Keck-Craig in Pasadena, Calif., is something like touring a strange mechanical museum.
Quirky machines–from tennis-ball servers to shrimp deveiners and beer-can chillers–are displayed everywhere, all designed and/or built by Keck-Craig.
The $1 million company is one of a handful around the U.S.that helps inventors turn their ideas into reality,
Bloomberg BusinessWeek columnist Karen E. Klein recently talked with Warren M.Haussler, president of the 59-year-old business.
About half of your business comes from individual entrepreneurs and half from industrial clients. What do you do for the entrepreneurs?
We take their ideas–whether it’s just a concept in their head or some design drawings–and make them work right, look nice, and be able to be manufactured efficiently. They leave here with feasible, working prototypes, drawings, and manufacturing specs. The inventor can turn that prototype into a product or use it to raise money.
How much does your service typically cost?
It usually takes $30,000 to $40,000–about the cost of a new car. It’s hard to turn around anything for less than $10,000 and it can go up to $100,000.
What are entrepreneurs’ biggest concerns?
They’re all worried about confidentiality. Some of them are paranoid. Everything we do is completely confidential and we only work on one project of a kind, so there’s no problem.
What are some recent ideas that you brought to life?
A guy from New York sent us a drawing for a beer chiller. We designed a plastic pitcher where you put in a can of beer, add ice and water, and the beer spins around for one minute and gets cold. He had it manufactured in Hong Kong and now sells it online.
An African American woman had an idea for a plastic brush called the Unbraider. It takes out cornrows quickly, without tangles. We designed a prototype and she had it manufactured in Taiwan. She worked in the beauty supply industry, so she had distribution and contacts.
Another insider–a guy in the fish distribution business–came to us with an idea for a shrimp deveiner and we designed it so it could be manufactured very reasonably. He got the product to market, wiped out his only competitor, and sold the company to a French corporation.
Photo by Keck-Craig.