NEXE Completes Successful Factory Acceptance Test for Proprietary High-Speed Dosing Machine
This machinery will increase NEXE's production capacity to over 50 million annual Keurig® Compatible Pods
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 3, 2021 /CNW/ - NEXE Innovations Inc. ("NEXE" or the "Company"), (TSXV: NEXE) (OTC Markets: NEXNF) (Frankfurt: NX5), a leader in plant-based materials manufacturing, is pleased to announce that it has completed its Factory Acceptance Test ("FAT") for its assembly, filter form and dosing automation. The successful test was finalized on October 26, 2021 at our manufacturing partner's facility in Europe. This is the first of two custom machines that were ordered by NEXE in February 2020, pre-pandemic. We anticipate that this critical piece of equipment should arrive this month at NEXE's headquarters in Vancouver, followed-up with a Site Acceptance Test ("SAT") conducted by both our operations team and our European partners. We expect this equipment to be commissioned within two weeks of successful SAT.
This high-speed automation was designed and engineered based on NEXE's proprietary specifications for the Company's Keurig®-compatible NEXE Pod. As standard automation in the space was not sufficient to assemble our compostable polymers, most of the processes were pioneered by NEXE and its partners. The Company expects to receive the second assembly and filling machine for Keurig® compatible pods in early 2022, increasing NEXE's production capacity to over 100 million annual Keurig® compatible pods.
"We are incredibly proud of the technology that we have developed; it is truly for coffee lovers," said Ash Guglani, President of NEXE. "This proprietary automation allows us to dose more volume of coffee per capsule compared to leading competitors."
The FAT is a process that evaluates the equipment during and after the assembly process by verifying that it is built and operating in accordance with design specifications. The successful FAT was based on the following parameters:
- Machine capacity resulted in 200 capsules per minute with a mechanical efficiency of over 93% and mechanical downtime at less than 3.5%.
- The total packaging material loss was less than 4% and overall quality performance was greater than 96%.
- Capsule filling target weights were set to 12g and maintained this target within 0.96 of a gram. The capability index (CPk) of 1.8, is much better than the standard of 1.3, indicating a very stable and capable filling operation.
"The FAT results prove that NEXE is able to consistently produce our pods at a high rate while maintaining the performance and taste profile that our customers demand from a superior pod. This means that we will be able to continuously produce our pods without losing the integrity of the product up to a capacity of at least 50 million pods per year," added Guglani.
This machine means that NEXE will soon have custom automation equipment for the production of pods that are compatible with both of the two-leading single-serve coffee formats: Keurig® and Nespresso® OriginalLine and addressing a sizable portion of the growing potential 60 billion per year coffee pod market. The Company also plans to continue to purchase additional equipment to increase production capacity as required to fulfill growing demand.
"This successful test demonstrates that NEXE's plant-based materials can be assembled at production speed and proves the scalability of the technology," added Guglani. "This moves us one step closer to increasing our facility production capacity by 50 million pods with each dosing line."
The single-serve coffee pod and capsule market was measured at US$25.07 billion in 2020, and it is projected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.07% from 2021-2026, according to a report from Mordor Intelligence.1
Learn more about NEXE Innovations online at https://nexeinnovations.com/investors/.
*NEXE Innovations Inc. is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by Keurig®. Keurig® is a registered trademark of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc.
**NEXE Innovations Inc. is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by Nespresso®. Nespresso® is a registered trademark of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.
About NEXE Innovations Inc.
NEXE Innovations Inc. is a leader in plant-based compostable technology and advanced materials manufacturing based in British Columbia, Canada. The company has developed one of the only patented, fully compostable, plant-based, single-serve coffee pods for use in leading single-serve coffee machines. The proprietary NEXE pod is designed to reduce the significant environmental impact caused by single-serve pods, over 50 billion of which are discarded every year. With over $60 million raised to date from equity and government funding and over six years of R&D, NEXE is well-positioned to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly and sustainable products in the single-serve coffee sector and beyond. Learn more: https://nexeinnovations.com/.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
NEXE INNOVATIONS INC.
s/ "Ash Guglani"
Ash Guglani, President
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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements or information, which include the launch of NEXE's new coffee blends, ability to create other environmentally friendly compostable packaging opportunities, development of technologies, the potential of the Company's technology, future plans, regulatory approvals, and other matters. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "will", "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including but not limited to, business, economic and capital market conditions, the ability to manage operating expenses, consumer demand for and sentiment towards the Company's products, security threats, and dependence on key personnel. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the demand for its products, anticipated costs, and the ability to achieve goals. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, failure to obtain regulatory approval, the continued availability of capital and financing, equipment failures, litigation, increase in operating costs, the impact of Covid-19 or other viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, competition, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations, government regulations, loss of key employees and consultants, and general economic, market or business conditions. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE Nexe Innovations Inc.
Ash Guglani, President and Director, Kelsey Letham, Investor Relations at 604-359-4731, or visit: nexeinnovations.com
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