Why EnduraMark?
So, I assigned the EnduraMark Team some homework: Write a note that has mention of EnduraMark in it.
This expose was extracted from the Team Remarkerable (now know as EnduraMark, consisting of CEO and founder Ben Lindquist, CTO (Chief Technical Officer) Mike Ganzer, and me, CFO Bob Pederson) Final Design Report for our Spring 2017 semester in Engineering school. This is a journal entry of how, and why we got where we are today.
“Dry erase markers are an important tool in classrooms and offices. They could be improved to better meet consumer needs. Our main focus is environmental impact, especially the quantity of waste. Because of this, we decided to make a better marker which is less wasteful.
This evolved from the experience Benjamin J. Lindquist had in college, when one of his professors complained about the state of dry-erase markers with regards to how often they would inconveniently run out and interrupt him teaching his class.
The issue is the relatively short lifespan of these markers, and the amount of waste they generate.
A long lasting, refillable and re-buildable dry erase marker, with a minimum of land fillable, and a maximum of recyclable components at the end of service life was the vision of Team ReMarkerable. A better marker.
In November of 2016, Twin Cities Engineering offered entrepreneurial auditions to its current student’s in pursuit of sponsoring one for a design project during the Spring of 2017. One of those students was Benjamin J. Lindquist. He pitched the idea that the whiteboard marker needed to be improved to faculty and the entire student body, with hope that the audience would be receptive to the project through common experience/struggle of whiteboard marker use and be driven to participate in the solution. Overall, the pitch was well received and allowed to move forward. This resulted in the formation of Team ReMarkerable whom would proceed to design the better marker.
The driving forces behind the project are primarily environmental and economic. When a marker runs out of ink, the user generally throws it away due to the fact that the ink filled nib and felt ink reservoir (FIR) are not recyclable due to solvent residue from the ink, and it is difficult to separate them from the body of the marker. Although markers have low initial costs, their variable costs are high, resulting in consumers paying more in the long run for them. The costs are so high due in part to the throw away nature of the product, which ties back to the negative environmental impact. The solution to this is a quality, low cost refillable and recyclable dry-erase marker, the EnduraMark.
Dry-erase markers generally cannot be refilled. Disassembly is difficult without special tools. This means that the user will throw it away when it stops writing, which is wasteful because most of the marker is still useful. The marker is manufactured, assembled, packaged, transported, utilized for a few days and then sent to the landfill. All of the processes, before and after the user writing with it for a few days are costly in terms of money, electricity, C02 emissions, landfill accumulation, and human effort.
Team ReMarkerable envisions a marker that the end user can subjectively qualify as a quality tool, one that lasts for a long period of time.”
If you would like to see the FDR in it’s entirety, please send a self-addressed, stamped-envelope with a cashier’s check for $3,000,000.00 to the EnduraMark world Headquarters, in Brooklyn Center, MN.
Ganzer, M., Lindquist, B., and Pederson R. (2017). Executive Summary and Introduction, Remarkable Final Design Report. Unpublished bachelors’ dissertation. Minnesota State University Mankato, Mankato, MN.
Bob