Ideagen's InspectionXpert Breaks Guinness World Record for World’s Largest Paper Ball

‘We wanted to do something ridiculous to highlight how preposterous paper is when there are more efficient solutions.’ Jeff Cope, Founder of InspectionXpert

Ideagen's InspectionXpert has successfully broken the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Paper Ball.

Made from cardboard, paper, and paper cord, the final ball came in at 576lb, 9-ft, 8.6-inches tall, and 33-ft around.

Staff at InspectionXpert created the giant ball to bolster its message of reducing paper and inefficiency in the manufacturing inspection process.

Building the ball was live-streamed at the International Manufacturing Trade Show (IMTS) in Chicago earlier this year.

And, following a stringent review period, it has now been confirmed that the team successfully achieved a new world record. 

“Paper creates so much waste,” says InspectionXpert founder Jeff Cope. “We wanted to do something ridiculous to highlight how preposterous paper is in 2018 when there are more efficient solutions.”

The giant paper ball did not have any tape or glue, and consisted only of paper products filled using recycled paper from schools across Wake County, North Carolina. The internal structure was made of honeycomb cardboard while the outside of the ball was covered with a net made from brown paper cord. Following the weighing, all of the paper was recycled. 

Lance Olive, Mayor of Apex, and Joanna Helms, Economic Development Director for the town of Apex, were official witnesses to the weighing, in accordance with Guinness World.

InspectionXpert was acquired by Ideagen in September in a $7 million deal. The acquisition was announced at the IMTS event in Chicago, a bi-annual manufacturing technology trade show and one of the largest events of its kind globally.