Stapleless tea bag innovation by a Sri Lankan – The Morning – Sri Lanka News

By Imesh Ranasinghe

The famous musician duo Rohan De Lanerolle Jr. and Ishan De Lanerolle, aka ‘The De Lanerolle Brothers,’ are known and loved in Sri Lanka’s entertainment industry. However, only a few know of the De Lanerolle family’s close relationship with the tea industry in Sri Lanka, with revolutionary patented innovation in their hands which has gained the attention of large companies worldwide.

The new invention called Constanta to Stapleless (C2S) has given a new lease of life to machines that have served faithfully over the years. This cost-effective innovation seamlessly converts Constanta staple machines to be staple-free, thereby adhering to regulations and helping the environment.   

Accordingly, the old Constanta stapled tea bag packing machines are converted to stapleless tea bag packing machines by removing the tag and the bag staple unit and replacing it with the stapleless unit which was invented by Rohan De Lanerolle Sr.

The Constanta machine is entirely removed to the skull of the machine and tuned perfectly before the machine is put together with the stapleless units while the entire operation of the machine remains the same.

History of the family business 

Ishan De Lanerolle was Director of Marketing for Yala Village when his father asked him if he wanted to start a family business with two cheap tea bag machines in 2008.

Ishan was concerned about his father’s request, since at the time companies were shutting down following the global economic recession.

He is now the Director of Marketing for Abacus Tea (Pvt) Ltd., the family business they started as tea packers. The business that started in 2008 with two tea bag machines had up to 24 machines by 2017.

According to Rohan De Lanerolle Jr. – the Director of Operations at the company – the family business started with packing tea bags and was considered the ‘preferred’ contract packer by companies who wanted additional capacity.

With about 40-50 employees, Rohan noted that the business was indirectly contributing to the economy by packing tea for exporters.

The business then shifted from packing tea bags in 2015 when their father Rohan de Lanerolle Sr. came up with a new concept of a stapleless tea bag packing machine.

The inspiration behind the invention of C2S 

With the demand for stapleless tea bags increasing by 2015, Rohan De Lanerolle Sr. was left wondering what would befall his business with its stapled tea bag packing machines. Rohan Sr., who had seen many stapleless machines in tea factories in foreign countries, decided to opt for his own invention as buying new stapleless machines would be expensive.

“I faced various troubles and difficulties at the beginning as I am not a designer. Getting draughtsmen and people who could put the design on paper was what I had in my mind,” he stated.

After finding a suitable draughtsman who could understand him and follow his instructions, he was able to progress step by step in this invention until he reached a certain point where he faced the practical problem of how to collect funds to start the project.

Luckily for him, the owner of J.V. Gokal India offered assistance, as India at the time was considering banning stapled tea bags.

“So he was very keen that I do this conversion as he had over a 100 machines in his possession,” added Rohan Sr. 

The project was begun by Rohan De Lanerolle Sr. in 2015 and the new innovation was completed by 2017. The documentation for the patent process commenced in 2018.

Stapled to stapleless tea bags 

Since early 2000, many European countries and even India started to move away from stapled tea bags as it was found to be hazardous, while also posing hygiene concerns. 

“In 2015 we had 20-odd machines, so we were thinking if there was going to be a ban on stapled tea bags, we would have a dying asset and would just have to throw it away,” stated Ishan. 

Moreover, he stated that the new stapleless tea bag packing machines were very expensive with an average cost of $ 350,000, which most of the small- and medium-scale tea bag packers could not afford.

“The problem many tea bag packers had was how to recover their investments in tea bag machines, as the margins on tea bags were low when compared to earlier times,” he added.

Although the innovation was introduced for the SME sector, Ishan noted that it was Unilever that initially purchased the first converted machines locally and internationally, followed by George Steuart.

He stated that Unilever selected their product after much testing, which became a huge strength to the company.

According to Rohan Jr., a company could convert seven existing machines to stapleless machines for the price of one brand new stapleless machine, or purchase three fully-loaded machines for the price of one machine.

Fifteen such machines converted by the De Lanerolles are already being used in Unilever factories with more orders being placed.

Apart from Unilever and Geroge Steuart, TATA India has also placed orders for machine conversion with the C2S.

“Even though the converted units were introduced to SME businesses, it is good to see the strategy behind the large companies buying the converted units as they don’t want to spend so much on their overheads,” Ishan acknowledged. 

Reasons for companies to choose C2S 

Ishan added that among the reasons why their innovation attracted large companies was that it allowed those companies to keep overheads low while operating, repairing, and maintaining these machines.

According to him, the spare parts needed for repairs were manufactured within the region. The technical know-how of running the machines was relatively easy for any technician to learn, as the old Constanta machines were mechanical and not computerised.

Moreover, he stated that the converted machines had an average speed of 110 bags per minute, which meant that even if the machines suffered breakdowns, the production losses could easily be covered with a shorter repair time. However, with faster stapleless machines that produced over 200 tea bags per minute, it was impossible to catch up the production losses. 

Rohan Jr. stated that the labour that was used to manage the old stapled tea bag packing machines would be used to manage the converted stapleless machines with just the reduction in speed.

Ishan noted that companies could recover their investment into these machines in about seven years, unlike with the new stapleless machines.

Typically, in the market, an additional five cents could be charged from a tea bag with stapleless packing than from tea bags with stapled packing.

 “We are grateful for companies like George Steuart and Unilever that supported a local invention,” Rohan Jr. stated, adding that if those two companies had not supported their industry, their business would have nosedived.

However, Rohan Jr. noted that C2S had failed to gain recognition from the Government despite the invention being mentioned on the Prime Minister’s official website. 

This famous invention among leading tea companies in the region is still being manufactured in rented premises, although C2S is looking to move to its own premises with more space to continue its work.