Dec. 6—TRAVERSE CITY — A hunting accident might prevent even more from happening on our country's roads.

At the very least, Revolok USA LLC is ready to change the future of the cargo securement industry, all from the Hammond Commerce Centre. Incorporated in February and on the market since early August, the Traverse City company has big plans for 2023 and beyond with its Revolok 6600.

"We're going to revolutionize the cargo securement industry," said Blake Goodell, the marketing and customer education manager at Revolok.

"We're working with 15 trucking companies right now in the midwest and nationally with potential sales of $10 million," CEO Bill Sullivan said. "Our goal for 2023 is to outfit 1,000 drivers with Revolok."

Revolok is a cargo securement tool for the heavy and specialized transportation industry. Drivers use a battery drill to operate the 14-pound mechanism. It can apply 3,500 pounds of tension in seconds, reducing cargo securement time by as much as 70% while also saving wear and tear on the driver.

An internal clutch inside the Revolok 6600 insures the proper tension is applied to the chain. It's one of the four issued and two pending patents.

"We already do the work for them, the calculated load force," said Tim Squires, the vice president of business development. "Our motto is, 'It's tight, it's right and you know it.'

"Too tight is bad, not tight enough is bad. There's a sweet spot (in between) and that's our signature."

Squires, who worked at Cooke Sheet Metal in Kalkaska for 20 years, is also the inventor of the device. The idea behind the device came a decade ago when one of his hunting friends was paralyzed after falling out of a tree stand. The culprit was a strap failure.

What Squires developed was a miniature version of the Revolok 6600. But while the device was capable of producing a 300-pound load to secure a tree stand — enough to crumple a steel drum — it really didn't have any practical use that worked in the marketplace.

But the technology was scalable, Squires said. What he wound up with is a device capable of producing 3,500 pounds of calculated load force within a sealed unit that prevented it from rotating. Those three components are what Revolok officials tout as a difference maker in the industry.

"It hit me like a ton of bricks," Squires said. "My brain went into, 'The industry everyday is using straps. How can we do something to that this never happens again?'"

Sullivan joined the team from Boomerang Catapult three years ago, which tapped into his experience working with innovative products. Sullivan also had a 31-year career at Illinois Tool Works.

During the product development, Revolok one time had five different operators attach a chain to a shipping load and tested the torque with a dynamometer. The load force varied from between 1,800 and 5,600 pounds.

PI&I Motor Express of Masury, Ohio was the integration partner for Revolok. One of its drivers, en route between Chicago and Masury on Friday afternoon, couldn't stop raving about the 6600.

"They've been part of my life for a little over a year now," Arden McCartney said on speakerphone. "I use them every day. I just love them. I just think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread.

"They're easy to operate and they draw a lot of attention. I can be standing there talking to someone and secure my load with one hand. It's that easy."

McCarthy, who was dealing with a pinched nerve in his neck two years ago, said using the Revolok isn't aggravating that injury or his arthritis.

"It's keeping me and my body going a little longer," McCarthy said.

Two Traverse City excavation companies are also using the Revolok. Company officials said they've heard nothing but positive response to the product.

"The drivers love them," Squires said.

"We've had zero not like them," Sullivan added.

"Some of the driver feedback has been incredible," Goodell said. "Once they use this, they never want to go back to ratchet binders."

The Revolok 6600 device is not inexpensive with each retailing for around $750. A typical flat bed semi-truck will have 10 of them on board, on average.

Company officials say they have a letter of intent to outfit a fleet of about 350 drivers for PI&I, one of the top 36 heavy specialized transport companies in the country.

In addition to saving wear and tear on drivers, company officials say the Revolok 6600 reduces time not on the road. Squires said drivers are required to do a load check the first 50 miles and then the next 150 miles or three hours of drive time.

Revolok has a manufacturing partner right now in Cincinnati, but the rest of the operation is all Traverse City.

Revolok has five employees, two contracted sales support personnel and is looking to expand its sales department.

"The braintrust and the headquarters are here and will likely stay here for a long, long time," Sullivan said.

Revolok, which incorporated in February and hit the market in early August, is eager to ramp up the business in 2023 and beyond. Sullivan said the company is "at the friends and family stage of investment," but expects to go back for additional investment in the near future.

Local entities like Boomerang Catapult and 20Fathoms have already played a key role in the formation of the company.

"We're just starting to get the word out," Sullivan said. "We're ready to deliver product. We have some inventory and we're ready to deliver."

Revolok already has a second stage of development with a patent-protected tension monitoring system built in that can transmit load statistics to the driver or the trucking company while in transit.

"We have a lot of big things coming and we're really excited about the future and changing the lives of drivers throughout the U.S.," Goodell said.

And to think it all came from an unfortunate accident that had nothing to do with trucking and load securement.

"It changed my life," Squires said of the idea.

Now Revolok aims to do the same for an entire industry.