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The spring of 2002, I bought my first new off road motorcycle in quite a few years.
And I bought a new product for it, this automatic clutch and
I love what it did, but after a couple months of use, it started breaking.
I was taking it out of my bike one night, kind of recognized that some
design problems in the clutch and thought I could do something better.
It's so difficult, I think, for a lot of new ideas to get off the ground
because someone may have a great idea but they don't have the resources, or
the funds, to take that idea and do something that can then be proven.
And TechHelp is a tremendous bridge for that.
>> And the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, or MEP for
short, is a nationwide program, Idaho center is called TechHelp.
And we're University based, so we're in partnership with Boise State,
University of Idaho, and Idaho State University.
And we work across the state with small and medium sized manufacturers to help
them grow their businesses, to be more efficient, come up with new product ideas,
to export globally, any way we can help those companies.
>> TechHelp I got connected with the mechanical engineering student
that had the SolidWorks software.
And we were able to sit down and
work together to make the product that I envisioned.
>> In the course of three or four months, we had a design that was ready for
prototype.
We used some local machining resources and
got functional prototypes on bikes and testing them in the field.
So, all that happened in less than six months.
>> I met Al in the spring of 2002.
At that time, I was in my junior year at Boise State as a mechanical engineering
student, and I had the good fortune to be selected to work at TechHelp.
>> At the time I didn't have a lot of money resources either.
And that was another really important part,
is that TechHelp is a really good value as well.
And it's great experience for
the engineer, that engineer is now the President of Vaucluse.
TechHelp is now a part of the Vaucluse family.
I don't think it could have started without it.
And it certainly helped us to grow over the years.
>> Putting in new technology on the production side
has been a really big priority.
Robotics has really allowed us to continue our acceleration and our growth.
A lot of people will say like you're just removing jobs, but
really what we're doing is we're just changing the atmosphere of the jobs.
So, instead of having people come in and at a low level just loading
into a CMC machine, now we're able to have people come in and learn robotics.
And they learn different aspects, and
then it just creates more technology based jobs.
>> One of the things that's been inspiring and
kind of unexpected is we've made the sport more accessible.
Not only for people that,
hey I can get around on the clutch I did it just fine but it makes it more fun.
People that technically wouldn't be able to ride a motorcycle,
whether they're disabled or they have some sort of handicap.
but now, hey, because of your products, I can ride a motorcycle.
>> Idaho is a testing ground for recreational technology products.
If you love the environment, the opportunity to work closely
with like-minded manufacturing companies, entrepreneurial,
tenacious companies that are Is trying to change and improve rapidly.
This is a good place to manufacture.
If you're into the outdoors, it's even better.
>> Our economy is built on making things and when we can't make things anymore and
we have to rely on imports for everything that we do,
we just put ourselves in a position that is beneficial to create jobs.
We're able to support the local companies by purchasing from local suppliers and
more importantly, we get to employ Boise people to live here.
It's a great place to live, it's a great place to dirt bike and
so, [LAUGH] it's a great place to be, it's just a beautiful area.
We have great management.
And then, the people that work here are amazing.
They're just, we make a great product, people are stoked about it.
So, many wonderful things about this company.
[LAUGH] >> The types of jobs that manufacturing
bring into the picture, those are good jobs.
People like to make stuff.
People like to have an impact.
Manufacturing to me is a great way to allow that to happen.
Where we're at now, it's beyond what we probably could have even dreamed of,
what I definitely dreamed of potentially becoming.
And to think about all the people involved here,
inside the building that have been positively impacted by it.
Just really cool, and I feel really fortunate
to be part of this team and be part of the journey.
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