The RER Innovative Product Award was established in 2003 to honor excellence in new product development in the equipment rental industry. This year the award showcases the most innovative products introduced between Aug. 1, 2006 and July 31, 2007.

A panel of 12 industry experts was selected and they were asked to narrow the pool of entries to one winner in each of the 11 categories. The panelists were asked to refrain from voting in categories in which they had any partial interest. Then the panel was asked to select the product they felt was the most innovative in respect to the rental business from the 11 category winners. One product was named the Grand Award Winner with an overwhelming majority of the votes.

Thanks to all of the companies who entered products in this year's Innovative Product Award competition. Following are the grand winner and the products that won their respective categories. All non-winning entries will be featured in the January and February 2008 issues of RER. For additional information on the Innovative Product Award winners and the panel of judges visit www.rermag.com.

Power Shifter rapid-change engine-mounting system Nascent Design, Bardonia, N.Y.

Key innovation: System adapts a single engine for swapping between multiple machines, requiring no tools and taking less than 30 seconds.

Saving time and money are likely to be at the top of each and every rental company owner's wish list this holiday season. Whether it be in how they run their business with rental management solutions or in the equipment and attachments they rent to their customers, owners are looking for the most innovative products to increase the bottom line in their bank statements and grow and maintain their businesses. Equipment manufacturers continue to rise to the challenge by producing and offering products and solutions that are designed to reduce costs and time spent on service or maintenance.

Nascent Design, Bardonia, N.Y., introduces the Power Shifter rapid-change engine-mounting system designed to quickly switch an engine from one machine to another without using any tools. Engines can be swapped between seasonal machines, even stored separately; and failed engines can be immediately replaced yielding maximum reliability. The ability to switch engines quickly without tools obviously saves time. The financial savings comes from needing only to service and maintain a certain number of engines instead of a dedicated engine for every piece of equipment in the rental company's fleet.

Before the introduction of the Power Shifter at the 2006 Lawn & Garden EXPO in Louisville, Ky., most power equipment came with its own engine bolted to the machine frame or chassis for the life of the unit or the life of the engine. The forward-thinking aspect of this product is that rental company owners can choose to buy one engine for multiple machines, lowering initial costs and operating expenses, and minimizing downtime. A useful analogy is how the battery pack revolutionized the hand-held power tool market.

“In the early days of cordless electrical power tools, the battery was also mounted on the machine without the ability to swap it out,” says Mark Behrens, president of Nascent Design and inventor of the Power Shifter. Operators are now accustomed to swapping a battery pack between hand-held power drills and saws. The Power Shifter is also designed to provide convenience by switching power sources from one unit to the next.

Behrens, a mechanical engineer with industrial experience in design and manufacturing, came up with the idea for the product after realizing that as a homeowner, he could only operate one piece of equipment at a time, yet he owned a half dozen machines, each of which needed to be maintained with regular oil changes, fuel checks and repairs. “It seemed wasteful to have multiple, almost identical, engines on several machines at the same time, all but one being idle on any given task,” said Behrens. “I thought that a more sensible approach would be to use one engine across a whole range of machines.” Behrens also holds four patents on other inventions and has filed for patent protection on the Power Shifter and related designs.

This idea can be taken from Behrens' homeowner perspective and directly implemented into the rental industry. Unless there is a national disaster or major snowstorm, a rental company is unlikely to have every single piece of equipment out on rent. “For example, if you have a rental fleet with 50 mid-power, horizontal shaft engines, you may only have half of those out in the field at any one time, which means you own and maintain more engines than you actually need,” says Behrens.

The Power Shifter system is available for virtually all 3- to 10-hp horizontal shaft equipment, including cement mixers, power trowels, leaf blowers, log splitters, generators and welders, snow throwers, de-thatchers, core-aerators, chipper-shredders, paint sprayers, pressure washers, air compressors, water pumps, edgers, tillers, roofing machines, tampers and more. It bolts directly onto the chassis of many machines with few changes; for others a simple retrofit platform can be added to existing designs. This engine-mounting system is installed at the OEM level onto machines for the rental industry. Visit www.powershifter.us to learn more.

With the system, servicing engines is made easier as well, Behrens says. The Power Shifter Service Stand uses the same mounting system to hold the engine at workbench height, giving mechanics complete access all around the engine. The free-standing system also allows engines to be stored on shelves.

In the world of rental, machines are rented according to the needs of customers depending on the time of year and the job application. This demand can transfer to engine use as well. Fall calls for leaf blowers; snow blowers are required in the winter; and pressure washers in the spring. The same engine can be transferred between all three machines and can be maintained quickly between each use.

The most important key to a successful rental experience for a customer is the reliability of the machine. If an engine doesn't start, the inactive machine can cost a client time and money waiting for an engine repair. Again, the Power Shifter allows rental customers to get back to work by swapping out the bad engine with one that starts. “We've heard from many sources that problems arise on the job when an engine goes down, for example, on a cement mixer — idling a crew or jeopardizing time-sensitive material,” says Behrens. “In these applications, reliability is everything and a rental professional can even offer a backup rapid-change engine using the Power Shift system. The ability to provide a backup engine in critical rental situations can be a competitive edge for a rental company, and provide a new marketing tool.”

“Engines can be swapped out from one machine to another to meet a seasonal or specific need, to rectify an engine failure, to facilitate service or maintenance, or to store the most valuable piece of a machine in a secure and sheltered environment,” says Behrens. “Just being able to rapidly and conveniently swap engines between machines has the potential to reduce overall equipment costs for the rental professional and to extend brand loyalty for equipment manufacturers.”