By SUSAN
KOOMAR
Pocono Record Business Editor
skoomar@poconorecord.com
In East Stroudsburg manufacturing firm is ramping up to promote
a unique new product that recently won a U.S. patent (US Patent # 6,431,815 B1).
Bustin Industrial Products developed an
innovative ramp for delivery trucks following a request from
a customer.
Perfection Bakeries based in Fort Wayne,
Ind., field-tested the Bustin ramp for more than two years
to help create a product that offers optimal safety and efficiency.
Perfection Bakery produces 120,000 loaves
of bread in a 10-hour shift. Delivering the bread — more
than 150,000 pounds — requires a large fleet of trucks
and associated equipment.
Bustin's expertise in making safety-related
products such as special industrial walking surfaces and hand
rails led former Occupational Safety and Health Administration
attorney Mark Lichty and his wife Wendy to purchase the company
in 1983. The company dates back to 1928.
The new Rx™ Ramp got its name because a
doctor prescribed the ramp for installation on two trucks
before he would permit his truck-driver patients to return
to work after back injuries.
The nine-foot ramp folds in three parts
so it stores easily under the floor of a truck. The ramp is
designed for baking, snack food and similar industries that
make deliveries to retail stores, restaurants, hospitals and
other institutions. The product combines a 75-pound aluminum
ramp with a heavy-duty steel enclosure to protect the ramp
while the truck is on the road.
The Rx™ Ramp allows workers to move
heavy or awkward loads with little lifting
or the use of more costly equipment such as a lift grate.
A driver using a handtruck can move 200 pounds of bread in
a single load after unfolding the ramp and locking it in place,
which takes less than 15 seconds. No manhandling is needed,
noted Barbara Adams of Bustin.
The ramp allows drivers to safely move
deliveries without jumping in and out of the back of the truck.
The ramp's aluminum-grate walking surface prevent slips in
wet conditions.
Unique features include a steel slide section
and special copper alloy hinge developed especially for the
ramp.
Bustin senior designer Jim Zarzecki and
engineering manager Chuck McMenamy are named in the product
patent, which was awarded in August. They worked with Lehigh
University Professor Richard Roberts to perfect the design.
Roberts is a mechanical engineer at Lehigh with more than
40 years experience in design analysis.
The Rx™ Ramp has been installed on 12 Perfection
Bakeries trucks and has resulted in faster deliveries, said
Randy Green, fleet operations director. Previously, the bakery
had another Bustin product — the grate baker's ramp —
installed on some of its trucks. That ramp was developed by
Bustin in 1991 for Stroehmann Bakery in Philadelphia.
Bustin has designed and made truck ramps
for more than 10 years. Other popular products are ladders,
steps, crossovers and grates — all made to reduce slips
and falls. Clients, most in the Northeast, include Mack Trucks,
McDonnell Douglas, Merck and Bristol Meyers Squibb. Locally,
East Stroudsburg University has purchased gratings and stairs
from Bustin.
Another recent Bustin project was the fabrication
of two custom bridges for the new McDade Trail in Delaware
Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Bustin employs about 65 people at its plant
on Oak Street.
For information, visit http://www.bustin-usa.com
or call (570) 424-6500.
Copyright © October 20, 2002, Pocono Record
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