Tim Fulton-Ramper Innovations

Tim Fulton has invented a device to reduce labor, injury and damage to something valuable to us. Luggage and Cargo! 

Check out this episode to find out how a device used to move fish turned into an airline industry changer! 

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Twitter- @bridgestonecap
https://www.youtube.com/@ChainReaction-vh7rm
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Transcript

Jeff Davis: 0:53

Welcome back to another episode of Chain Reaction Tales from the Supply Chain Front Lines. today we have a, great guest an inventor. A founder of a unique product that affects everybody, touching any sort of aviation. Really excited to be talking with Mr. Tim Fulton. He is the inventor and founder of Ramper Innovations, and I'm gonna let Mr. Tim give a brief introduction. Of himself and Ramper Innovations. And we're gonna get into today's episode. Tim, tell us about yourself.

Tim Fulton: 1:32

Yes, I good good day everybody. Pleasure to be here. Yeah, I am. I think I probably should start by saying what a ramper is. For those of you that don't know it, in the aviation industry, it's the agents that take your luggage and put it into the cargo hold of the aircraft. So I spent. Close to 40 years of as a ramp agent taking taking luggage and mail and cargo and physically loading it into the cargo holds of the aircraft. Most people don't know that that is a physically job that's done physically, and it is very Hard on the body. The product that Jeff mentioned I call it AVAs, and that stands for Tim's Saves Backs. So basically what AVAs is, is, is a compact affordable compact folding motorized conveyor. And it was designed to go into the belly. Cargo hold of neuro bodied aircraft to eliminate that physically physical job of of loading the aircraft and do it mechanically. So that kind of the background of where things are. We're finding that there's uses for it in other industries

Jeff Davis: 2:54

So, I did not know. That a ramp that there was a different term for that was called ramper. So I thought it was bag handler. So the, the term is ramper.

Tim Fulton: 3:07

W well you know, it's, it's a, a, across the globe it's different things. Ramp rats, rampers baggage handlers yeah. But in, in our, my sector, if you will we're referred to as rampers,

Jeff Davis: 3:20

Got it. Well all ready? I'm learning Good stuff. So how long have you been doing this, Tim?

Tim Fulton: 3:28

Yeah, I, I guess it's, it's kinda like Paul Harvey, if you're familiar with that. There's always the rest of the story. But that's of the story I, I invented a product. That's probably 30 years ago. So I, I'm, I live and and work most of my career is in a small community in Alaska. It's a coastal community and it's one of the main ports of For fish buyers. So there's a lot of fresh fish that goes out of Sitka in the tunes of like 4 million pounds a year being loaded into the belly of the, the cargo hold of passenger aircraft. So I invented a product that was a non-motorized roller system for moving. These commercial fish boxes that were weighing about a hundred pounds. we've been doing that for a long time. And it, it finally occurred to me that there, there was a possibility for doing the roller system only worked for the commercial fish boxes. So after years of doing it I, I decided that there had to be something that could be used for other. Commodities, it doesn't work for baggage and so on. So in 2016 is when I set out on the path to started prototyping, doing different things to try to find a device that would work for all products. We're all commodities, baggage, mail, cargo, et cetera. And December of 2018 is when I come up with the, the light bulb moment. I, I saw some motorized roller blades and I'm going, dang, if they can put motors in a roller blade, I can put rollers in or motors in my rollers. So that kind of started the ball rolling. And we've been working on Design and that kind of stuff. Our first prototypes was great timing. They, we got three units delivered. In March of 2020. We had one shipped immediately to India. We had another one that was going to Japan and then we had one that was set up to start demoing in the us And of course, you know, what was going on in 2020 with Covid. It just derailed everything in the aviation industry. And we set us back a bit, but we are moving forward now and we're in production. we've gone through and had multiple tests with our, our beta units. Made some adjustments to some of the things that weren't quite working right and, and now we're producing and, and selling it across the globe. So right now we have units that we're in, in our shop here that are going to Malaysia. Yeah.

Jeff Davis: 6:21

Wow, that's amazing. I mean, what I really like is it started with a solution for the fish, And now you, you kind. Couple that, do you still have that product out? Is it still in use?

Tim Fulton: 6:38

It is still in use. Yeah, but not, not as much. So we, you know, we can make those Yeah. And sell'em to people if they were interested in that. But our focus is on the one that is on the polling conveyor motorized.

Jeff Davis: 6:53

and then you parlayed that into replicating it into other needs. You, you took the principle and put it into needs to service other parts of the industry where they needed it, So the main thing, was creating more space. In tight, in tight areas. And I probably am not wording that right, but Right. You know, what, what was the overall need you were trying to solve for? Well,

Tim Fulton: 7:24

When I initially set out the overall need was just to make the job safer. For my fellow ramp agents, I was seeing way too many. People being injured on the job, back injuries you know, that last'em a lifetime. Shoulder injuries. Myself, I've had, I, I have back issues as you might imagine from doing that physical job. I've had two shoulder surgeries. My, my hip. Is an issue. So I, the, the initial intent was to make it safer. And, and that's still the intent is to make it safer for not only ramp agents, but people that are physically moving items in entice spaces. So you know, we, we have the ability To help in multiple industries. Anywhere where they're trying to move material and they have limited space. I, I don't know, I'll just pick a, a distribution center that needs to have space to move things around. But they also are bulk loading items into a, a truck or something like that. We can fold up, be in the corner until it's needed. All the operations can go on. Do their normal stuff and then when they need to move the material bulk load did to something vis can simply be wheeled out and and used as needed and then folded back up and moved into the corner where it's out of the way again. So a lot, lots of applications for, for that. One of the things that happened during Covid is a lot of the airlines took the seats out of their wide bodied aircraft. And they were moving cargo. Mm-hmm. Repurposed up, up there. They repurposed. Yes. They, they repurposed. And for us Tevez was a great fix for'em. Instead of having a, a daisy chain of multiple employees, they just put a TESS or a couple Sabas units in there, and it decreased the amount of employees. It decreased injuries and it increased efficiencies. So, yeah.

Jeff Davis: 9:30

Yeah, I I really like that. So your mission statement is worker safety and employee safety, their wellbeing. And that should go all the way to the top, right? Because if the team is, is able to perform safely, then they can do better, they can do better work and without injury. Yes. And fewer claims, and that keeps insurance claims low. Which in the end, benefits the entire network.

Tim Fulton: 10:05

Yes. And, and in aviation in specific you know, we're decreasing the amount of injuries. We also decrease the amount of damage to the aircraft bellies from having. Thrown items is what's happened honestly, in the, the belt in the cargo compartment underneath your feet when you're flying that thump, thump, thump, that's your bags being, being loaded into the aircraft. So we, we decrease Damage to to customer's belongings, damage to the aircraft. We, we increase the hiring pool because it allows, normally it's, it's young men that are doing the job, but with with our device, it can it makes it easier for women and older, retired people can go into the, the. So yeah, a lot, lots of things there. Plus we increase efficiencies so it, we move more in less time than than the manual method.

Jeff Davis: 11:05

So you just hit on several things that I talk about a lot on this show, or not I do, but guests do. And it's. Labor and then you inadvertently talked about technology. So I'm gonna hit on the labor item. Okay. Labor, since Covid has, well, even before Labor's been A challenge for employers, right. You know, you're an employer, I'm sure you see it. And, and what you were, IM implementing is a something to help increase the labor pool. So I'm just gonna ask your opinion and, and what you're seeing in the marketplace across aviation and other industries, and do you see the labor. Challenge as, as your customers and your peers and, and different industries is, is what are, what are the What is, what is the temperature about labor and what are you hearing?

Tim Fulton: 12:05

Well, yeah, it's, it's a huge thing in, in the industry of you know, I, I, I talked to one customer here in the us. I. That had had one person inside the aircraft, they, so they had to move the baggage down and then go stack it and come back. So labor is definitely a huge thing in, in the industry, not only here in the US but across the globe. And that is what what. The majority of our, of our customers are looking to do is reduce their amount of labor required to load these aircraft

Jeff Davis: 12:44

with, with increased efficiency, which is a, you know, reduce Yeah. So, and, and it's a, it's an ongoing challenge, right? Which is, you know, you're just, today I was watching C N B C and all these companies are announcing layoffs and. Various sectors, not even transportation, but tech, retail, Disney. So we're just seeing that and, and it's already a challenging labor market. So I just wondered what the net result will be in the economy. So this. You know, this product, it enables labor. It's a nice little innovation, which is technology. You have a, you know, a lot of the conversation that we have on technology is about computer type of technology. Yeah. It's, this is different, right? I it is really? Yes.

Tim Fulton: 13:41

Yeah. Yes, very much so. But it is, it is a, a technology that's that is bringing change to To not only aviation, but how items can be bulk loaded in anything from trains, ships, and planes. So any transportation sector, it's, it, I I, I joke that it's, it's not rocket science, but it, it is a, a, a complex technology that that is gonna change.

Jeff Davis: 14:12

Just a little bit, something about, you know, you, I mean, I've, I've met with inventors. I have some inventors on, in, in the family, right? In, in generations past, and I'm still in the freight world, right? We, we do not have. Our own businesses. And one of the things that I just really enjoy, wanna doing is talking with entrepreneurs fewer inventors that I come across. So, so it's, it's really cool to talk to an inventor. It's one thing to be somebody who invents a product. It's another thing to invent a product, take it to market, and be, and have it have sustained success. So walk me through that. I mean, you, you invented it. That's great. You, you had to go get some patents, but, you know, being an artist is one thing. Running a p and l managing people and, and marketing it, selling it, that's a lot of different skill sets. How, how have you managed to, to put all that together?

Tim Fulton: 15:22

Yeah, that huge, huge question, honestly. Yeah. So in coming up with the idea and inventing the device and getting it engineered and, and produced and so on. Was easy. But the, the developing the company and everything it takes to, to move things forward is a huge stat and multiple skill sets. You know, I, I thought that All I needed to do was, it's, it's a great idea. There's a need for it. My passion will sell it. But that's not how the real world works, right? There's, there's all these nuances. So from marketing and, and Being able to sell and, and managing people. I, I mean, it, it is a huge thing. It, I was just did a presentation at, at one of our local innovation summit is what it's called, the Junior Economic Development Council Economic innovation Summit. And the title of what I presented was, be Careful What You Wish for. And kind of, kind of the gist of it was that you know, it started out, I had this idea, realized that it's not something that I would be. Able to bootstrap and bring to fruition. So I went out for investment and was successful in, in our, our pre-seed, our friends and family around. And when the, when the checks started rolling in, if you will. Then the reality check came in of what I just done. Now I have somebody else's money that I am dealing with and, and the pressure of that I didn't sleep for nights, right? It's just part of what that is. And, and the same thing you bring on people to help you make you, you can't do it all. So you start bringing on people and, and. They are relying on you and, and being successful, making the right decisions, and so on and so forth. So it is, I I often ask myself you know, would I do it again? And what I come back to is I, I, I wouldn't do it. It with the thought of, okay, this is going to, going to help us with retirement because I've spent most of our retirement to make make the business successful. But my passion of trying to save backs make it safer for people, I would. Do it again because we are going to make a difference across aviation and other sectors and making people's jobs safer and bringing less industry or injuries to industry. Yeah.

Jeff Davis: 18:04

Yeah. That's fantastic. And, and having that dedicated mission is, is what is driving you, and that's why it's probably the, the key to the success, right. It's. Very concise.

Tim Fulton: 18:18

Yes. That, that, that's what gets me up in the mornings, keeps me going. Is is that,

Jeff Davis: 18:24

yeah. Last question and it's, this is gonna be your hardest question, I can already guarantee you. Okay. So it's different for every single guest. What is your favorite childhood memory? Ah, yeah, I told you

Tim Fulton: 18:47

that, that, that, that is a, is a good one actually. And, and I guess a, a lot of the childhood memories you go back in your mind might not really be what, what they were, you

Jeff Davis: 19:01

know, I was just thinking that yesterday about something and I thought, I wonder if that even actually happened the way that I remember it.'cause there's no telling.

Tim Fulton: 19:11

Yeah, yeah. So I, I, I guess for me, the, the one that that comes up is I was fishing with my dad and I. I, he caught, I was, was bringing in a fish and I was trying to net it and I, I knocked it off so the fish got away and my dad was so upset and Yeah, it went on. But I, I guess the rest of the story was after I moved to Alaska, my, my dad came up fishing and I had a fish on, and he knocked it off on purposes. I've been waiting so long to pay you back,

Jeff Davis: 19:59

so

Tim Fulton: 20:00

that's,

Jeff Davis: 20:02

Well, fun times, Tim. How can a a, a good airline or trucking company or warehouse get in touch with you? Yeah,

Tim Fulton: 20:12

so we have a website www ramper innovations.com. Go on there and see what we have. We have down in the bottom is YouTube videos of us in the, the belly of the aircraft. They can email me at Tim. At Ramper Innovations, that's R A M P E R. Innovations with an s.com. Or they can even call 9 0 7 7 3 8 0 7 4 0. And if it's an international, if your listeners are international that's my WhatsApp. Contact number

Jeff Davis: 20:50

as well. So, awesome. And Tim, thanks so much for coming on. I really had a good time and I am sure that everybody has learned a bunch. And as for us, we're gonna sign off. Please remember to like, share, subscribe. As always, we're brought to you by Bridgestone Capital. Where we share the same passion as Tim does for his colleagues backs. We share it for our supply chain professionals. We wanna bring passive income to our supply chain peers and executives and sales guys. So if you want to learn more, that is multifamily advice.com. Go ahead and check it out. That is a free ebook, and soon coming out is gonna be a book that is, Passive income for supply chain professionals. Thanks again everybody, and we will be seeing you next week. Bye.