By the CCT ™ Team

We’ve gotten a lot of questions about how the EEASY Lid came to be and the inspiration behind it. While everyone on the CCT team has been an integral part of its inception, we wanted to take a moment and pay homage to one of our late co-founders and masterminds behind the EEASY Lid, Pete Stodd.

Pete co-founded multiple businesses within the beer and beverage can industry that were both innovative and successful, such as Formatec Tooling Systems in 1986 and Container Development Ltd. in 1998. These businesses are world renown for providing cutting edge technology in metal forming. That’s when Pete went on to become a managing partner here at CCT, where he developed and perfected the EEASY Lid to aid consumers in the task of opening jars.

The EEASY Lid concept was born after Pete was approached by a close friend, Dawn Real, who couldn’t open a jar due to her loss of strength after undergoing surgery for breast cancer. She asked Pete why there wasn’t an easier way to open jars. Pete recognized there were more people like Dawn – including those with disabilities, physical limitations and the overall aging population – who struggle daily to do simple tasks such as opening a stubborn jar.

Pete and managing partner Jim Bach had the insight and initiative to create the EEASY Lid and spent the next eight years developing and testing prototypes.

While Pete sadly passed away last year, everyone here at CCT carries on his legacy as we continue to raise awareness of the EEASY Lid and keep inclusivity and consumer needs in mind.

For more information on the case for inclusivity in packaging, read our recent blog post on the topic here.