A Virginia Beach manufacturer of safety gear has come up with a business strategy to better target its users – and the day-to-day crises they face.
In 2005, Morphix Technologies started selling a disposable chemical detector, called the Chameleon, to the military.
The product is a Velcro armband with disposable sensors that detect hazardous chemical gases.
Now, the company is offering three new chemical detection kits, packaged for its primary users: law enforcement, first responders and fire personnel.
The new Chameleon kits are available for various scenarios, like detecting hazardous gases associated with drug labs, chemical suicides and HazMat – hazardous materials – accidents.
“First we sold the Chameleon to just the military,” said Kimberly Chapman, vice president of sales and marketing for Morphix. “Over the last two years, we’ve really made a big push to also sell it to firefighters and police.”
Morphix has also worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency in Quantico to help it detect meth labs.
Chapman explained how the kit helps responders to chemical suicides.
“When people are mixing two readily accessible chemicals together, within a minute they are dead,” Chapman said.
When rescuers see victims in enclosed areas like a car, their first instinct may be to open the door and save them, which can make them unknowingly vulnerable to dangerous chemicals or gas, she said.
The armband, sold for $30, and sensor cassettes that go into the device, can detect 10 different chemicals in the air. The sensors show two colors in a small window, as opposed to one, to signify chemicals.
“It’s very, very simple, and designed so people don’t have to think. They just look at it and if they see two colors they know,” said Chapman.
“We’ve taken the Chameleon and put it in kits specific to application. If you’re going to a meth lab, you are going to use the meth lab kit.”
The kit includes 10 refill sensor cassettes, including the Velcro armband.
Locally, Morphix has worked with the Virginia Beach and Norfolk police forces’ drug teams, as well as and the Virginia Beach Fire Department’s HazMat team.
“In the fire department, we are first respondents to any emergency, including chemicals and weapons of mass destruction,” said Michael Barakey, battalion chief and accreditation manager of the Virginia Beach Fire Department.
“We use [Morhpix] technology on the homefront, whereas the military uses it in combat or other places.”
While Morphix doesn’t have “direct competitors” in the area, according to Chapman, there is a downside to being the only kid on the block.
A significant portion of its market may not even be aware that the product is available.
But Morphix is steadily spreading the word.
“We have seen – not just in our city – a rise in meth labs, and Morphix technology can be used [to spot that],” Barakey said. “The naked eye cannot see this stuff. We have to have technology like this to actually see the chemicals that are out in the world.”
by Danielle Walker
Danielle.Walker@insidebiz.com
