Framingham company offers green, clean and secure way to dispose of documents

Looking for a secure and green way to dispose of confidential printed documents? The Framingham-based JMD Manufacturing Inc. may just have your solution.

"There’s a lot of concern for security of documents and a lot of concern for recycling," said Sushil Bhatia, who said his company’s Nano DeCopier Paper Pulper can serve both ends.
Instead of a mechanical shredder, which leaves small bits of paper that could be reassembled into a complete page, Bhatia’s process uses a nontoxic chemical which he said strips printed ink off paper, and reduces the paper itself into recyclable pulp, making any information irretrievable, he said. The company offers the Nano DeCopier as a desktop unit, as well as a service for large bulk work for commercial and residential customers.

The desktop Nano DeCopier costs $195 and is available through the company Web site. The fee for the DeCopier service, meanwhile, depends on the amount and type of material to be recycled, he said.

Bhatia knows something of innovation: he holds eight patents, one of which is for the decorative labels used on shampoo bottles. In addition to the Nano DeCopier, JMD offers production line machinery that can print on packaging materials such as cartons, papers, plastic films, labels and other materials, as well as produce the ink used for the "best by" dates on milk cartons.
Ever use a Glue Stic? Bhatia invented that product while he was with Avery Dennison.

Educated in India, Bhatia earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Liege in Belgium, and specialized in polymers, adhesives, printing methods, labels and inks. He also earned an MBA from Suffolk University. During his 25-year career, he has co-developed or invented many products for printing and other uses.

Bhatia is a past president of the Framingham Rotary Club, chairman of the Microloan program, a board member of the local chamber of commerce and editor of a community newsletter. Along with his teaching duties at Suffolk, he’s on the faculty at Babson College in Wellesley.

The Framingham resident also has a lighter side to his career: He is founder of the Laughing Clubs of America and has completed a small book, "Just say YES to Laughing Your Way to Fitness with Yoga and Meditation (and That’s No Joke)." Bhatia even offers phone lessons through his Web site, www.laughing-club.com.

He said he was introduced to yoga meditation from a client in India, and learned that laughter was a simple way to focus the mind.

"When you laugh, you have total focus on the laughter and nothing else," said Bhatia, who leads his students in laughter sessions in class.

He said "think neutral" is his slogan, as keeping the mind calm makes it easier to be positive and creative.

In 2005, Bhatia began teaching Suffolk University’s executive MBA new product development course. The following year, Bhatia started the annual New Product Innovation Competition for Suffolk graduate students. The contest was expanded to include undergrads and alumni in 2007.

The Nano DeCopier is a refinement of an existing idea of Bhatia’s, which used a special chemical solution to strip a paper of all printed ink. Three of Bhatia’s undergraduate business students at Suffolk expanded the idea into the Nano DeCopier, which also reduces the paper into small recyclable pellets (hence the "nano" moniker).

The students’ original Nano DeCopier invention won the $1,000 Urvashi Bhatia Green Product Prize - which is named after Bhatia’s wife - in 2007.

The cleaning fluid used for the DeCopier process is reusable, too, he said. The desktop unit reduces paper into pulp in about three minutes, and has the capacity to process up to 250 sheets of paper.

"Everything is reused and recycled, that’s the beauty of it," said Bhatia, who started JMD in 1993 and works as company president and CEO.

For the record, the company’s initials stand for the Hindu goddess, JAI MATA DI.

John Hilliard can be reached at 508-626-4449 or e-mail him at John.Hilliard@cnc.com.

JMD MANUFACTURING INC.
President: Sushil Bhatia
Address: 59 Fountain St., Framingham
Employees: 10
Founded: 1993
Web site: www.jmdmfg.com