VALLEY STREAM, N.Y., May 13, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Raymond Padula Jr., a 19 year old Long Islander, founded Ray Padula(tm) Incorporated in 2006. His work began seven years ago, at the age of 12 when Ray began to tinker with sprinklers lying around his parents' garage. While most kids would have been playing video games or swimming in the pool, Ray's interest lied in landscaping. Everything from mowing the lawn to watering the gardens; Ray took great pride in manicuring the outside of his parents home. One day Ray decided that he would try to fix several broken sprinklers which his family had accumulated over a few years. Upon inspection, Ray discovered that these sprinklers were poorly constructed out of cheap plastic internal gears, which after one season of watering, left them useless due to the gears being stripped, worn out, or cracked. Ray went out and purchased metal gears from a local supply store, and began to reassemble the sprinklers using the more durable steel parts, and tested them in his backyard. To his surprise, not only did the reconstructed and reinforced sprinklers work, but they worked better then they originally did when new.
It was this discovery that set Ray's goal: To "re-invent" the hose-end industry through innovation, technology and hard work and determination. Ray set out on a seven year journey, designing new innovative products, and reworking existing designs to create better, more durable products that would last more then one season of watering. He sat down and sketched designs for new oscillating, pulsating, and revolving sprinklers that wouldn't leak, wouldn't stick, and wouldn't wear out. After his designs were complete, he contacted a factory in Taipei, Taiwan to have them make prototypes based on his specifications. Ray then got to work on designing new nozzles, hose connectors, hoses, timers, and just about any product that you could use with water outdoors.
Several years later in 2006, Ray received private funding to purchase that very factory which manufactured his first prototypes, and now exclusively manufactures Ray Padula(tm). His factory, along with several others around the world work three shifts a day to create molds, attain materials, and produce the line of over 250 Ray Padula(tm) hose-end products.
Throughout 2007, Ray set out on a mission to get his products to the retail market around the United States. He contacted buyers at major retailers across America and asked them to consider meeting with him to discuss the Ray Padula(tm) line. Of course there were skeptics, but when Ray sent out samples of the products, buyers were amazed at what he had done. Not only create a better working, more durable product, but guarantee them with multi-year warrantees and manufacturing them at a lower cost -- a discount which Ray promised to pass along to the retailer, who in-turn will pass that savings along to the consumer. Currently, Ray Padula is in talks with major home and garden retailers to attain national distribution for the 2009 lawn and garden season.
For 2008, Ray received agreements from Target, Inc. to test market nine Ray Padula(tm) products in 150 of their stores. Ray Padula products will also be available online at Target.com. He also received placement on Lowes.com, and will be distributed nationwide to independently owned retailers through home & garden distributor Arret. In the New York, Tri-state area, Ray Padula(tm) will be the exclusive hose-end product available at ACE Hardware stores; and available in the mid-west region at Farm King stores. In addition, four Ray Padula(tm) products will be offered on QVC this spring, one which debuted on March 21, and three others which will follow in the coming weeks.
As part of the company's "Helping You Keep Your Earth Green" campaign, Ray Padula(tm) Incorporated has pledged to donate a portion of profit from each sprinkler and nozzle sold during the 2008 and 2009 lawn & garden seasons to programs across the United States which will use recycled "gray water" for watering of crops, gardens, lawns, etc., and around the world to help provide clean drinking & potable water in developing and impoverished countries.
Ray Padula's story is one of determination and focus; a boy who had a dream, and turned it into a multi-million dollar enterprise before the age of 20. Ray made what would have been a tumultuous time in his life as a teenager into the beginning of a success story. In 2008, Ray Padula(tm) Incorporated moved into corporate headquarters located in Valley Stream, New York, with warehouses across the United States and manufacturing facilities around the world.
More about Raymond Padula Jr. and Ray Padula(tm) Inc. can be found online at http://www.raypadula.com.
For more information about this story, and broadcast/print interview bookings please contact:
Gregg Fox Chief Communications Officer & Executive Vice President of Marketing Ray Padula Incorporated 516-570-3963 x.206 gregg.fox@raypadula.com
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