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SOUTHERN STUMPIN’ By David Abbott • Managing Editor • Ph. 334-834-1170 • Fax: 334-834-4525 • E-mail: david@hattonbrown.com
Let There Be (Bright) Light W
hen Newberry, SC native Trey Willingham arrived at the South Carolina Timber Producers Assn.’s 19th annual meeting, held February 9-11 in Myrtle Beach, SC, he didn’t know what to expect. He and his wife Casey were there to publicly debut the product Trey has developed: FlexFlare, an LED light designed for mounting on the end of log loads. They took 50 lights. All of them sold within 40 minutes, he reports. “I was embarrassed because I didn’t have anything to give away, just a table of stuff to sell,” Trey says. He was amazed by the attention FlexFlare received. “My wife and I were blown away. Everybody made me feel welcome. One guy tried to hire me as a salesman! I told him I work for my dad and I’m not going anywhere.” Willingham, 36, started working with his dad, Bobby Willingham, when he was 12. The senior Willingham owns Davenport & Willingham, Inc., a truck repair shop in Newberry that has grown from two bays when it opened in 1989 to a 16-bay shop today. Six years ago, Davenport & Willingham added a parts store, under the name Truck Parts & Service, Inc. That, Trey says, was what he always wanted to do. In his day job, he serves as general manager there. FlexFlare is a side venture, but one for which he has great passion. As far as the salesmanship that earned him a job offer in Myrtle Beach, he says, “It’s not hard to sell something when you love what you do and when you’re the guy who came up with it, who put all the sweat equity unto coming up with a solution to a problem. Of course you take pride in it.” Trey has been working on FlexFlare for more than two years. It all started early one September morning in 2015. He was up answering a call out, a 24-hour service provided by Truck Parts & Service, when he saw a bicycle with an LED light affixed to the seat. In an essay titled “From Napkin To Highway,” his wife Casey writes, “The tiny
At the Carolina Loggers Assn. meeting in Wilmington, NC, from left to right: Crad Jaynes, President/ CEO, South Carolina Timber Producers Assn.; Jack Swanner, Executive Director, North Carolina Assn. of Professional Loggers; Trey Willingham, founder/CEO, FlexFlare; and Bobby Goodson of North Carolina’s All Terrain Logging and featured on Discovery Channel’s “Swamp Loggers” show
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but brilliant light sparked an idea in Trey’s mind that would cause many sleepless nights, renderings and discussions. His idea: a log light less cumbersome and more visible than others on the market; a rechargeable, simple application, with a big impact.” Trey first drew up designs for his idea on a napkin with a crayon (hence the title of Casey’s article). In that article, she continues, “This was the kick start to FlexFlare, a flexible flare application that can be used as a safety caution light on anything from log trucks, to construction equipment, to farming machinery, or a golf cart. Today, Below, Trey Willingham and his wife Casey displayed their FlexFlare lights the FlexFlare is a road flare (above) at the South Carolina Timber Producers Assn. meeting in February. attached to a heavy duty metal bracket which allows the flare to be hung by a tree spike or magnetic disk with an integrated stud.” After spending a lot of time and money on trial and error development—20 different prototypes, each successive version molded with feedback from customers— Trey had just about decided to give up. “I was almost to the point of saying to heck with it, I but took some time off and put something together for the Myrtle Beach show,” he says. “It was the first showing, and the success and kind words gave me the boost I needed.” Since then, FlexFlare has taken off. At Myrtle Beach he was invited to the Carolina Loggers Assn.’s annual meeting February 23-25 in Wilmington, NC. Interest there was also high, and Myrtle Beach, he has designed a new bracket that the lights sold out very quickly again. His presence uses magnets. Also, with the model he took to there brought another invitation, this time to a truck Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, the light was made driver appreciation event in New Bern, NC on in China, though the brackets are made in WisconApril 24. Trey is now preparing to travel the counsin. Since then he has developed a relationship try, taking FlexFlare to other shows. with Aervoe Industries, a company based on the The product has changed a lot since he first con- West Coast, to make the lights. “They’re working ceived the idea. “The key thing was making it with me and put my name on the light, and now it small but bright and rechargeable, without comis all made in the U.S.,” Willingham says. “I am promising durability,” he explains. “Most things proud of that.” that are rechargeable have a plug-in on the light, Learn more at Flexflareusa.com or contact Trey and in the woods that would mean exposure to dirt, Willingham by phone at 803-944-0232 or by email debris, water, and other contaminants.” Even since at trey@tps-sc.com.
APRIL 2018 ● Southern Loggin’ Times