Well I started with my grandfather about the time I could walk. My grandfather was a pattern maker and then went on to become a master craftsman creating beautiful windows, doors, cabinets, well anything from wood. Thanx to my grandfather I learned about material shrinkage in the foundry process through setting up equipment. At the age of 12 I picked up welding as I stuck together anything metal. My first real job was under the Great Johnny Dishroom of what now is pro fab. Johnny taught me the right way to do things, especially polish stainless.... I learned the basics of TIG welding, sheet metal, and how to create jigs to manufacture stuff from metal. From there I took my skills to a company called met cam. I worked in may areas of the manufacturing process from assembly to sanding to welding and I even spent a bit of time in the paint booth. One summer break I spent with B&W construction at Ga Tech cutting out broiler rooms and pipefitting. The end of high school I worked at Peachtree windows and doors where I ran a water jet and ended up breaking several of the previous records of doors made per shift due to the fact I fixed the machine when it went down instead of waiting for the tech to show up. I then ended up in college where I started my hated school days studying business administration. After a couple of yrs I transferred to Southern Polytechnic where I majored in Mechanical Engineering and tried my hand at Electrical Engineering. In my spare time or should I say the time I should have been studying I worked on some special effect props and played with radio control stuff. During this time I was discovered while working at a local hobby shop. My discovery took me on a 6 year journey where I learned all kinds of stuff about product development. Johnson Research and Development is where I picked up and dished out a youthful of knowledge. Through this relationship I scored several inventions and was a major player on the concept development team. Several products I developed or helped to develop are still on the market. From toy water guns to new battery technology I stuck my head into it all at Johnson R&D. After getting bored with the same sort of projects I went out on my own starting insectoid prototyping. I started insectoid prototyping in the summer of 1998 and continued to work at Johnson R&D until the next march while they worked on filling my position and I finished up the projects I was working on. With my love and perseverance I pushed to score some of the best equipment in the field. I ended up with a shop most only dream of. I gained CNC milling machines to a vacuum forming machine, welders and tubing benders. Even a car lift.... and a fork lift... This brings us up to the first part of 2005 where I paid off the equipment and moved to fl. I sold much of what I had triples of and other stuff I did not really need. I put some of the equipment in storage and brought the rest to Fl. I started off in a shared shop space with my new cousin in law. He decided to close his doors fall of 2005 and at this time I had been working mostly on my own products and decided to follow his lead. I now have focused on developing products to license. I signed my first license agreement fall of 05 for a door closure device to work with a newspaper vending device and currently working closely with a manufacturing company on a concept for their 2006/2007 product line. I still help my clients since it will be some time before any royalty checks show up, if at all. My consulting work is how I am financing my current product development.
Well that brings us to date.
Have a great day,
shane
