![\"An](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/GreatWrap_Factory_Fun_0459_HighRes_1.jpg?v=1682547528\")
The amount of plastic produced and thrown away each year has reached staggering levels. In fact, the United Nations estimates that some 400 million tons of plastic waste finds its way into landfills each year.
\nJulia and Jordy Kay wanted to help reduce this number.
\nTheir idea? Create a plastic-free version of traditional cling wrap, the kind found in kitchen cabinets around the globe. “We were essentially the customers, and we just wanted a better product than plastic wrap,” Julia says.
\nIn 2019, Julia and Jordy launched Great Wrap, a materials science company that’s turning potatoes into compostable stretch wrap. Since its inception, the duo has raised over $24 million and built their own production facility.
\nBut it wasn’t easy.
\nJulia sat down with the Shopify team to share her tips for starting her own production facility.
\nJulia and Jordy partnered with Monash University, a research-intensive university in Australia, welcomed angel investors, and received government grants in order to fund their business. “We kicked off a research project with Monash University converting food waste into a pathway to make a biopolymer, it’s been about a 2-3 year process and we’ve learned a lot,” Julia says.
\nOn top of working with students and faculty at the university, the pair has investors and mentors like Simon Griffiths, founder of Who Gives A Crap, who served as guides along their development process. “We’ve really always been attracted to investors who have built things themselves and have a really great understanding of what it takes to start from an idea and get it into a process,” Julia says.
\nJulia and Jordy found it was easier to set up their own manufacturing facility rather than contract with one. “We wanted to be able to experiment, and we were really excited about creating jobs too,” Julia says.
\nWith their own facility, they not only have control over what goes into their product, but what is happening to the waste created after their product is made. “It’s important to zoom out from the product and think about that whole process,” Julia says.
\nBy opening their own facility, Great Wrap is able to map out the entire life cycle of its products, from what’s happening to the waste, to how that waste is being processed and discarded. The pair have been able to alter their formulas to improve the quality overtime, and design pathways with Monash University to begin setting up their own biorefinery on site.
\n![\"Great](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Copy_of_Copy_of_GW_22.02.22_CHawks3581_1_1.jpg?v=1682548248\")
“When you’re building your factory you need to garner the support of your community as well as the larger network of business owners who can potentially use your product,” Julia says.
\nJulia and Jordy designed social media content around the development and growth of their factory. 24 hours after posting the content Great Wrap had done nearly $30,000 in sales.
\nBy sharing your facility progress on social media, your audience can feel like they are a part of the building process. In turn, they will be more likely to make a purchase—and come back for more.
\nWith the proper resources, support, and marketing strategies, Great Wrap has been able to operate out of their own facility for a little over three years now, with plans to open a US-based factory in the near future.
\nTune in to the full Shopify Masters episode to discover what it takes to build your own production facility, and scale to gain international recognition.
\nhttps://www.shopify.com/blog/great-wrap-plastic-free-global-recognition
\n"}]},"page_header":{"background":null,"backgroundOpacity":100,"color":null,"fieldGroupName":"page_header","title":"Build Your Own Facility","opacity":100,"position":"on","size":{"desktop":64,"tablet":null,"mobile":null},"spaces":{"top":null,"bottom":null,"leftright":null,"units":"em"}},"link":"/blog/what-it-takes-to-build-your-own-production-facility"},"allCategory":{"title":"Blog","link":"/blog"},"relatedPosts":{"subtitle":"You Will Be Interested","title":"Starting up starts here","posts":[{"id":"cG9zdDoxNjA3Nw==","title":"Shopify Updates 01/20/2025 – 01/27/2025","date":"30.01.2025","slug":"shopify-updates-01-20-2025-01-27-2025","categories":{"nodes":[{"id":"dGVybTox","name":"General Articles"}]},"levels":{"nodes":[]},"acfPost":{"fieldGroupName":"acfPost","excerpt":"Discover Shopify's latest updates! Retailers can now display multiple shipping rates with estimated dates at checkout, enhancing customer transparency. The unified file picker on variant detail pages streamlines image management. Additionally, new Flow actions make it easier to work with metaobjects, improving data management and workflow efficiency. Learn more about these exciting enhancements in our full article","squaredImage":{"altText":"","localFile":{"childImageSharp":{"gatsbyImageData":{"layout":"fullWidth","backgroundColor":"#a8d8b8","images":{"fallback":{"src":"/static/57110efa946c86a850f2a38641b64c79/ae1c8/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-Billboard-Square-3.png","srcSet":"/static/57110efa946c86a850f2a38641b64c79/f054e/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-Billboard-Square-3.png 750w,\n/static/57110efa946c86a850f2a38641b64c79/ae1c8/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-Billboard-Square-3.png 1080w","sizes":"100vw"},"sources":[{"srcSet":"/static/57110efa946c86a850f2a38641b64c79/4f03f/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-Billboard-Square-3.webp 750w,\n/static/57110efa946c86a850f2a38641b64c79/4f506/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-Billboard-Square-3.webp 1080w","type":"image/webp","sizes":"100vw"}]},"width":1,"height":1}}}},"metaData":{"title":"Shopify Enhancements: Multiple Shipping Rates, Unified File Picker, and Metaobject Workflows","description":"Discover the latest Shopify enhancements! Retailers can now display multiple shipping rates and estimated transit times at checkout, improving customer transparency. The unified file picker on variant detail pages in admin makes image management seamless. New Flow actions for metaobjects enhance data handling and workflow efficiency. Learn more about these exciting updates in our comprehensive article"},"banner":{"title":"Shopify Updates 01/20/2025 - 01/27/2025","showTitle":true,"image":{"altText":"","localFile":{"childImageSharp":{"gatsbyImageData":{"layout":"fullWidth","backgroundColor":"#78b888","images":{"fallback":{"src":"/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/ce83c/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.png","srcSet":"/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/3fb35/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.png 750w,\n/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/5e576/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.png 1080w,\n/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/efa1d/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.png 1366w,\n/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/ce83c/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.png 1920w","sizes":"100vw"},"sources":[{"srcSet":"/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/7c2d4/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.webp 750w,\n/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/9ba48/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.webp 1080w,\n/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/01019/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.webp 1366w,\n/static/f8e69428e82609cec0fcc1a5627babf3/a66c1/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-1-2.webp 1920w","type":"image/webp","sizes":"100vw"}]},"width":1,"height":0.4166666666666667}}}}},"timeToRead":null,"sections":[{"fieldGroupName":"post_Acfpost_Sections_ArticleRichTextContent","content":"\n
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A new AI service for “parsing” music tracks.
\nThe Mikrotakt neural engine can split any track into vocals, instrumentals, bass, drums, and other audio tracks.
\nIn addition, you can upscale vocal tracks to clean up the voice and adjust the pitch. This feature is ideal for musicians and content makers.
\nThe new Chinese model DeepSeek-V3 becomes a competitor to ChatGPT:
\n– registration requires only your email and password
\n– the neural is quite fast: answers are generated in seconds
\n– Thinking mode, where AI turns into an academic on any topic
\n– the model can read diagrams and generate any texts
\n– files of different sizes can be uploaded
\n– the neuron is good at working with code
\n– absolutely free
\nHailuo AI from China can clone any voice without censorship in a few seconds. Its library includes more than 300 voices in different languages and intonations. The model also allows for full customization: you can change the tone, speed, and timbre and add sound effects.
\nThe Chinese have released a worthy competitor to ChatGPT.
\nThe Qwen2.5-Plus chatbot provides accurate answers, can read documents and images, and is completely free of charge.
\nKrea allows rotating models in its “Photoshop”
\nKrea developers have come up with an incredible feature for their neuro-Photoshop: you can drop any object and edit its position in 3D space.
\nThe Upscayl neuron has received a 16x upscale, so now it can save even the most hopeless photos. The download is free.
\nThe Wegic neural network has become even cooler.
\nNow websites are generated in seconds, and all your edits can be made with simple queries.
\nYou just throw in a promo and you have a perfectly(?) designed website.
\nA working AI meme generator.
\nThe Brainrot neuron follows trends, selects relevant images, and produces memes that are even funny to read. And all this is free.
\nGoogle has released a top free guide to AI agents.
\nIt contains everything: basic knowledge, tools, architecture, training methods, and a step-by-step recipe for creating agents on LangChain and LangGraph.
\nIt is a cool service for learning languages with an AI interlocutor.
\nThe Lingocat neuron imitates the native speaker, gives feedback, and has tasks to improve skills. And all this is free of charge.
\nThe free neural from the Chinese outperforms(?) ChatGPT.
\nA new model called R1 has been released that outperforms the best version of ChatGPT. R1 is twice as powerful as the previous version and it has literally everything you need: programming, math, rewriting, and everything else. It’s worth noting that if you look at the graph of how it “outperforms”, it doesn’t encourage you to switch from OpenAI to the Chinese neural.
\nUniversal AI photo editor.
\nGenerating, replacing, or deleting details, styling, changing the background, and upscaling – and this is not the whole list of functions of the new and free Dzine neural.
\nPrompt generator for ChatGPT
\nPromptEngine works according to the official recommendations of OpenAI. The service also supports other language models: Claude, Gemini, LLama, and Mistral, which can be selected from a list.
\nOpenAI President showed a feature for the o1 model.
\nAccording to Greg Brockman, the o1 model works a bit differently than other types of AI, and to achieve high performance, you need to follow a certain plan in writing promos:
\nthe goal, response format, warning, and context.
\n(The Anatomy of an o1 Prompt attached an example image)
\nChatGPT can now write first.
\nThe neuron will remind you of important things like a real assistant. For example, in the morning, it can provide a ready-made excuse for being late for work, and in the evening, a convincing explanation for a deadline shift.
\nSo far, only 10 regular tasks are available, but by the end of the week, all paid users will receive the new feature.
\nOpenAI offers free tokens for ChatGPT.
\nHowever, there is a caveat: in exchange, they ask for permission to use your promos to train models.
\nThe offer lasts until the end of February. Pro users can get up to 1 million tokens per day, and mini-version users can get up to 10 million!
\nTrump has canceled Biden’s decree on control over AI development.
\nThe document, signed in 2023, required developers to share test results with the government to reduce risks. However, Republicans insisted that this restricted freedom of speech and hindered progress. Now, AI development is unrestricted again.
\nChina will organize a competition between robots and humans
\nIn April, China will host the world’s first half marathon where people will compete with robots. The race will involve 12,000 runners and dozens of androids. Technology versus biology is a real race of the era.
\nAI tokens soar after the Stargate project announcement.
\nOn January 23, Trump announced a $500 billion investment from the private sector in the development of AI infrastructure in the United States. As part of this project, OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle will create a joint venture called Stargate. Immediately after this announcement, the AI and big data token market showed significant growth:
\n– AI16Z and AI Rig Complex (ARC) grew by 30% per day
\n– GRIFFAIN and ZEREBRO tokens doubled in price
\n– MetamonkeyAi (MMAI) showed an increase of 152.25%
\n– FLock.io (FLOCK) – by 57%
\nThe smartest o3-mini model will be free!
\nSam Altman said that this neural will be able to solve complex problems in programming, math, and data analysis – all for free.
\nFeatures of o3-mini:
\n– advanced analytical abilities
\n– accelerated data processing speed
\n– ease of use for everyone
\nThe release is planned for the near future.
\nOracle founder supports AI totalitarianism
\nBillionaire Larry Ellison stated that the total surveillance system with artificial intelligence based on cameras, drones, and police recorders will force citizens to “behave in the best way possible”.
\nOracle has recently entered into a partnership with OpenAI and Softbank. Digital dystopia is becoming a reality.
\nThe first Chinese base for robot training was opened in Shanghai
\nThey will learn to help around the house, play football, and assemble cars.
\nThe data obtained in the process will be shared with various companies.
\nCurrently, the center has more than 100 androids and plans to expand to a thousand by 2027.
\nChatGPT can now create any kind of application – a new Canvas feature has been released that runs the code right in the browser.
\n– There are no limits to ideas – we invent and ask AI to draw up a detailed project description.
\n– Copy and paste the request into the chat with the neuron, but add the “/canvas” command at the end.
\n– AI will produce a fully working application in React and HTML in a second – you can test it right away!
\n– There are no limits or restrictions – you can even clone YouTube in your browser.
\nThe feature is free.
\nTop 5 promos for working with any amount of information – the neural will squeeze out all the “water” from the source and give you only concise, verified facts:
\n![\"\"](\"/static/f0c3865203f0eb84451f04f5379021f7/85b06/A-weekly-inspirational-newsletter-1080-x-1080-px-1920-x-800-px-3.png)
![\"\"](\"/static/11ec55989bfb8fbe249559f786b70c9c/85b06/AI-NEWS-2.png)