AMI Assists Kansas Entrepreneur from Topeka with New Product
(Manhattan, Kan., November 11, 2008) – The Bag-Caddy, a new product by Kansas entrepreneur Mark Gomez, Topeka, is now on the market thanks to development and marketing assistance from the Advanced Manufacturing Institute at Kansas State University.
"The Bag-Caddy is a portable base for a trash bag that is ideal for tailgating, camping, cookouts, family reunions, lawn and garden, recycling, and parties, said Jeff Tucker, associate director at the Advanced Manufacturing Institute. "AMI assisted Gomez in securing licensing rights to use university names and logos as artwork for the Bag-Caddy, developed the branding and marketing, and identified a manufacturer for the product."
According to Tucker, a major factor in the success of this project was due to the contributions of Advanced Manufacturing Institute student interns from K-State. Graduate students in business administration conducted a prior art search and created the provisional patent disclosure; design and engineering students were involved in product design, artwork creation, Web design and the manufacturer search; computer science students developed the Web site; and marketing students produced press releases and other promotional materials.
"Developing the Web site was a great learning experience for me," said Sushma Chitturi, graduate student in computer science, Manhattan. "It was very rewarding to help prepare the client to market his product."
"The Advanced Manufacturing Institute was the perfect partner for me. Their assistance was exactly what I needed to make my product a reality. They believed in me and together we took the Bag-Caddy from a rough prototype to production," said Gomez. “The Bag-Caddy is now available for purchase on bag-caddy.com and features a K-State football design and others."