About Flowstate
The Flowstate system consists of two very simple technological innovations: the Flowstate bottle and machine.
Our bottle is a recyclable plastic bottle which come in two halves and can be joined together by their clip seal rim(like the cap of a shampoo bottle); the two halves would only need to be clicked together to join and once joined is watertight. When transported, the top halves of the bottle will be stacked with other top halves and bottom halves with other bottoms; the bottle’s conical shape allows for efficient space consumption(eliminating 70% of volume using our prototype design) consequently greatly reducing the amount of shipping required and restocking of the machines.
Our machine is essentially a combination between a soda-dispenser and a vending machine. The machine is connected to the water mains and holds a CO2tank which carbonates the water internally. A small amount of carbonated water (approximately 5L) is kept on hand and refrigerated. This means our machine only refrigerates a small volume of water as it is used up rather than an entire vending machine full of drinks, along with the bottles.
The machine mixes carbonated water with post mix when a drink is dispensed (just like a regular soda dispenser); it fills drinks into the top half of the bottle (the larger half) and the bottom half is then clicked on by an internal robotic arm (same mechanism used in drink vending machine dispensing) or it can fill your own bottle.
The aim for our business is to eventually be able to licence our solution to a large beverage brand such as Coca cola or Pepsi to replace current vending machines worldwide; we also aim to sell our machines to supermarket chains to replace their drink fridges. Currently supermarkets must stock a large amount of selection. With Flowstate, supermarkets will be able to stock a greater amount of variety with less storage costs involved as the drinks will be stored in concentrated form. We recognise however that to attain these forms of business we must first prove the feasibility and value of our system as well as build a strong, positive brand image. To do that we aim to first set up our own independent vending machines; owned, operated, and stocked by us.
