KIMTEK Targets Improved Fire, EMS, and Police Rescues with New Facility
KIMTEK Corporation, a Vermont-based maker of MEDLITE® and FIRELITE® transport skid units, celebrated the opening of its second production facility in September 2015. Attended by company employees, vendors, community members, and special guests representing the fire and rescue manufacturing industry, the event marked an expanded focus on fire, emergency medical service (EMS), and police rescue markets by the company founded in 1984 by Kimball Johnson. Johnson holds numerous U.S. patents and founded the Westmore (VT) Fire Department, for which he also served as chief.
According to Johnson, the new facility triples the space now available for company operations. The original facility will continue to house office and warehouse space as well as provide additional room to expand the company’s new product design and engineering pursuits. KIMTEK office headquarters have been relocated to the Orleans facility.
Special guest and speaker, Paul Darley, president and CEO of W.S. Darley & Co., delivered remarks at the ceremony, applauding the 10-year relationship between the two companies, and specifically noted that KIMTEK Corporation has grown significantly in a market that has not grown much in the past 10 years. “We’re very pleased to be a small part of your success and growth,” said Darley. “I’m a big believer that culture is what sets aside a company from all the others. You need a culture with a leader, such as Kimball, who gets it, who understands people, understands his customers, understands his employees, and understands where the market is going. And with the innovative, high-quality products produced here, he has actually created new markets.”
Johnson said the strong relationship with the Darley team has helped KIMTEK become the company it is today. He also spoke of his appreciation of company employees, some of whom are relatives but all of whom he thinks of as family.
Johnson purchased the Orleans facility to expand production of the company’s full line of MEDLITE and FIRELITE transport skid units. According to Johnson, among the advantages of the new and bigger facility is a streamlined, spacious production area, improving workstation assembly and packaging efficiency.
After 31 years in business and expansion into a large, new manufacturing facility, KIMTEK is poised for even greater growth. “Our new space means we can indeed better explore new products serving new markets,” Johnson said. “New units custom-designed for military and law enforcement applications are in the works right now.” The company expects to conduct field tests on these and other prototypes in development in 2016.
HONEYWELL AND DUPONT PROTECTION TECHNOLOGIES announced that Honeywell First Responders and DuPont™ Kevlar® have teamed up to award 20 firefighters, EMS, and hazmat responders with an expenses-paid scholarship to attend the FDIC International 2016.
This scholarship will provide financial support for 20 firefighters to attend classroom training, seminars, and the trade show, beginning Tuesday evening and ending Saturday after the show. Candidates may register for the scholarship program at: http://app.snapapp.com/fdic-2016-scholarship-program.
“Restrained budgets often force fire departments to reduce the number of attendees to the FDIC show, which may impact their ability to learn about the technologies and techniques that can expand their fire department’s abil