Max Winograd, CEO of NuLabel Technologies in East Providence, recently made it on to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in the manufacturing category. He talks about how the company formed, as well as its next steps. NuLabel specializes in making adhesives that are only sticky when they need to be. The company formed in 2009 and now has 24 employees
PBN: Where did you get the idea for the business?
WINOGRAD: The problem that NuLabel set out to solve was seeded as part of a Brown University Engineering Capstone course. Companies like Walmart, FedEx and UPS throw away half of what they print when it comes to labels. This waste stream equates to billions of dollars annually and millions of pounds of landfill waste. As we began to understand the marketplace and other solutions that were attempted and failed, we saw an opportunity to reinvent the way we think of labels by rethinking the way adhesives are deployed in labels and packaging. We finished the course, incorporated the business in 2009 and then began researching an activatable adhesive approach that lead the way to our first product offering – a fluid-activated adhesive that eliminates the need for messy wet glues or always-sticky pressure sensitive labels that use the wasteful, expensive backing paper that companies large and small have to buy and discard.
PBN: Any new products in the works?
WINOGRAD: NuLabel at its core is a polymer chemistry and engineering company and we have several products in the early stages of development. We call these early stages “Orange Labs” and this incubation period for new products and technology platforms includes concepts for specific applications as well as new platforms of novel activatable adhesive technologies. We are best known for our commercially available fluid-activated adhesive solution that eliminates messy glues from packaging lines for everyone from large multinational food companies to craft breweries. Our fluid-activated adhesive solution went commercial last year with Bell’s Brewery, the seventh largest craft brewery in the U.S. With trillions of labels in the marketplace, we’ve caused quite a stir in the food and beverage packaging marketplace.
PBN: How did it feel to be named one of the top 30 under 30 in the manufacturing category in Forbes’ annual list?
WINOGRAD: It was an honor to be named to the list, but the entire team should have been honored. Our team has been the key ingredient to all of our success. The complimentary skills, collaborative culture and research environment, and commitment to customers combine to build an unstoppable force. Awards and honors do not equate to success; so for us (and for me), it’s all about how we perform in the marketplace and fostering a team that sets NuLabel and its products apart from the rest of the industry.
PBN: What made you start the business in Rhode Island?
WINOGRAD: For us, Rhode Island was the headquarters of our human capital and thus a natural place to start and locate our business. For me human capital includes everyone inside and outside the company that are necessary assets for the company to succeed. Our first investor is from R.I. Our team met and incubated the idea as part of Betaspring in Providence. Our mentor network and advisory board was primarily based in R.I. when we first started. Since then, we’ve been able to build on top of that foundation with the hiring of dozens of talented Rhode Islanders and folks from around the country relocating from Manhattan, Ohio, Colorado, Boston, and Wisconsin to call R.I. and NuLabel home.
PBN: Where do you see the business in five years?
WINOGRAD: The next five years is all about expanding beyond the world of label. Even though we have ‘label’ in our name and our logo, our core technology platforms have much broader market applications – from furniture lamination to consumer packaged goods and apparel. Anywhere an activatable chemistry coating can provide cost, waste and inefficiency reductions is a place when NuLabel can offer its proprietary platforms and make money.
