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Driven by a knack for tinkering, Tim Wilson has taken an industrial steam-cleaning technology and adapted it to meet basic household needs.
With the same kind of enthusiasm that made his industrial business one of the the country's fastest-growing small companies in 1985, Wilson's targeting of the consumer market has Jet Blast Inc. again vying to make Inc. magazine's coveted Top 500 list in 1996.
Founded by Wilson in 1979, the Baltimore-based steam-cleaning company has seen revenues double to nearly $6 million with the sale of revolutionary, water-powered devices designed to unclog drains and clean cars.
This year, with the introduction of three new products and a beefed-up marketing effort, the company expects its wholesale products division to generate about $15 million in revenues.
Of last year's $5.9 million in revenues, more than half came from the wholesale side through sales of a water-pressurized drain cleaner called Drain-Blaster and a high-pressure garden hose attachment called Pro-Jet 2000 that's used to clean cars and boats.
"It was a matter of converting industrial technology into consumer technology," says Wilson, 36, who started the company by packing a $3,000 steam cleaner into a used van and securing a contract to clean tanks for Bethlehem Steel Corp.
Adaptive reuse
Aided by a $250,000 Small Business Administration loan, the business grew by improving upon and reapplying technology that has essentially been around for 40 years.
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