Making valuable products, not expensive ones

By Emma Peterson. 

Behind the scenes of developing Versico’s innovative Temperature Sensing Gun. 

A couple months ago, Versico released a new product – their Temperature Sensing Gun (TSG). To learn more about this product and how it was developed, we interviewed Brian Calaman, Versico’s associate product manager. 

Identifying the need 

As is the first part of developing any new product, the Versico team began by identifying a need in the market. Brian gave some background on the issue that inspired them to create the TSG:  

Material temperature has always been an ongoing conversation with us and contractors, especially since the new regulations went into effect. A common issue we heard was that it takes a long time for material to heat (about 1 degree per hour), but it cools down very rapidly (up to 20 degrees in half an hour). 

Designing the Temperature Sensing Gun 

Once the issue was identified, it was time to start the design process, which brought a few unique challenges to the Versico team. One of them was the nature of urethane adhesives. Brian explained:  

Urethane adhesives have a moisture sensitive component that acts as a great hardener glue and sticks to everything. The issue was trying to design something that would keep those components moving in all the environments that our roofing contractors work in, from very cold environments to hot and humid ones. 

The design and engineering teams took this challenge and others in stride. Brian recalled, “We started at a spot of, ‘What’s possible?’ And from there our team came up with lots of options. Not all succeeded but the team kept narrowing things down and eventually found a way to push the envelope and build something that will really help contractors in the field.” 

Testing and prototyping 

The next step of the development process was to test and refine prototypes in order to create the best possible product. In this phase, Brian said the priorities were making sure the gun was as valuable to contractors as possible. He explained, “Most people look at a standard dispensing gun and it's a plastic, one use item. We were building this completely different version of that with electronics and lights and all these complicated components. And we wanted to make sure it added as much value to contractors as possible, so that it was durable and robust and performed without making it expensive.” 

So, how did Versico make sure their new product met all these goals? They put prototypes in the hands of the people who would know best – the contractors. Brian spoke about that part of development:  

We had contractors involved from the beginning. Our development period spanned multiple years with hundreds of different contractors getting out there and giving their feedback on different prototypes. We tested a couple thousand versions of the guns. And it was great to see what worked and what didn't. Some of our final tests were just handing the product to people and just watching how they use it, where they had trouble and so forth. 

The final product 

The result of all this work is an advanced, industrial grade two-component dispensing tool that “incorporates real time temperature sensing, actively measuring the adhesive temperature as it passes through the gun.” Not only does the TSG help contractors avoid waste by alerting them to adhesive temperature, it is 75% less trigger force compared to other two-component guns, reducing operator fatigue, and has a longer nozzle extension (three inches more than standard) that enables more accurate bead applications.  

Learn more about Versico’s Temperature Sensing Gun.