Born in Holland on 18 October 1948.
Education: Production Engineering and Management Studies
Jan together with his wife Denise started their own company in 1981 making polyethylene self-seal mailing envelopes and sold it as a going concern in 2010.
In 1981 there was no market for these mailing envelopes in South Africa, as the Postal Authority rules stated that only paper envelopes could be used. After 18 months of negotiations, the approval was given to sell polythene envelopes subject to conditions. Jan can therefore be considered as THE FATHER OF THE PLASTIC MAILING ENVELOPE INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA.
In 1981 the machines to make Polythene Mailing Envelopes where not available, so production was started with a side seal bag maker and the necessary attachments, which were made in the workshop, at home. With time, other products where developed and implemented using the same equipment that is used to make the envelopes.
When clients realised how efficient the adhesive was, the “self-seal” bags where used as “security bags” which then generated another market. When the criminal found that they could open a self-seal envelope, the search began to find a method to prevent this!
This proved to be impossible, at the time, but a way to leave a visible message if the bag was opened (tampered), was then discovered. The production of Tamper Evident Security Bags then commenced.
There is now an on-going challenge to have a bag with the necessary tamper evident features, which will stay ahead of the criminal, to ensure that the contents of the bag are protected.
Various different applications and markets for these Tamper Evident Security Bags have been developed. Many more challenges will be presented, for which a Tamper Evident Security Bag will be the solution, even if it means that additional features need to be added or the bag needs some unique designing to fit into a system!
The use of self-adhesive tamper evident security seals is another of Jan’s interests. These seals are available in many forms such as those who leave no residue when removed, yet are activated and display the hidden massage when tamper with. Then there are those who have a “partial” transfer which leave a residue. Others cannot be transferred as they fragment when attempts are made to lift them. The sizes and shapes can be designed to suit the application, which together with the visible message and sequential numbering offer fantastic features and opportunities as security seals.
Jan is also involved with the development of systems to firstly stain banknotes inside Tamper evident security bags, ATM cassettes, cross pavement cash security boxes and safes. The need to have an indelible stain is very important, as the criminal has developed means by which they “wash”, some of the stains out of the banknote. This is especially prevalent in the case where smoke type devices or powder dyes are used!
Secondly, as the stained banknotes are being sorted by physical, human inspection and the stain is verified by laboratory examination, this is time consuming and subject to human interpretation and potential inconsistencies. A system is being developed to do both functions by machine, at high speed.
The concept to do this in a banknote validator as used in vending machines has been successfully, demonstrated.
The use of mechanical, security seals (e.g. cable seals, plastic seals and bolt seals, etc) offer another range of features. So Jan’s philosophy is that there are “Horses for courses” and as such the merits of all the available options must be taken into consideration, before the final decision is taken.
Jan has a proven success record in the plastic security bag industry and security seals market which knowledge and experience he is willing to share with companies that are interested.
Jan can be contacted at: jan.visser@pmsnederland.nl