By William C. Peters
Once again, the FDIC was an outstanding display of new products, improvements to original apparatus designs, and even a major renaming of a product line. One thing that I found in common while interviewing the various manufacturers' representatives is that they are all listening to their consumers while developing changes to their products. Most have organized focus groups that sample suggestions from all over the country, large departments and small, for recommendations that they can incorporate into their apparatus.
One thing that was obvious around the exhibits was the introduction of automation to pump and aerial controls. I think that the younger generation in the fire service is more accustomed to using touch controls on everything from cell phones to IPads, which makes this type of conversion understandable. These are not your father's heavy-duty push-pull valves!
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