Tru-Gard Flex has broken new ground in steel safety—and for our Manufacturing & Design Coordinator, Myron, it’s a career milestone too. This world-first design is his first-ever patent. We sat down with him to learn more about the design process behind Flex, how it feels to have a patent to his name, and where he thinks the future of workplace health and safety is heading. Read on to find out more.
Q – Big milestone! How does it feel to have your first patented product out in the world?
A – Really great, I thought patents were more for very large American companies but this has been a great and eye-opening process.
Q – Without giving away the secret formula, what’s something clever / interesting / exciting about the design or design process that you’re especially proud of?
A – It’s design can be used on many of our products such as barriers and bollards giving a complete range of steel products that can Flex. The design is easy to manufacture which helps being able to bring this new safety product to the market at a great price.
Q – What is the toughest challenge taking a product like Flex from concept to completion?
A – Many different ideas and concepts were made with iterations being too soft, too stiff, too difficult to manufacture etc. But that is part of research and development, trying things until a great idea appears and then working the bugs out to get a great product.
Q – How do you see safety products evolving over the next ten years?
A- I see there being an increase of safety devices on vehicles/machinery e.g cameras and sensors, and AI to alert drivers & pedestrians to reduce the likelihood of accidents. I also think we will see increased traffic safety plans with barriers to reduce the chance for terrible accidents to happen.
Q – How does it feel knowing your product designs are being used to keep people safe at work every day?
A- Honestly it feels great! Workplace accidents can and do happen anywhere. People going home to their loved ones each day is the most important thing, and knowing that our products help make this happen is a great feeling.
Want to learn more about Tru-Gard Flex and how it’s shaping the future of steel safety? Read our full Flex launch article here.