Majestic Marketing, LLC

           
"When we first began working with MEPOL, we did not have the financial resources to have a prototype made of our CRITTER COVER outdoor faucet protector. Brian Pasquier helped us to register with the state's Department of Economic Development's Small and Emerging Business Development program, which provided 50% of the cost for the prototype. Once the prototype was completed, Brian reapplied to the SEBD for 50% of the funds we needed to enable us to retain MEPOL's plastic center to design the blow mold and have a Shreveport tool and die company manufacture the mold. Today, we have our product in eight retail outlets in Northwest Louisiana and two in Northeast Texas. This would not have happened without the help of MEPOL and SEBD."
     --- Rose Modica, President/Inventor of Majestic Marketing, LLC and Becky Bergquist, Vice President/Treasurer of Majestic Marketing, LLC

Company Profile: Majestic Marketing, LLC is a start-up company that was looking to manufacture an exterior faucet, called "CRITTER COVERS." The company, located in Shreveport, employs two people and is housed at the Metro Regional Business Incubator, where MEPOL has its Shreveport offices.

Situation: The company's first project was to get AutoCAD drawings of their prototype for their CRITTER COVER product. Once the prototype was drawn, the company needed a tangible prototype created. After the prototype was created, the company needed a single cavity blow molding mold for the production of the squirrel shaped faucet insulating jacket.

Solution: Rose Modica, president of Majestic Marketing, LLC and inventor of the CRITTER COVER, and Becky Bergquist, vice president and treasurer of Majestic Marketing, contacted Brian Pasquier, MEPOL's project director in the Shreveport area, for assistance. The first thing Brain did was help the company secure some funding for assistance from the Louisiana Department of Economic Develoment's Small and Emerging Business Development (SEBD) division. This funding helped pay for 50% of the project costs. Brian then turned to Ricky Womack at Southern Die Mold in Shreveport to assist in drawing the prototype design. Southern Die Mold is an external consultant for MEPOL and also a client company. The prototype drawn by Ricky was of a faucet cover that looked like a squirrel sitting on a log. Once the drawing was done, Kevin Taylor, the director of MEPOL's Polymer Technical Center, created a prototype model of the faucet cover using MEPOL's Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. After the prototype was developed, Ricky Womack worked with the company to develop a mold designed to be compatible with current blow molding machine technology in regards to cycle time, cooling requirements, and scrap minimization. 3D solid modeling electronic drawings were also developed for subsequent tool manufacturing.

Results: Through SEBD assistance, the company was able to save $3,032.50 on the costs of getting the prototype and mold design. The initial batch size for the product was 1,000, and already half have sold. The company was also featured on two local television stations, ABC's KTBS-3 and CBS's KSLA-12 in Shreveport, which created a lot of interest and sales. King Hardware in Shreveport also ran an advertisement for the company on their new product, which generated sales. The start-up company has been very successful. 

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Hebert Honored with National MEP Award
The Grand Ballroom of the Marriott World Center in Orlando was the stage for Cecile Hebert, marketing coordinator for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Louisiana (MEPOL), to garner a national award at the MEP National Conference, held April 26-30, 2008.

Hebert took home the Newcomer of the Year Award out of a pool of 16 nominees from across the United States. This is the second year in a row a MEPOL employee has received this prestigious award.