At Cheever Specialty Paper & Film we are always looking for new ways to provide the best service to our customers. Our services include designing, sourcing and inventorying specialty paper, film and tape for the manufacturing and packaging industries, as well working with customers to solve problems that require a custom solution. The latest innovation we have developed to meet our customers’ needs is a dimensions and dollars conversion chart.
The Cheever dimensions and dollars conversion chart was developed to easily convert different sizes and weight of paper. This is important as basis weight, which describes the density of a specific sheet of paper according to how many pounds one ream weights at its basic size is only used in the United States. One ream of paper is typically about 500 sheets of paper. Other countries around the world measure this using the metric equivalent, which is grammage weight. Grammage weight is the weight of paper in terms if grams per square meter. It measures the same thing as basis weight, but does not consider paper density or basic size.
Another form of paper measurement is M Weight. This refers to weight of 1000 cut sheets of paper. M weight is useful for paper suppliers because it is always consistent with a specific paper size, which makes calculating shipping charges easier. Many times this information needs to be converted into different units of measurement like lbs., linear foot, linear yard, and square yardage among others. Once this conversion is made, it is also important to know how much it will cost per this unit of measurement to order.
Our conversion chart makes easy this process for you. With this chart no longer will you have to do all of the equations to find out the information you are looking for each time you are looking to order new products. For more information about this chart, and how it could benefit you, please reach out to our team.
Protecting the environment of planet Earth is a job for all people across the globe no matter what country they reside in. It is the most valuable resource mankind has, and steps can be taken by both individuals and businesses to limit the harm done to the environment on both micro and macro levels. To call attention to the potential hazards to the Earth and the environment, Earth Day is celebrated around the world each April the 22nd.
Earth Day is an event that started in 1970 as a way to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The goal of the day and the events around it is to bring attention to the vital importance of protecting our planet and to bring people together while doing it. The campaign for Earth Day 2017 is Environmental & Climate Literacy. Because education is the foundation for progress, the best way to foster change is to teach people about the concepts of climate change and make them aware of the potential threat to our planet. Environmental groups around the world will be hosting events to educate their community on the things they can do to limit the pollution they contribute, and the steps they can take to make a positive impact on the environment.
At Cheever Specialty Paper & Film we recognize that many of our customers would like to take steps to help the environment whenever possible. Many times this can mean using products and materials that are environmentally friendly or green. With our over 75 years of experience designing, and sourcing specialty paper, film and tape for the manufacturing and packaging industries, we have the experience to get you the products you need. Our capabilities allow us to provide products like papers or tapes that are made of recyclable materials of various percentages to help you lessen your negative impact on the environment. Our team can also work with you figure out the best materials for your projects requirements that are cost effective while still being environmentally friendly.
For years now there has been concerns over the state of the manufacturing industry and if it will ever reach the previous pre-recession highs. The automotive, aerospace, and building/construction industries among others have only recently begun to improve. One industry with untapped growth potential is the medical and recreational marijuana industries. As state governments change their laws regarding the legality of marijuana in their state, a whole new production industry is starting from scratch to meet the demand.
Why the Marijuana Industry is Growing
Until fairly recently marijuana was illegal under both state and federal law. This has changed with Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington making the use of both recreational and medicinal marijuana completely legal. Many additional states including almost all in the northeast and the southwest have changed their laws to make marijuana for medical purposes legal. Numerous additional states have legislation under review and up for vote to determine if the status will change.
The Marijuana Industry Creates Jobs
With the status of marijuana changing in states all across the country, the infrastructure for marijuana production must be created from scratch. A study from the Las Vegas based RCG Economics group concluded that legalizing recreational marijuana would add more than 6,200 jobs in the first four years in the state of Nevada. This would also create millions of tax dollars and would create nearly 3,000 jobs in related industries like security firms, attorneys and transportation companies. In Connecticut the use of medical marijuana is growing with over 500 physicians currently registered to recommend treatment up from 81 in September 2014. Miami-Dade county has recently investigated the effects of medical marijuana production and has estimated that 125 direct jobs, 75 indirect jobs, and 102 construction related jobs could be created with an annual impact of nearly $62 million, a figure that would grow in the next 10 years. With these kinds of economic numbers, it’s clear that more cities and states will be looking to bring production of medical marijuana locally in an effort to generate revenue and create jobs.
At Cheever we understand this is a new industry that is rapidly growing. In our previous blog Who Put Paper in My Marijuana? we have explored the benefits of specialty paper in the process of extracting marijuana for the oils. As a specialty paper supplier we work with growers, medical labs and production facilities to help them find the correct parchment paper, the correct size paper, and to educate them about printing on certain materials, and what oils work best with what paper. For more information on how we can assist please contact us.
That’s right folks, Specialty Paper is showing up in the Medical Marijuana space. Now of course not literally but Specialty Papers like Parchment, Glassine, PTFE are all being used in this new Medical Marijuana market.
Is It For Real
I don’t think there is a soul out there that is reading this blog posting that has not seen or heard of the Marijuana market space taking off. The adult usage in regards to market sales in 2014 was $373,800,000 and then in 2015 in grew by 232% to $1,241,400,00. This is the fastest growing market area to date according to Leafly.com
Where Does Specialty Paper Fit In
I’m going to leave the actual marijuana 101 out of this article, there are tremendous sites out there that are incredible about explaining marijuana. I highly recommend Leafly (www.leafly.com). Just take a quick look and you will quickly realize this is not a “burn-out”, hippie, throwback hang out, and there are several other sites.
It is all about the process of extracting marijuana for the oils. It is in this process that a Specialty Paper is used. Growers will take the buds, heat and compress them causing a sap like oil (hash oil sometime it is known as) to be forced out. But before this happens, they put a 6” x 6” square of Silicone Coated Parchment paper down, so when the oil starts oozing out, it can easily be scrapped and removed. (For the avid marijuana growers, please exclude the crudeness in the simplified explanation, we are targeting the Specialty Paper suppliers here – please don’t take offense).
Several Sizes Needed
There are several sizes that are used for this, anywhere from 4” x 4” to 12” x 12” squares. Some folks are needing printing/branding, some need shapes similar to ring boxes, others need some type of folding pattern. The most common request we see is for Silicone coated parchment. This is your typical baking sheet that you would bake with. For the small mom and pop growers, Costco and Bj’s have been filling their needs. Also keep in mind, there is Quilon coated parchment, which has been around since the dawn of time. Of recent it has received a bad rap due to the Chromium that is inherent in the parchment made with this due to the Quilon coating. Before you think bad, just think, every cupcake you ate when you were a kid, was baked with a Quilon coated paper cupcake holder, and you are still here today reading this silly blog – go figure.
Also used is Glassine paper. A very smooth paper that has a barrier resistance, not as good as parchment, but can work in certain applications. But for true total 100% greaseproof, waterproof, barrier proof, and extremely resistant to all chemicals it would be Teflon coated paper, known as PTFE. The drawback, it is the most expensive of the papers listed.
Markets Served
The Paper industry is just one industry that is benefiting from this growing market. Medical and biological labs have transformed into extracting marijuana due to already having a lot of the gear and process in house. The equipment to make extractions has revised several manufactures that were selling into the fragrance markets that were hunted down by marijuana expertise to “tweak” their machine’s for extracting the oil. Farming – sort of no explanation needed here. Just look at the areas in Colorado and Washington that were barren and is now being transformed into a rich paradise for growing.
Mircosoft is even in on the game – that’s right. They are helping to write software that will monitor the growth of the plants and help monitor the whole process. Think about this, Microsoft is putting energy into the Marijuana space. Heck even Whoopie Goldberg has her own company around a certain strain of marijuana.
Conclusion for the Paper Industry
So you get the point, this is not a fad, it’s not going away, you will see all 50 states in your life time be medical marijuana enabled – there I said, I will get off my pot box.
For Specialty Paper suppliers like myself, these are very, very exciting times. We have already been dealing with several small growers, several medical labs, marketing specific companies and publicly traded companies with their only mission is around medical marijuana. We have been helping companies find the correct parchment or correct size, as well as work on educating them about printing on certain materials, and what oils work best with what paper.
We have also in the last month partnered with a local mill in using their parchment like paper to create a very unique offering. This is Nano cellulose fibers, using Nano technology to align these fibers which makes a barrier resistant parchment like paper. Then we coat with Silicone both sides, creating a truly unique Specialty Paper. In our next posting will dive into this and the Nano craze taking hold in some areas of the Paper Market space. Please visit us at www.cheeverspecialty.com or shoot me an email, would love to answer any question etc. – jeff.e@cheeverspecialty.com
