IDA Universal

July 2016

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I DA U N I V E R S A L J u l y -Au g u s t 2 0 1 6 10 Barry Stoughton has always enjoyed solving problems. He liked fi nding solutions so much that he obtained a master's degree in abstract algebra, and he taught math at a high school in a northwest suburb of Chicago for 16 years and moonlighted as a math instructor at a community college in the area for 15 years. Although Stoughton thought he would retire as a math teacher, fate intervened in 1984. Facing declining enrollment and poten- tial closures, the school district off ered to buy out his contract. A er some soul-searching, he agreed and set out to solve his next puzzle: fi guring out what to do next for a career. A friend who ran a hydraulic cylinder repair shop and recruited Barry to fi nd used cylinders. "I had no idea what a cylinder was at fi rst," he says. "I went out every day looking for cylinders going door to door visiting machine shops and contractors." Former Math Teacher Started Company to Solve Problems "I went to this asphalt paving company—K-Five Construction Corp. in suburban Chicago— trying to get their cylinder business, but the person I talked to said they did their own cylin- ders. As I was ready to leave, the fellow said, 'What I really need is a good track pad.' I had no idea what a track pad was. He showed me this Barber-Greene 265 paver with rubber track pads, which were in rough shape. e rubber was peeling and chunking off . It was so bad that the contractor had to hire an extra laborer to make sure rubber from the track pad didn't get into the asphalt mat." As fate would have it, three months before visiting K-Five, Stoughton was helping another customer solve a problem. e customer's hard rubber tires were fl aking apart, so Stoughton researched using polyurethane as a replacement for rubber. "I realized these two guys had the same problem, and that I might be able to also use polyurethane for track pads," he says. "I thought I was solving one particular problem for one particular customer, but I came to fi nd out that six other compa- nies in Chicago needed the same thing. As it turned out, I was the fi rst person in the United States to put polyurethane on a track pad." Because his polyurethane track pads lasted 2.5 years instead of 1 like rubber pads, contrac- tors took notice. Stoughton founded BLS Enterprises, Inc. in 1986. He worked out of a spare bedroom and began selling his polyurethane Tufpads out of his garage. Stoughton began making the rounds of asphalt paving companies in the Chicago area and obtained testimonials that he used to advertise in trade journals, which generated more interest. Polyurethane pads eventually became standard for all asphalt milling machines, and the term Tufpads became synony- mous with poly track pads. IDA MOVERS AND SHAKERS Barry Stoughton with his son, Matt Stoughton

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