For Immediate Release
DCC’s Rapid Prototyping Gives Local Entrepreneur A National Boost
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FrigeMates inventor Paul Davis looks on as his company banner is unveiled by Danville Community College Workforce Services Instructor Roy Owen (left) and Jerry Franklin, Director of Manufacturing and Technical Services, (center). The banner will join other corporate banners in DCC’s Advanced Digital Manufacturing Lab. |
Businessman Paul Davis (right), shows his new product FrigeMates to area leaders at a product launch ceremony recently at Danville Community College’s Regional Center for Advanced Technology and Training (RCATT). Davis prototyped and tested the product using a Selective Laser Sintering machine in RCATT’s Advanced Digital Manufacturing Lab. Shown left to right, are DCC President Dr. Carlyle Ramsey; Mike Sexton, Executive Director of the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Halifax County; Coy Harville, Chair of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors; and E. Linwood Wright, Danville. |
Paul Davis (right) presents his new product invention – FrigeMates, customized with the Danville Community College logo to DCC President Dr. Carlyle Ramsey. |
Danville, VA, June 18, 2009 -- What started as a passing observation while watching a TV show is turning into major entrepreneurial success for one Halifax businessman.
It was three years ago when Paul Davis was watching a home show on the HGTV
network. Although each of the show’s featured homes was quite beautiful, they
all had one major detractor in the kitchen.
“A horribly messy refrigerator,” the owner of South Boston’s Sears store
recalls. “Papers, pictures, magnets, you name it – they were all covered with
it.”
Davis looked at his own refrigerator and realized it was no better.
That was a “eureka moment” for Davis, who’d been trying to come up with an idea
for a great new invention ever since Danville Community College’s Workforce
Services division opened its Advanced Digital Manufacturing Lab in 2001. Among
other things, the lab’s charter challenges the College to provide affordable
rapid prototyping services to local entrepreneurs who need help with product
development.
Armed with a head full of ideas regarding refrigerator door organizers, Davis
hired Bedford product engineer Dwight Smith to create engineering specifications
that could be used to build the prototypes on DCC’s Selective Laser Sintering
machine. Davis encouraged Smith to be sure the plans complied with three golden
rules of marketing success that had been shared with him by a former marketing
executive at the Home Shopping Network: (1) Be sure the product is a household
item that (2) adds convenience to people’s lives, and (3) is priced under $25.
Davis threw in a couple additional rules of his own, insisting that the product
not only be functional, but also very stylish as well. “We didn’t want anything
cheesy-looking,” Davis recalls with a laugh.
From this simple set of rules applied to one terrifically good idea, Frigemates:
A Cool Way to Organize was born -- and the product is definitely anything but
cheesy.
Featuring two styles from which to choose, Frigemates gives users the option of
a calendar or an organizer. The calendar model provides individual calendar
pages to use for planning family schedules. It also features a holder for
appointment cards and for pens and pencils. The organizer model features a
magnetized dry erase board, as well as pockets and hooks for pencils and pens,
cell phones, and key rings. The 12-inch-by-12-inch units retail for $19.99 and
$24.99 each, respectively, and come in a variety of colors to match
refrigerators’ veneers. Buyers can also choose from a variety of inspirational
messages to be included on their boards.
This month, the company is celebrating its national product launch, which was
recently kicked off in a ceremony at DCC’s Regional Center for Advanced
Technology & Training (RCATT) in Danville.
Davis says it is only fitting that the Frigemates celebration be held at the
RCATT facility since the College played such a key role in helping him develop
his product.
“DCC’s rapid prototyping lab provides an amazing service to inventors and
entrepreneurs,” Davis says. “Not only can the College build scale models to test
a
product, but the staff was also eager to help me with follow-up work as well.”
DCC’s Director of Manufacturing and Technical Services Jerry Franklin, who over
sees the lab, says DCC has provided support for numerous existing companies in addition to start-up ventures like Davis’s.
“We recently worked with a client from Richmond who has developed a device for
the medical and pharmaceutical world,” Franklin notes. “And we work with folks
like local motorcycle builder Rick Doss in helping him design custom parts for
motorcycles. Of course, we also work on a regular basis with local manufacturers
to help them test new designs or build unique replacement parts for their
equipment.”
Franklin notes that since the College’s Selective Laser Sintering machine was
purchased under a Department of Labor grant in 2001, DCC has documented the
creation of 175 jobs that have been significantly influenced by the availability
of these rapid prototyping services.
With Frigemates now hitting the national market, Davis is optimistic that he
might be able to add 10 more jobs to that figure over the next year. The company
has recently been licensed to use collegiate logos on its products, which should
open up a huge additional market segment. Already Frigemates has signed an
agreement with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association to use the product in
an upcoming nationwide fundraiser, along with participating companies Nike and
MacGregor. In addition, a representative for the Consumer Specialty Products
Association was so enthusiastic over Davis’s creation that he told Davis he
wants to put Frigemates in as one of the association’s Top Ten New Products for
the Year.
As for Davis, he is just taking it all in stride and hoping for the best.
“It’s been a long three-year journey and a huge learning experience,” he says.
“But invention and enterprise is the American way, and I hope it is also the
Southside Virginia way, as it would be terrific to see more people trying to get
their ideas and inventions developed and on the market. We’ve got the local
facilities right here at DCC to support it, so there is no reason anybody in our
area should not be pursuing their dreams.”
Copyright © 2009 by Danville Community College