Dave Withee and John Bastian, the two principals of our firm, each have over 20 years experience in the laboratory infrastructure industry. John is the creative engineer, Dave the customer-focused marketing guy. Both like the challenge when a customer says,

“you know what I really need help with?”

Our experience has been focused on creating products which solve customer challenges. We listen to customers who actually use products (not executives seven levels up the managerial food chain) to create solutions those customers can actually use. Cost-effectively.

As Dave was working with a client with a need for safety showers, he did his research. What jumped out at him was the testing requirement. It certainly didn’t make sense the way end-users were told to test their showers. It just seemed like Rube Goldberg solutions, with the corresponding lack of efficiency. And no one seemed to consider the customer or the actual customer environment.

You see, in this commodity-driven sales environment, manufacturers tend to focus on the least expensive way to get you a product. They rarely focus on how you will actually use the product, and in this case, test the product. But why should you have to design a solution for how to test their product more efficiently? You have other things on your plate to get done!

Dave spoke to John about this shower testing challenge. And the lightbulbs began flashing on-and-off as John started sketching out ideas. The next thing you know, we have a prototype being tested at a major research university. The facility staff we work with are excited, but then say,

“We really like this and are going to order a couple, but if you really want to help us, testing eyewashes is an even bigger problem!”

And now you can test eyewashers also!