A Chilliwack manufacturing company is using its skills, experience and machinery to help flatten the curve in this community and beyond.
TYCROP/Propell has been working since last week to create door pulls that use your feet instead of your hands, effectively reducing touch points on doors at businesses.
They’re calling it the PediPull, and it just went online for sale this week. They have already installed them in their manufacturing plant in Rosedale, on the doors for the employee washrooms. They are hoping to get the word out that there’s another “tool in the toolbox” for companies that are consciously creating COVID-19 safety plans for their staff, visitors and customers.
The door pulls are made of aluminum, and the idea isn’t a new one, they say. Some staff had been talking about the idea when the pandemic was first starting here, and the company looked to purchase a few.
“We looked online and they were expensive, and out of stock because people were buying them,” says Kevin Standeven, leader of the company’s product development. “Besides they were poorly designed and we thought about it and said, ‘hey, this is something we could make here at TYCROP.'”
TYCROP normally deals with much larger products, including chip hauling trailers and agricultural equipment. But it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination for them to create the door pulls.
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Now, they want to get the message out that there is an affordable, local option for people. They work on swing doors that are normally pushed or pulled open, such as bathroom doors and some standard business entrance doors. They are universal, and installation is easily handled with a drill.
The company has been letting all of their regular business contacts know about the product, as well.
“It’s a step in the right direction for a lot of businesses taking action against COVID-19,” Standeven says.
It’s not a big money maker for the company, at about $30 for one PediPull, but like other companies around the world they are looking at ways to stay viable and busy during the economic downturn.
The site in Sardis has managed to stay busy, as they have a connection to high-demand paper supplies through the chip hauling truck industry. But corporately, the company also has sites in Alberta and the United States that are tied closer to the oil and gas market — which has taken a hard hit as demands drop.
“It’s definitely affected us,” Standeven says. “So we’re kind of digging back into our roots in agricultural, mining, and others. This was just kind of just a smaller opportunity, to find a new way of doing things and reaching other markets.”
TYCROP has been in Rosedale for more than 40 years, and it’s not the first time they’ve shifted gears to fill a local need. Years ago, when rural mailboxes in the area were being vandalized, they created indestructible mailboxes for residents to purchase.
“We’re here to stay, and we’re going to continue to adapt,” he added.
To learn more about the PediPull, visit their brand new product website www.pedipull.com.
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