a strong, sealed, uniformly loaded joint. The Joinlox technology is adaptable and fully scalable to suit thousands of different applications.

PURPOSE & BENEFITS

This innovation improves on what came before because…

Joinlox enables a fast and secure, permanent or temporary joint that can be simply and easily assembled and disassembled without the need for traditional nuts, bolts, screws, welding or adhesives, which are expensive, time-consuming, irreversible or can lead to weaknesses in the joins.

Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…

Cost savings by reduction in materials, rapid and simple to assemble without specialist tools or training, reduces costs for assembly and servicing of products, compactness of the joint itself, reduced packaging and transport costs, reduced environmental impact and re-use/recycling of components.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

In the past, this problem was solved by…

Fiddly nuts, bolts, screws, and other permanent methods such as welding, soldering, or using adhesives. Joinlox is suitable for almost any rigid or semi-rigid material, even joining dissimilar materials, and can be integrated into the design of the existing products or as an applied joining edge.

Its predecessors/competitors include…

Traditional fastening methods such as bolted flanges, screws, rivets, nails, and clips which are not only fiddly and expensive, but also only provide a ‘point loaded’ joint. Welding, soldering, and glues are hazardous, expensive, irreversible, and require specialist operators.

TARGET MARKET

It is made for…

Those who are actively engaged in any product or industry requiring two or more objects to be joined. The industries and applications already identified as the best prospects to establish early flagship Joinlox-enabled products include tanks and vessels, storage and transport containers, furniture, building materials and modular housing, pipes and fittings, slurry chutes and piping, bridge, road and port infrastructure, electrical enclosures, HVAC ducting and chute work. The identified addressable market for Joinlox in these industries alone equals A$4.1 Billion.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

It is available for sale through…

Licensing the Joinlox technology, adapted to each application. This strategy enables maximum and rapid penetration and channel to multiple markets, and negates high levels of investment into large manufacturing plant and equipment to manufacture and supply the Joinlox enabled products.

Our marketing strategy is to…

Promote the Joinlox technology to the international, market leading organisations involved in the design, engineering, construction, equipment, processing and maintenance fields for the identified industry market segments. This enables us to penetrate multiple markets and industries simultaneously.

SUPPORTING IMAGES AND/OR VIDEO

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To check out the Anthill SMART 100 Readers’ Choice winner for 2010, click here.