Press Room
See other articles.
Vol. 29, No.22 June 2-8, 2008 page 26
Reporters' Notebook
Behind the news with Crain's writers
Talan's CEO prefers taking the stairs
 Talan Products was missing something. "we're called Talan Products, but we don't have any products," said the affable Steve Peplin, Co-founder and president of the contract metal fabricator in Cleveland.
That's about to change.
By working with Canadian carpenter and inventor Eric Gobeil, Mr. Peplin said he has found a product to bring to market under his own banner. The product will be sold by a new company, GoPro Contruction Solutions, that was formed by Messrs. Peplin and Gobeil.
The product is a simple brace that Mr. Peplin hopes will revolutionize the way contruction companies bulid stairs. The device is no more than a square bracket that attaches to a stairway frame, enabling builders to install uniform stairs quickly atop the bracket. But that, Mr Peplin said, is its beauty — perfect stairs.
"Everyone we show this to says, 'Why in the heck didn't someone think of this before?'" Mr. Pepin said.
The product is made at Talan's 70-employee factory in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood. Mr. Peplin said he hopes GoPro's sales eventually will equal Talan's current revenues of between $25 million and $30 million a year. He said he already has interest from U.S. big-box retailers and large construction companies.
Last February, a prototype of the product was named one of the top 50 new products for the building trades at the International Builders Show in Orlando, Fla. — Dan Shingler
See other articles.
|
