Creative Edge Nutrition Inc (FITX)

[end user]

From the FB groups pump machine https://www.facebook.com/groups/716317568480674/permalink/1110820735697020/

Let's get it archived here just for legal reasons

I’ve always felt that James didn’t have the funds necessary to launch Giddy Up based upon the $965 in cash on hand reported in the 12/31/2015 quarterly report. That same report also indicated he had not secured any financing as of 12/31/2015. That doesn’t explain the lack of communication from James, but in my opinion, it explains why he hadn’t launched the business. However, it’s being reported that James was loaned $150K by several investors about 6 months ago to launch Giddy Up. So, that brings up the question of why hasn’t he launched the business in the last 6 months?
I have always been under the impression that the agreement he signed with The American Bottling Company, which is a subsidiary of the Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group, was going to handle everything involved with making the drinks & packaging them for resale. However, a couple of weeks ago, it was speculated that he’s having to get the cans made himself & shipping them over to the bottling company to be filled & packaged for distribution to the retailers. It was suggested that the company he might be using is the Ball Can Company since they are the largest can maker in the world & make somewhere around 95% of the total beverage cans in the world. They also have a stellar reputation in the industry.
So, I started doing some digging to find out how cans are made/filled & how long it takes to make them. I found out some very interesting information on the process which may explain why James hasn’t launched the business yet. My background is planning & scheduling in the manufacturing industry, so this kind of stuff intrigues me. I like to know how things are made. Lol.
I found several videos that explain the processes of making the cans, printing the graphics on the cans, filling the cans & sealing the cans. I’ll post those in the comments section for anyone that wants to watch them.
Based upon what I’ve read & seen, I very much suspect that James has already started the ball rolling & that it takes somewhere around 3-5 months to complete the initial set up & run of a new product. With him working on getting us back on the Pink sheets & getting the product ready to ship, I suspect he’s been extremely busy in the last 6 months. And, that’s not even counting the amount of time invested in setting up a celebrity endorser & sponsors.
The first thing he has to do is get the graphics done that will be printed on the cans. This has to be done first & based upon Ball Can Company’s website, it takes about 4-6 weeks per design to do that. At first I thought that once they have one done, they could sort of copy & paste the programming & only have to change the flavor & color of the different fruit flavors. But, after looking at the design more closely, each flavor is totally different. The background silhouettes have different fruits. The closest we come to a copy & paste is just changing the colors of the regular flavor to the sugar free flavor. That means he has to have 12 different graphics made for all 6 flavors. Since James has repeatedly said he’s going to launch two flavors per quarter, that still means he had to get 4 graphics (regular/sugar free) made for the first two flavors to be launched. So, let’s assume they did all 4 at the same time & managed to shave some time off the total time. We’re still looking at 2-4 months just to get the graphics done for the first 4. Keep in mind, I’m making a lot of assumptions on the combined time.
Once the graphics have been completed, then our cans have to get in line for the next open queue to start running our cans. Since Ball Can Company is making 95% of the cans in the world & are running around the clock, it could take some time for us to get on the production line. I could very easily see it taking 3-5 months for us to get the first run of cans completed & over to the bottling company. I have to assume James has had this running since shortly after he received the $150K loan from the investors. So, we should be well into that 3-5 month time frame.
I called Ball Can Company a couple of days ago & left a message asking them to call me back. Since I told them I was a shareholder, I really didn’t think they would return my call, but they did late yesterday. As I suspected, the lady I talked to immediately let me know that she couldn’t discuss anything about a particular customer & she couldn’t even acknowledge that Giddy Up was a customer. While I wanted to get some kind of confirmation that GU was getting the cans made there & the cans were in fact complete or close to it, I was impressed to hear that they protect the client’s confidentiality. She did say that she had gotten quite a few phone calls & emails from shareholders asking about Giddy Up though. I then asked if I could ask some generic questions about the process of ordering cans & she agreed to that. I asked her if I were placing an order for 1 million cans what would the lead time be once they were running &, given how busy they are, how long would I have to wait before my cans would get into production? She didn’t give me specific answers because that would’ve required her to get a quote from the production department, but she did give me generic answers. First off, they wouldn’t start anything until they had a P.O. or cash for the job. Once that was taken care of, she said it would take about 12-14 weeks if the graphics hadn’t been done yet & about 8 weeks if the graphics were ready to go. Keep in mind that we’d need 4 graphics programs made to release our first 2 flavors. She also told me that once the cans & tops were ready to ship, they would have to get authorization from the bottling company to ship the cans. Otherwise, they could refuse the shipment. There were several other questions I wanted to ask, but I decided not to keep her tied up on the phone. She was very gracious & patient with me while answering all my questions without ever making me feel like I was annoying her. I was very impressed with her & Ball Can Company.
Finally, from the videos I’ve watched, it doesn’t look like it takes very long to fill the cans, seal them & package them for distribution. I’m assuming it takes about a week or less once you’re able to get in the production line. How long that will take, I don’t know. In one of the videos & a graphic I’m going to post, it shows how the tops are attached & sealed. I did ask the lady at Ball how the cans are pressurized when the tops are attached & she told me they infuse the liquid with CO2 & seal the can immediately. The CO2 expands in the can & that’s why the cans get hard & fizz when you open them. Overall, I learned a lot about canning energy drinks. I hope this helps anyone that wants to have a better understanding as to what James is doing & why he hasn’t launched the product yet. I do believe we’re real close to seeing Giddy Up on your local store shelves soon.