Summit Cut Trading Post

Company: Summit Cut Trading Post
Product: Game Tag Fastener
Number of Employees: 2
Year Founded: 1998
Location: Darlington, PA

Situation:

After studying a pierced earring, Walter Kazenski came up with an idea for a one-piece, easy-to-use plastic fastener for hunters to attach state game tags to harvested birds and animals. He patented his invention and tried to sell the license to plastics manufacturers. Manufacturers were not willing to buy the patent license without first seeing a prototype of the design so they could handle the product and determine its true potential.

Project:

The fastener posed two challenges: It had to be strong and flexible, and as a one-time use product, it also had to be inexpensive. PTDC engineer Tye Sonney created a 3D solid model of the plastic fastener based on Kazenski's concept of the invention. Sonney then suggested potential materials for the application based on the design criteria. Once the 3D model was completed, a toolmaker was contacted and a relatively inexpensive mold was built to prototype the fastener in plastic. The prototypes were evaluated for their strength, flexibility, and overall ability to function in the final application.

Result:

Kazenski decided that rather than sell the patent rights, he would manufacture and market his product, now called Tags Attached, on his own. Sold in bags of three for $4.49, Tags Attached will soon be available in a chain of 115 sports stores; other major hunting goods retailers and catalogs are considering adding it to their product line. Web sales are another possibility. Pennsylvania State Game Commission officials in the southwestern part of the state of Pennsylvania are already using Tags Attached to hold evidence tags on poached animals.

Company Comments from Walter Kazenski, Owner:
"The PTDC took such an interest in my idea, you would have thought it was their own product. I didn't know much about injection molding when I started this process, so they gave me a good cross-section of information - materials selection, potential manufacturers, part-cost estimates, suggested volumes - they even helped me make prototypes. Plus, they found a competitive manufacturer close to my home. I had an unbelievably inexpensive quote from a company in Formosa, but it's important to me that the Tags Attached package says 'Made in Pennsylvania.'"