Taylor Rowan designed the Taylor’d Prop in 2020, after responding to an unexpected request.
Located in Spokane, Washington, Taylor’d Systems was launched in 2017 with container sales and rentals. Taylor operated the company with his wife and now has a team of 30 employees, including two active firefighters Taylor emphasized how the dedication of his employees means every idea comes to life.
Without a background in firefighting, Taylor has been able to design fire training products that not only met a growing demand but also surpassed expectation.
In this interview with Assistant Editor, Isabelle Crow, Taylor discusses how the Taylor’d Prop was a happy coincidence; breaking down the importance of accessibility, a viable price point and the essential role of collaboration in product development.
I started the company in 2017 and didn’t think about utilizing containers for fire training apparatuses- we were focused on selling and renting shipping containers.
We had a local fire department reach out to us, asking if we would consider building a fire training facility for them. At this point, I began teaching myself how to do 3D modelling to incorporate all the different design ideas and training features.
After I designed the first facility, multiple fire departments around us began to inquire. They all kept reiterating the same message- they needed a multi-use prop that is small and financially attainable.
Taylor Rowan
The emphasis was on affordability because most fire departments don’t have a million or half a million dollars for new training facilities. So, I designed a unit that was compact and versatile, to provide the needed accessibility and affordability for departments around the county.
The next thing you know, we had a compact unit with multiple training apparatuses. It was a solution that departments had been yearning for- yet nobody had a product like this on the market.
Creating the Taylor’d Prop was something we fell into, but what a great niche market it was to find.
The training prop is kind of like a gym. If you have to travel to the gym, you can make more excuses to not workout, whereas if you have a gym in the house it’s a lot easier to go.
We found out that only 10-20% of firefighters train with live fires, which is why a lot of them must travel to go and train at large burn facilities. Our goal was to respond to this demand and create a training component that would cover 80-90% of the training that was needed by the firefighters.
I knew we needed an accessible unit for training, where fire departments don’t have to take firefighters out of service, put them into overtime or make them travel long distances, especially in metropolitan areas.
Taylor Rowan
I think the accessible prop has opened the eyes of a lot of departments because they are now realizing their training can take place in a downtown metropolitan area in a parking spot that takes minimal room.
Before COVID, our main business focus was only on container sales and rentals. When COVID shut everything down, containers availability was sparce. We then had pivot the focus of the company. This is when we were approached by a local fire department and opened our eyes to modifying containers for the Fire Service industry.
I have zero experience with firefighting so I knew I needed experts around us. Every fire department we work with, we try and gain just a little bit of knowledge from each of them.
Some seem to be savvier with the forceful entry side, whereas some are savvier with ventilation. For us, it’s all about gathering information from each one of them and incorporating those into our designs- making our products better.
I’ve found that the communication within the fire industry is incredibly strong, so it is such a great tool to have. I joke that the firefighter industry is like a large sorority because everyone seems to know each other!
The two biggest recent examples would be state agencies like Kentucky State who now has eight of our props on trailers that they travel around to fire departments with. It opened up the availability to train across the state.
A lot of the time, they are located at departments who do not have the funding and resources to go and travel for required training. Here, they can access areas that are more rural or volunteer with very few onsite training apparatuses a lot of the time.
The very first prop we ever designed was a prototype that we had left sitting behind our office. We didn’t think anything of it, but we had a small department get in contact, who vocalised how they had no training apparatus or any budget.
So, we donated them our original prop. We still see photos of them using it on social media and for me, that was really cool. A prop that we had no use for, has tremendous use for a department with limited impact funds.
At FDIC we have some pretty cool components that we want to unveil because we have noticed that fire departments- even when it comes to a large facility, have been building their own facilities out of containers. Our goal now is to make kits so that you can build your own unit.
Something else we are in the process of creating is a mobile burn cell so you can actually do a live burn inside your container.
Taylor Rowan
This is something that has never been done. You would be able to purchase a burn cell from us and we send it to you on a pallet so it can be assembled inside your facility. Here, you can live Class A burn training.
These are the two things we are really focused on right now, as we continue to think about how we can support the fire industry and provide affordable and accessible training.
