Howell  Product  Development.
Five  #1-selling  products.

The Howell Product Development story — told by Rick Howell.

Way back in high school, I was part of a team that co-developed the #1-selling ski-binding in the world.  As a young man operating in a company-culture that consistently developed innovative high-margin products that sold like wildfire, it seemed natural for engineering and marketing to work together.

Rude  Awakening.

Immediately after receiving an education in engineering and business, I became the U.S. Product Manager for another ski-binding company with a 2% market share and an ‘almost’ product line.  I took-on this opportunity because the company had a vision to expand.  The American distribution operation poured millions into the development of the U.S. business — even giving away Porsche’s — while the European-parent focused on developing ‘highly engineered’ products.

That’s when I was rudely awakened to a culture that segregated marketing and engineering.  Products were ‘engineered’ — and major marketing efforts were deployed — but the company was not selling products that offered unique solutions for its customers.

Integrated Marketing-Engineering.

As the young survivor of a multi-national shake-up, I was then given responsibility for U.S. marketing.  It didn’t take long to declare that the culture between marketing and engineering had to change.  The integration of marketing and engineering became a key component in our next years' of explosive sales — and more importantly, solid profits.

Outsourced  Product  Development.

Howell Product Development was formed to assist companies with the integration of marketing and engineering to produce thriving, productive, collaborative teams for the development of high-margin, hot-sellers — such as ...

    • CycleBinding —   World’s 1st hands-off clipless bicycle shoe-pedal system.  Created the category

    • Tubbs —   #1-selling snowshoes & bindings,  85% market-share,  20 consecutive years,  expanded total snowshoe market 50X

    • Reader’s Window —   Breakthrough assistive reading technology

    • Polhemus Labs —  Co-developer of world's 1st fully-functional virtual reality head monitor for NASA

    • (Confidential leading brand) —   Flat panel monitor holder in a leading market position

    • ...  Others, including new alpine ski-bindings, in-process

Project—Based  Product  Development.

Howell Product Development provides consulting services for market-based product development on a project-basis.

Howell Product Development is a personal service company that provides outsourced innovation-management for the integration of:

   • grant / funding-sourcing

   • market-research

   • test-advertising

   • vapor-wear beta-sales testing

   • oversight of industrial design, graphic design, product & materials engineering, lab & field testing, mold-making

   • sourcing of specialized manufacturing

   • budget development and variance reporting,and business modeling

As the principle of Howell Product Development, I personally manage the development of products that obtain strong utility patents — a key to achieving equity-financing, long-term competitive advantage, high-margins, powerful asset generation, and valuation-boosting innovation-premiums.

We organize the creation and implementation of sales-generating consumer advertising, the products, trade advertising, targeted public relations, high-awareness sales-promotions, hot trade show introductions, selection and enhancement of distribution operations, and training for customer-service and sales teams.  We perform these functions before products are designed in a beta-mode;  utilize the process to stay on-strategy during the development of the products; magnify the process during the launch;  then poke and tweak, decisively, throughout the revenue / valuation / time pathway.

We produce high-margin, long-lasting, high-revenue, high-valuation results.

Increased Valuation.

Clients (partial list).

Salomon SA,  Annecy, France (1969 — 1972, 1975)

Geze GmbH,  Leonberg, Germany (1977 — 1986).

Raymond Lanctot, Ltee,  Montreal, QC, Canada (1997 — 1982).

Skis Rossignol Canada, Montreal, QC, Canada (1982 — 1986).

Howell CycleBinding, Inc.,  Winooski, Vermont & Needham, Mass (1982 — 1989).

Tubbs Snowshoe Company, Inc.,  Stowe, Vermont, USA (1989 — 1992).

Howell Design, Inc. (Reader's Window overhead bookholders) (1992 — 2000).

Polhemus Labs,  Jeffersonville, Vermont, USA (1992).

University of Vermont, Dept. of Orthopaedics,  Burlington, Vermont USA (1997).

Cole-Haan  (division of Nike),  Yarmouth, Maine, USA (1998).

Advanced Electron Beams, Inc.,  North Wilmington, Mass, USA (2002 — 2004).

Results.

Five #1-selling, high-margin, patented, high-end consumer products. 

Two #1-selling, over 20-consecutive years. 

Collectively, $1.7-billion in revenue at retail.

Quotation.

1.802.793.4849;   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ;   or visit — in Stowe, Vermont, USA.