100 Stories1987 Magic Cut™, Cut Anywhere
“Cut anywhere here.” A note that is always written on the condiment sachets that come with boxed lunches, such as soy sauce and wasabi sachets. Sachets that can be cut from any corner instead of having a specific cut end are called Magic Cut™. It is not only used for condiments but also for other various daily necessities, such as shampoo refills.
This Magic Cut™ technology was manufactured and sold by Asahi Kasei Polyflex (currently Asahi Kasei PAX), which was established in 1962. This company also manufactures packaging materials for instant noodles and snacks and carries out the final process of Saran Wrap™.
A casual remark from one of the employees was what led to the development of the Magic Cut™, which later becomes a hit product. On a bullet train on the way back from a business trip, this employee could not find the cut end on a bag of snacks, so they thought that it would be great to have a bag that can be torn from anywhere. It all started from this thought.
Its development was not easy. The idea of adding chemicals to the bag is a no go for food products, and light processing was not feasible in terms of cost. The idea of simply adding a lot of cut ends was rejected because it could tear during transportation. The series of trial and error continued.
The conclusion reached in the end was to create countless small holes instead of cut ends. The size of each hole ranges between 0.2 and 0.3 mm, which is extremely small to see with the naked eyes. This original concept led to the birth of Magic Cut™. In 1987, it was patented and Magic Cut™ was turned into a product.
The General Manager of Polyflex at the time said in the company newsletter interview, “We are currently focusing on Magic Cut™. It is the result of Asahi Kasei’s development technology and Polyflex’s manufacturing technology.”
However, after it was turned into a product, it was not recognized enough and there was only so much the company could do on its own. After much thought, the company changed its plan and decided to give licenses to other companies
It went extremely well. The number of companies that obtained the license instantly increased and Magic Cut™ immediately gained more recognition. This was ten years after obtaining the patent.
Currently, there are over 2000 products that use this technology. 80 to 90 percent of which are licensed products that were a big hit, achieving up to tens of billions of yen in sales.
For example, the small wasabi sachet has holes 1-mm apart from each other, forming a zigzag pattern. Each side has about three rows with each containing 50 holes. Each sachet has two sides, so the small wasabi sachet has about 300 holes.