It’s often said that if you want to be successful in business, look for a way to create a product or service that solves a real problem.
Just ask Erie entrepreneur Hank Graygo, president of LNZ Products Inc.
In July 2015, Graygo, a former faculty member and longtime supporter of Penn State Behrend, found himself looking for ways to assist his wife, Betty, who had just had hip replacement surgery. She needed help tying her shoes and suggested, “Why don’t you invent something?”
That’s when Graygo met up with his friend and Penn State Behrend faculty member Ed Evans to sketch out a few ideas. The simple brainstorming session soon led to the inspiration for a capstone project through the Fasenmyer senior engineering design program, which gives students in Behrend’s School of Engineering the chance to apply their analytical skills to real problems – while bringing new products to market.
“I was immediately excited about Hank’s project and began researching it,” says Wesley Hall, a fifth-year interdisciplinary business with engineering studies major, of the patent-pending Lace-N-Lock device. “I got into engineering to get into product design, so when I found I could do this, it was a great fit.”
The Lace-N-Lock device, a turning mechanism that uses a plastic handle and fastener to cinch laces, is gearing up for a soft launch this spring. The product will be tested in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia, targeted to occupational and physical therapy practices, and for those who need special assistance with tying their shoes, from children and adults with disabilities to senior citizens and pregnant women.
“It was a pleasure to sit down with that creativity,” says Horneman. “It has been a wonderful experience.”
Hall is excited about the product’s potential. “I’m now the lead name on the utility patent, working with really fantastic people,” hesays, of the Lace-N-Lock experience, “and they’ve (Penn State Behrend) given us everything we need to succeed.”
It’s one of the many exciting growth opportunities to come out of Penn State Behrend as a college of a major, public, research land-grant university serving Pennsylvania and the global community. Here, in Northwestern Pennsylvania, the university has been leaving its mark since 1948, when the Penn State Behrend campus opened its doors thanks to the generous donation of the Behrend family, co-founders of the Hammermill Paper Company.
“Our history has been one of growth and partnering with the community,” states Penn State Behrend Chancellor Ralph Ford, Ph.D. “It’s been our DNA for a long period of time.”
