Cavallero Plastics Inc., a fully integrated custom injection molder and mold builder located in Pittsfield, Mass., has announced the launch of CPI Products, the commercialization and distribution arm of the company’s proprietary line of products.

“We are essentially formalizing a segment of our business that we've been operating for over 25 years, which has been partnering with seasoned professionals in their industries who have identified a product or application disparity but are lacking the engineering, research and development, and manufacturing capabilities that we can provide,” says business development manager Alex Cavallero. “Not only will this allow us to more actively market our existing products to end-users, we can now take an almost venture-capital approach, identifying and helping people who may have great ideas but lack the means to make them a reality.”

Cavallero specifically pointed to the company’s Universal Roller Skid (URS) as a product that would benefit from an increase in target marketing and commercialization. “The URS is one of our best examples where our engineering team partnered with another company to create a design to aid in pipeline inspection that improves the application by tenfold and is offered at a low cost.”

In September 2003, Bill Knowles, a product developer for Cavallero, was presented with this task. The inspection camera industry had a need for a large pipe-centering device that was agile, durable and reasonably priced. The basic requirements for this device were to be easily adjusted from 6- to 12-inch pipes, wheels to roll smoothly, and accommodate as many camera manufacturers as possible.

Ten years later, helpful feedback from hundreds of real world tradesmen, along with many exhibiting companies, contributed to the growth of the product line. Their input and suggestions led to the development of capabilities such as negotiating 90-degree corners, a safety system for easy and emergency retrieval, automatically centering design, ability to mount flashlights, and a few follow on accessories.

The weeks following each Water & Wastewater Education, Treatment & Transport (WWETT) Show, Knowles hits the drawing board with new ideas to further develop and expand the product line.

“Our approach really represents our belief that honest and hard-working professionals who are at the ground floor have the most detailed understanding on current industry processes,” he says.

The line now contains various roller skids, PipeSpyders and a Pole Cat that can turn a spring push camera into a pole camera. CPI Products also offer these products in discounted kit forms.

For more information, call 413/443-0925 or visit www.cplasproducts.com.