Where No Wheelchair Has Gone Before
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Through this small town, a squad of what looks like the latest military prototype rumbles through the streets.
The driver of the lead chair, Trac-Fab shop foreman Kenneth Turner, raises his left hand in a fist as he approaches a crosswalk. “Stop!” he shouts. The other six chairs come to a halt behind him in a single-file line. As the final driver, shop manager Steve Dickson, reaches the line, he shouts, “All here!”
And so the workers of Trac-Fab continue their afternoon drive with almost military precision, making sure that each chair is accounted for at every turn, every intersection, every hill.
By now, the townsfolk are used to the odd machines driving through downtown and across the campus of Grove City College.
Still, some stop and watch, occasionally taking pictures, as seven of the contraptions are out and about in their weekly tests.
“Pretty much everyone has seen them by now,” says David Kennedy, one of the co-founders of Trac-Fab. “Every once in a while, someone new will see us and stop and watch us.”
The machines produced by Trac-Fab are wheelchairs, but not your traditional wheelchair. These chairs are designed to make it through the toughest terrain. Tracks have replaced wheels and a racing seat has replaced the usual seat with a five-point seat belt to keep the rider from falling out.
They are designed to go anywhere – through forests, beaches and mud – and are aimed at those who, albeit confined to a wheelchair, seek an active lifestyle. Within that group, Kennedy says, Trac-Fab is looking primarily at serving veterans.
“A lot of times when you’re in the military, you’re in the top performance of your life. If something catastrophic happens and you’re bound to a wheelchair, you go from really high to really low, thinking you can’t do all the things you used to,” he says. “Our product gives back some of that confidence, some of that independence.”
Playing into the idea of providing the utmost independence, chairs can be personalized down to the smallest detail, starting with the size of the frame. Chairs are available with their tracks either 30 or 36 inches apart. The former is more suitable for those looking to use Trac-Fab chairs as an everyday vehicle because it can fit through standard doorways and is usable in most houses without making structural changes.
The wheelchairs are available in any color – the basic option is black – or pattern, thanks to a process known as “hydrodipping,” where a chair or frame is dipped into liquid paint. The most popular pattern is camouflage, usually woodland but occasionally a digital military-style design.
One of Kennedy’s favorites is a chair done for a 17-year-old customer in Essex, U.K., featuring the British military camouflage pattern.
“He goes out to all these army re-enactments that are really big over there and he’s able to join. He’s sometimes got these big, full-size tanks beside him and his Trac-Fab chair,” he elaborates. “When I show that to my crew, they’re excited that their product is over there in the U.K. and this kid is so happy and overjoyed and confident.”
Accessories can be attached to the chairs. The list of add-ons includes tools such as fishing rod holders, rifle platforms and cooler holders. A gas-powered generator is available. It allows for the battery to be charged where electricity is unavailable, such as a hunting cabin.
While the list of accessories is extensive, Kennedy says, the 16-man team doesn’t shy away from creating new products.
“We take all requests from our customers and make it happen. If a customer says they want a certain item, we build it. If we think we can market it to more people, we’ll add it to our line,” Kennedy says.
Being open to new ideas from the people who buy their product is what has pushed Trac-Fab to where it is today.
“That’s really how we’ve evolved,” he adds. “It’s just customer input and seeing if more people want it.”
The 20 Trac-Fab chairs made each week are a far cry from what Kennedy first put together in his spare time several years ago. He made the first chair he produced by taking his mother’s Hoveround apart and putting tracks on it. Back then, he says, it was just a way to unwind after a day of work.
“It was just kind of a hobby to see if we could Frankenstein a bunch of parts together and achieve what we thought would be neat. We had no idea that it could turn into what it has,” he says.
The first production model was sold on eBay. After the sale, Kennedy started getting emails from people asking him to make them one.
“Once we sold the first one online, we had about 25 people say to us, ‘If you can build me one exactly like this, I’ll write you a check right now.’ That was our market research right there and we knew we could sell it,” he says.
In the two years since starting Trac-Fab, the process of putting one of the machines together has become much more streamlined. Early in the company’s existence, it took about a month to make a single chair. Now, 20 are hand assembled each week and Kennedy says that number could be higher.
“We could make more, but we’ve scaled it back to ensure that every single one of them that leaves is high quality. They all have a couple hours of use on them before they leave as one of our final checks,” he explains.
Early on, almost every part on a chair was repurposed or reverse engineered. The first sprockets were designed from an excavator track used on the original models. But now, most of the parts are made specifically for Trac-Fab unless it’s a part – usually an accessory – that needs to be custom-made by Trac-Fab employees. With the exception of the electronics components – the speed of the chair, its direction and even the horn are all computer-controlled – all of the parts are made in the United States.
Perhaps the biggest change to Trac-Fab chairs is the change in track, which now resembles something more like what would be found on a snowmobile rather than the original excavator treads. The current tread is essentially self-cleaning, with debris sliding off from whatever environment the chair powers through, and fits together almost perfectly with the sprockets, eliminating resistance.
“On an electric vehicle, any resistance to roll will wear down your battery faster. When we get these parts that are matched up perfectly, that’s how we get to 10 miles per charge,” Kennedy explains.
The laps around Grove City twice a week are the final test for the machines before they’re put in crates and shipped to their destinations. On the afternoon drives, everything is checked: from the tightness of the bolts to top speed. Should any employee notice anything amiss, it’s double-checked back at the shop.
The test run is also an escape for the workers. Kennedy has done everything he can to ensure that Trac-Fab is an enjoyable place to be – he’s even sprung for barbecues and a sno-cone machine – because he knows what it’s like to work a job that’s drudgery.
“I worked at a job before this where there were different plants I’d have to go into. They weren’t terribly employee-friendly and I got fed up with that,” he says. “[Trac-fab employees have] worked other places that have paid more and they were less happy than they are now.”
Dickson has been at the company just over eight months and already, he says, this is one of the most rewarding jobs he’s ever had.
“I love it. I feel like when I come in to work every day, I don’t feel like I’m coming to work. There’s days where I’ve worked 11 hours that never felt like I worked 11 hours. It’s just a lot of fun.” he remarks. “I’ve had welding jobs and I’ve had machining jobs and I’ve had mechanic jobs. Nothing compares to this.”
Part of that satisfaction comes from seeing the people’s reactions when they pick up their chairs, Turner says.
“It’s priceless. Seeing their face and knowing how it can help them out in the long run, just being able to change someone’s life like that is amazing,” he says.
In late August, Kennedy met with a customer in the woods outside Meadville, Pa. For over a decade, he had been in a wheelchair and largely forced to give up hunting and fishing. Aside from a basic description of a Trac-Fab chair – a wheelchair with tracks – he didn’t know anything about the product, Kennedy says.
“When he saw it, he was so excited. It seemed like it had everything he had ever wanted on it. We had already thought of or got customer input and added [his accessories]. He was blown away,” Kennedy continues. “He went from his regular wheelchair that he was using to get out into the woods that does the best it can over to ours and he was stoked. He was going over logs and mowing over small trees.”
Even with the joy from customers and employees alike, Kennedy admits his company still faces some challenges. Currently, no insurance providers will pay for the chairs, something the Trac-Fab team looks to change. Most providers, including the Veterans Administration, don’t consider the chairs a necessity, a viewpoint that Kennedy disagrees with.
“Our customers think it is and the people that have one think it is, even if it’s just for their mental well-being. If they’re stuck indoors not doing anything, they may get depressed. If they have this they can feel happier,” he explains, referring back to the company’s focus on wounded veterans.
The drawback has caused Trac-Fab to look at its pricing structure. The 36-inch model is priced at $12,000 while the more compact body of the 30-inch model is higher at $15,000. At those price points, Kennedy makes a simple comparison for the cost of his product.
“It’s buying either a really nice four-wheeler or, if you can’t use that, you can get into one of our chairs,” he relates. “We kept it at a price point that isn’t so out of this world that somebody couldn’t privately afford it.”
Charities make up a large number of the orders Trac-Fab receives and often surpass individual orders. In late August, the company was fulfilling an order by a charity – a nondisclosure agreement prevented Kennedy from naming the group, but said it was “pretty similar to a Wounded Warrior-type charity” – of 20 chairs. Most charity orders simply purchase a number of identical chairs and give the users information to customize them on their own, Kennedy says.
Working with veterans, either directly or through charities, has been the top goal for Trac-Fab in its two years.
Of its 16 employees, six are veterans, including one in a wheelchair. Having that sort of “insider” knowledge plays a role in improving the product and relations with the primary customer base.
“The veterans can relate to the issues that our veteran customers have and our one employee who uses a chair gives us a lot of input on how we can change our product. He knows firsthand what accessories or setup might work best,” Kennedy relates.
With knowledgeable suggestions, the opportunities for Trac-Fab seem endless, Dickson says, adding that the chairs “can only get better from here.”
The satisfaction of the workers, Turner says, is another factor in the progress of the company.
“Every single employee here is dedicated to their job. We put in a huge amount of hours just to make sure we put out a good product,” he says.
Through it all, Kennedy admits, profits have been modest, but that doesn’t mean the company hasn’t been successful.
“It’s one of those things where none of us are getting rich, but we’re rich in our souls. We have fun doing it and we’re helping people,” he continues. “At the end of the day, you can’t take the money with you, but the happiness you bring others lives on.”
Pictured: David Kennedy, standing, built the first Trac-Fab wheelchair by putting tracks on his mother’s Hoveround. Since the first model was sold, the chair has become much more advanced.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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