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| Billy Hunter |
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I’d like to share with you a snippet of the Billy Hunter Story. Maybe one day he will tell you the whole story himself, which I found at times I could hardly believe – the trials, tribulations, pain, suffering, inspiration and courage of an ordinary man who has never lost his dream.
At the turn of the century, whilst others were celebrating, Billy Hunter was battling to keep his nose above water. Everything was going wrong, and just as he was about to give up on hope he was offered a job with Workshop 510, owned by a friend, Rolf Frobus. Workshop 510 was an exhibition company and although Billy was a Master Artisan and builder by trade he was a bit nervous of a move into this industry, but he nevertheless jumped at the opportunity.
Billy quickly learned the trade of putting together double story steel I beam structures for shows and exhibitions all over the world. Frustration soon got the better of him. Organisers were applying pressure to have exhibition stands built in shorter and shorter periods of time despite the fact that the structures were cumbersome and very labour‐intensive to erect.
The straw that broke the camel’s back came when Billy worked for eight consecutive days, with very little sleep, attempting to deliver seven double story structures for a major show. Billy realised that the increasing need for shorter build times was a growing, world‐wide problem, having a major negative effect on the industry. Exhibitors, hosts and construction workers alike were increasingly frustrated at the demands being made on them.
The dream of inventing a structure that could be built faster and was more easily became an obsession. Night after night Billy mulled over the possibilities. Eventually a clear vision started to emerge but raising the money to buy the steel for the first stand was a real struggle. Fortunately a family member helped Billy out and he bought the steel for his first prototype. His hands‐on experience had taught him what worked and what definitely did not work.
It is now nine years on, and with many clients giving it rave reviews, the rebranded Rapido Vision system has been touted as revolutionary. Momentum is building all the time as increasing numbers of customers are realising the multiple uses for this innovative product. Construction times for double story exhibition stands now built with Rapido Vision have been dramatically shortened; labour costs have dropped as the stands are simple and quick to erect, and pressures have eased all round. As an example, Billy recently employed his revolutionary structure to build a 430m2 double story steel structure in Abu Dhabi in 18 hours (compared to a standard build time of four days!)
Billy Hunter is constantly researching and developing further designs and ideas for his patented invention. Rapido Vision has now been launched in the UK, and the possibilities appear excitingly endless.
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